White bear becomes a cannibal

Polar bears in southern Beaufort, Alaska, may be becoming cannibals due to lack of ice, making them inaccessible to their natural food.

American and Canadian scientists have found that when examining three cases of white predatory bears from January to April 2004 in northern Alaska and western Canada. In that case, the first time a child was recorded in a cave shortly after giving birth.

White bears eat mainly seals and use ice sheets as a place to feed, mate and breed. Their mutual slaughter usually takes place only when they adjust the population, when they want to become dominant or create a reproductive advantage. Mutual killing makes food seem much rarer.

" For 24 years of studying white bears in the southern coastal area of ​​Beaufort in northern Alaska and 34 years in northwest Canada, we have never encountered white bears chasing each other, killing and eating cannibalism ," the research team said. Research at Alaska Science Center of the American Geological Survey said.

" This is very important new information," said Kassie Siegal, the lead researcher. "It shows in a clear process the serious impact of global warming on polar bears ."

Environmentalists believe that global warming ice could lead to the disappearance of white bears by the end of the century.

T. An