For no animal is the threat of extinction more publicly tied to the perils of climate change than for the polar bear. But according to a report that appeared Thursday in the journal Science, a group of these bears in southeast Greenland may have adapted their hunting practices — a pattern that gives hope for the extended survival of the species, or at least some pockets of it.

“Polar bears are threatened by sea-ice loss due to climate change. This new population gives us some insight into how the species might persist into the future,”-  said Kristin Laidre, a polar scientist at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory and lead author of the report. “But we need to be careful about extrapolating our findings, because the glacier ice that makes it possible for southeast Greenland bears to survive is not available in most of the Arctic.” 

(Source: Bloomberg, June 16 2022 by Leslie Kaufman)