The polar bears living in an abandoned Arctic weather station

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By Sophie Hardach, BBC. 

Excerpt: A photographer's iconic shot of polar bears in abandoned buildings on a Russian island shines a spotlight on wider changes in their behaviour. ...Smith notes that polar bears are spending more time on land due to the climate-change-driven loss of sea ice. They are also shifting their dens from the ice onto the land, to avoid the risk of denning on the increasingly unstable sea ice, research in northern Alaska shows. Without the sea ice, the bears can't hunt for their preferred, ideal diet of blubber-rich seals, and may resort to land-based food, be it prey or rubbish. ...A 2022 research paper warns that food from human sources – especially waste – is an emerging threat to polar bears. The supply of such human-provided food including from dumps is growing, according to the paper. As a consequence, some communities in the Arctic have seen startling incursions of dozens of polar bears. The study notes that when given the choice between sea ice, and rubbish dumps on land, polar bears still prefer the sea ice – suggesting that they are resorting to the dumps out of necessity.... 

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