\u201cIf we lose polar bears from the Arctic \u2026 nothing can replace that,\u201d Holly Gamblin, wildlife biologist at University of Manitoba, told As It Happens host Nil K\u00f6ksal. \u201cThere’s no other comparable species that is doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharing is not necessarily caring<\/p>\n
By sharing the spoils of the hunt, polar bears are providing what\u2019s known as an \u201cecosystem service,\u201d says Gamblin, the study’s lead author. And it\u2019s in stark contrast to the behaviours of many other top predators, like mountain lions and wolves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But polar bears, she says, aren\u2019t doing this out of the kindness of their hearts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can’t say that they have this altruistic nature about them,\u201d she said. \u201cBut what they do have is this blubber specialist diet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Polar bears, she says, really only want to eat one thing \u2014 and that thing is blubber, the thick layer of warming fat under the skin of marine animals like seals and penguins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey’re usually stripping that first,\u201d Gamblin said. \u201cThey don’t really care so much about the meat that’s left over. It’s hard for them to digest that protein.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geoff York, a polar bear researcher who wasn’t involved in this study, says polar bears will go beyond the blubber if they\u2019re hungry enough, but they definitely prefer those fatty morsels.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuch like brown bears along salmon streams become more selective as they gain weight, eating only the eggs of spawning salmon and leaving the carcass, polar bears in good body condition also focus on the fat from marine mammal prey,\u201d York, director of research at the conservation group Polar Bear International, said in an email.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761813310_843_default.jpg\")
Holly Gamblin, wildlife biologist at University of Manitoba, poses with an unconscious polar bear on Hudson Bay as part of a live-capture and release conservation monitoring program. (Submitted by Holly Gamblin)<\/p>\n
And one Arctic carnivore\u2019s trash is another\u2019s treasure.<\/p>\n
The study, which includes scientists from the University of Alberta, confirmed 11 vertebrate species have been documented scavenging polar bears\u2019 discarded meat, including wolves, foxes, gulls, hawks, snowy owls and grizzly bears.<\/p>\n
The team also identified another eight species as potential scavengers because they’ve been spotted on the sea ice, but haven’t been observed eating polar-bear cast-offs. <\/p>\n
Chief among the benefactors are Arctic foxes, who are known to follow polar bear tracks way out onto sea ice in the hope of snagging some meaty scraps. <\/p>\n
\u201cArctic foxes are kind of considered the best friend of polar bears,\u201d Gamblin said. \u201cSo polar bears making kills and fattening up can actually impact Arctic fox populations from year to year.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761813310_709_default.jpg\")
Arctic foxes are one of the creatures who benefit most from polar bears’ leftovers. (Maja Hitij\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
But polar bear populations are declining rapidly.\u00a0<\/p>\n