{"id":22875,"date":"2025-07-25T13:54:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T13:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/22875\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T13:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T13:54:25","slug":"the-eye-opening-science-of-close-encounters-with-polar-bears-arctic-expedition-uncovers-diet-shifts-and-pollution-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/22875\/","title":{"rendered":"The eye-opening science of close encounters with polar bears: Arctic expedition uncovers diet shifts and pollution risks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ONGYEARBYEN, July 24\u00a0\u2014 It\u2019s a pretty risky business trying to take a blood sample from a polar bear \u2014 one of the most dangerous predators on the planet \u2014 on an Arctic ice floe.<\/p>\n

First you have to find it and then shoot it with a sedative dart from a helicopter before a vet dares approach on foot to put a GPS collar around its neck.<\/p>\n

Then the blood has to be taken and a delicate incision made into a layer of fat before it wakes.<\/p>\n

All this with a wind chill of up to minus 30C.<\/p>\n

For the last four decades experts from the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) have been keeping tabs on the health and movement of polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago, halfway between Norway and the North Pole.<\/p>\n

Like the rest of the Arctic, global warming has been happening there three to four times faster than elsewhere.<\/p>\n

But this year the eight scientists working from the Norwegian icebreaker Kronprins Haakon are experimenting with new methods to monitor the world\u2019s largest land carnivore, including for the first time tracking the PFAS \u201cforever chemicals\u201d from the other ends of the Earth that finish up in their bodies.<\/p>\n

An AFP photographer joined them on this year\u2019s eye-opening expedition.<\/p>\n

\"French <\/p>\n

French spatial scientist Marie-Anne Blanchet takes an adipose tissue biopsies and blood samples from a sedated polar bear, in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago April 11, 2025. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

Delicate surgery on the ice\u00a0 <\/p>\n

With one foot on the helicopter\u2019s landing skid, vet Rolf Arne Olberg put his rifle to his shoulder as a polar bear ran as the aircraft approached.<\/p>\n

Hit by the dart, the animal slumped gently on its side into a snowdrift, with Olberg checking with his binoculars to make sure he had hit a muscle. If not, the bear could wake prematurely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fly in quickly,\u201d Oldberg said, and \u201ctry to minimise the time we come in close to the bear… so we chase it as little as possible.\u201d After a five- to 10-minute wait to make sure it is asleep, the team of scientists land and work quickly and precisely.<\/p>\n

They place a GPS collar around the bear\u2019s neck and replace the battery if the animal already has one.<\/p>\n

Only females are tracked with the collars because male polar bears \u2014 who can grow to 2.6 metres \u2014 have necks thicker than their heads, and would shake the collar straight off.<\/p>\n

Olberg then made a precise cut in the bear\u2019s skin to insert a heart monitor between a layer of fat and the flesh.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows us to record the bear\u2019s body temperature and heart rate all year,\u201d NPI researcher Marie-Anne Blanchet told AFP, \u201cto see the energy the female bears (wearing the GPS) need to use up as their environment changes.\u201d The first five were fitted last year, which means that for the first time experts can cross-reference their data to find out when and how far the bears have to walk and swim to reach their hunting grounds and how long they rest in their lairs.<\/p>\n

The vet also takes a biopsy of a sliver of fat that allows researchers to test how the animal might stand up to stress and \u201cforever chemicals\u201d, the main pollutants found in their bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to best represent what bears experience in the wild but in a laboratory,\u201d said Belgian toxicologist Laura Pirard, who is testing the biopsy method on the mammals.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A male polar bear bear walks on the sea ice near glaciers in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago April 9, 2025. \u2014 AFP pic<\/p>\n

Eating seaweed\u00a0 <\/p>\n

It has already shown that the diet of Svalbard\u2019s 300 or so bears is changing as the polar ice retreats.<\/p>\n

The first is that they are eating less seals and more food from the land, said Jon Aars, the lead scientist of the NPI\u2019s polar bear programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey still hunt seals, but they also take eggs and reindeer \u2014 they even eat (sea)grass and things like that, even though it provides them with no energy.\u201d But seals remain their essential food source, he said. \u201cEven if they only have three months to hunt, they can obtain about 70 per cent of what they need for the entire year during that period. That\u2019s probably why we see they are doing okay and are in good condition\u201d despite the huge melting of the ice.<\/p>\n

But if warming reduces their seal hunting further, \u201cperhaps they will struggle\u201d, he warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are notable changes in their behaviour… but they are doing better than we feared. However, there is a limit, and the future may not be as bright.\u201d \u201cThe bears have another advantage,\u201d said Blanchet, \u201cthey live for a long time, learning from experience all their life. That gives a certain capacity to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Belgian <\/p>\n

Belgian toxicologist Laura Pirard, specialized in marine mammals, works on biopsy samples of polar bear adipose tissue, in a laboratory onboard the science icebreaker vessel ‘Kronprins Haakon’ while sailing in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, on April 9, 2025. \u2014 AFP pic <\/p>\n

Success of anti-pollution laws\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Another encouraging discovery has been the tentative sign of a fall in pollution levels.<\/p>\n

With some \u201cbears that we have recaptured sometimes six or eight times over the years, we have observed a decrease in pollutant levels,\u201d said Finnish ecotoxicologist Heli Routti, who has been working on the programme for 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis reflects the success of regulations over the past decades.\u201d NPI\u2019s experts contribute to the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) whose conclusions play a role in framing regulations or bans on pollutants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concentration of many pollutants that have been regulated decreased over the past 40 years in Arctic waters,\u201d Routti said. \u201cBut the variety of pollutants has increased. We are now observing more types of chemical substances\u201d in the bears\u2019 blood and fatty tissues.<\/p>\n

These nearly indestructible PFAS or \u201cforever chemicals\u201d used in countless products like cosmetics and nonstick pans accumulate in the air, soil, water and food.<\/p>\n

Experts warn that they ultimately end up in the human body, particularly in the blood and tissues of the kidney or liver, raising concerns over toxic effects and links to cancer. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ONGYEARBYEN, July 24\u00a0\u2014 It\u2019s a pretty risky business trying to take a blood sample from a polar bear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[3387,14608,14606,547,90,14607,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-22875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-arctic","9":"tag-forever-chemicals","10":"tag-polar-bears","11":"tag-research","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-scientists","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}