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Polar bear may be listed as endangered species Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com February 9, 2006 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today announced that it is considering a petition to list the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Scientists believe polar bear populations are increasingly in danger due to the effects of climate change, specifically receding ice and warming temperatures. The loss of ice also makes it more difficult for bears to find food. Unlike grizzly bears, polar bears aren't adapted to hunting land animals like caribou, instead feeding primarily on seals. However, recent aerial surveys by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that, over the past five years, polar bears are changing their habits and spending more time on land, congregating on beaches and scavenging whale carcasses. Extrapolating from these developments, some scientists believe that polar bears could be extinct in the wild within the next century. While the last survey in 1997 suggested that polar bears in Alaska were not endangered, next year's update might come to a different conclusion. Scientists estimate there are currently 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears world-wide.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. Related Polar bears hold key to understanding health risk of environmental pollutants Polar bears and people, at the chilly top of the Arctic's food chain, risk consuming a smorgasbord of industrial pollutants that have seeped into their habitat and pose potential health hazards. Now a University of Florida researcher, aiming to better understand just how dangerous the chemicals might be to humans, has zeroed in on how effectively polar bears are able to rid themselves of environmental toxins consumed in the food they eat. It turns out the bears can completely eliminate only one of five of the classes of industrial contaminants they are exposed to, a finding that's bad news for the bears and other species who share their environment. This article used information from previous mongabay.com articles, The Wall Street Journal, and press materials from the the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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