By the end of the century, polar bears will have largely disappeared from the Arctic, a study published in Nature suggests. The authors examined the possible impact on the bears of two climate change scenarios: a “business-as-usual” one, in which greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at their present rate; and a second in which they are moderately mitigated. In the former case, they found that most polar bears would begin to experience “reproductive failure” by the 2040s, and that by 2100 only one population would remain – in Canada’s Queen Elizabeth Islands. The outcome of the other scenario was only slightly less bleak, with most populations predicted to experience reproductive failure by 2080.

Unable to find all the sustenance they need on land, polar bears do much of their hunting on sea ice, preying on seals after staking out their breathing holes. The gradual disappearance of sea ice is already affecting some of the more southerly located polar bear populations: a 2014 study found that in eastern Alaska and western Canada, one population had declined by 40%.

My comment: But those with a dubious agenda are still denying climate change!  Who will they blame when the impending disaster becomes too obvious to ignore? Not themselves, you can be sure.  Poor polar bears!