A new study has painted a grim picture for polar bears, suggesting they will not be able to adapt to hunting on land rather than the environment they are accustomed to.
According to the Associated Press, authors of a study published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment found polar bears would be hard pressed to find an adequate replacement for their fatty diet of marine animals.
Previous research has stated polar bears are already in danger of losing their homes as arctic sea ice is disappearing. The new study rejects the idea that the bears could adapt to land on life by switching their diet.
"Although some polar bears may eat terrestrial foods, there is no evidence the behavior is widespread," study lead author Dr. Karyn Rode, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said in a press release. "In the regions where terrestrial feeding by polar bears has been documented, polar bear body condition and survival rates have declined."
Rode and her team cited grizzly bears as a leading reason for why polar bears could not live on a terrestrial diet. For one, they said grizzly bears are already in decline because of poor food quality and a lack of it in the first place. Grizzlies would also just leave less for polar bears to consume.
"The smaller size and low population density of grizzly bears in the Arctic provides a clear indication of the nutritional limitations of onshore habitats for supporting large bodied polar bears in meaningful numbers," Rode said. "Grizzly bears and polar bears are likely to increasingly interact and potentially compete for terrestrial resources.
"There has been a fair bit of publicity about polar bears consuming bird eggs. However, this behavior is not yet common, and is unlikely to have population-level impacts on trends in body condition and survival."
