![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Arctic-polar-bear-near-Svalbard-by-Trine-Lise-Sviggum-Helgerud-via-SWNS.jpg\")
Arctic polar bear near Svalbard by Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud via SWNS<\/p>\n Arctic polar bear near Svalbard by Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud via SWNS<\/p>\n
Polar bears are in better physical health than they were 25 years ago, despite the decrease in sea ice, reveals new research.<\/p>\n
The well-being of the iconic white mammals living around the Norwegian island of Svalbard has improved in the face of climate change, likely due to better opportunities to hunt.<\/p>\n
The scientists were \u2018surprised\u2019 that the bears\u2019 fat reserves have increased since the year 2000, even while sea ice levels decreased.<\/p>\n
The findings, published in the<\/a> journal Scientific Reports, are in contrast to previous observations of polar bear population declining across the Arctic.<\/p>\n Previous research shows temperature increases in the Barents Sea around Svalbard of up to two degrees Celsius per decade since 1980.<\/p>\n The Barents Sea polar bear population numbered around 2,650 individuals in a 2004 census\u2014and the population appears not to have shrunk in size, although the reasons for that have been unclear.<\/p>\n So, Dr. Jon Aars, senior scientist at the Norwegian Polar Institute, investigated with his colleagues the potential reasons for the stability of the Svalbard populations.<\/p>\n The team used data from 1,188 body measurement records of 770 adult polar bears taken on Svalbard between 1992 and 2019.<\/p>\n They compared changes in the bears\u2019 body composition index (BCI), an indicator of fat reserves and body condition determined by tape measurement, to the number of ice-free days in the region across the 27-year period.<\/p>\n LOOK: Polar Bear Adopts a Cub That Isn\u2019t her Own \u2013 Extraordinary Behavior Caught on Camera<\/a><\/p>\n The research team found that although the number of ice-free days increased by around 100 over the study period\u2014at a rate of about four days per year\u2014the mean BCI of the adult polar bears sampled actually increased after the year 2000.<\/p>\n \u201cThis indicates that fat reserves increased as sea ice levels decreased,\u201d said Dr. Aars<\/a>.<\/p>\n The researchers suggest that improvements in the body conditions of Svalbard polar bears could be attributed to the recovery of populations of land-based prey sources\u2014such as reindeer and walrus\u2014that were previously over-exploited by humans.<\/p>\n They also believe that sea ice loss may have lead to a food source, like ringed seals, concentrating on smaller areas of sea ice, which may increase the efficiency of polar bear hunting.<\/p>\n MORE GOOD NEWS FOR POLAR BEARS: But Aars speculated that this trend may be shaky.<\/p>\n \u201cFurther reductions in sea ice may negatively affect the Svalbard populations by increasing the distances they need to travel to access hunting grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMore research is needed to understand how different polar bear populations are adapting to a warming Arctic in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n SHARE SOME GOOD NEWS With Polar Bear Lovers On Social Media\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arctic polar bear near Svalbard by Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud via SWNS Polar bears are in better physical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[50,13473,4442,5695,111,139,69,11599,150254,1518,147,406],"class_list":{"0":"post-262344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-arctic","10":"tag-climate","11":"tag-marine-life","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-ocean","16":"tag-positive-trends","17":"tag-research","18":"tag-science","19":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Mama-polar-bear-and-cub-by-Trine-Lise-Sviggum-Helgerud-via-SWNS.jpg\")
Svalbard polar bear with cub by Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud via SWNS<\/p>\n
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\u2022 \u2018Life Finds a Way\u2019: Polar Bears Successfully Adapt Even Without As Much Sea Ice<\/a><\/p>\n