Polar Bear

Due to climate change the Arctic is heating up twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet, shrinking the Arctic sea ice cover by 14% per decade. Compared to the median sea ice cover recorded between 1981-2010, we have lost about 770,000 square miles, an area larger than Alaska and California combined.  

Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt seals, rest, breed, and store energy for the summer and autumn, when food can be scarce. Sea ice now melts earlier in the spring and forms later in the autumn in the bears' southern range, like Hudson Bay and James Bay in Canada. As the bears spend longer periods without food, their health declines. 

Climate change is also resulting in more habitat fragmentation. As Arctic ice melts, polar bears are affected by increased shipping activities and a rise in opportunities for oil and gas development, that WWF is currently fighting against.