Are there Polar Bears in Alaska?

Polar bears are typically found in one of the extreme climates on earth—Arctic. They also live in Alaska because Arctic Ocean (the original habitat of polar bears) also touches Alaska. In the United States, one can come across polar bears in Barrow—a place where tourists visit commercially to see polar bears. As and when the pack ice in Arctic Ocean approaches the shore from October to June, polar bears are most likely to be seen.

Are there Polar Bears in Alaska

Polar bears are also present in Alaska but they only occur at the Arctic coastlines where most of the polar bear habitat is. In the winter, bears get together in St. Mathew Island, southernmost tip of St. Lawrence, and Kuskokwim Delta.

With the beginning of the summer, polar bears move to the Chukchi Sea and the Arctic Ocean. In Alaska, polar bear population is concentrated in two regions. One of them is near Wrangell Islands in the western region of Alaska while the other is found in the Beaufort Sea near the North Slope.

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Polar bears were excessively hunted until the late 1950s but at present their numbers are threatened because of global warming and oil development.

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Currently Alaska is home to no more than 4,700 polar bears. In comparison there are 30,000 grizzly bears and 100,000 black bears present in Alaska.

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Global climate change forces the pack ice to melt as it turns out polar bears had to swim farther than ever before to get to the prey. Though they are excellent swimmers but still they cannot swim all the time.

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Scientists have come across few polar bear drownings in these waters which is an unusual. Besides, the cannibalism behavior in these bears is also on the rise. This has led to the belief that polar bears might not survive in the next three decades or so.

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The USGS Alaska Science Center has begun a long-term research on polar bears as to we can save these species from extinction. The program also included the fact as to why some of the bears are leaving their original habitats. Besides, scientists also aim to focus on feeding ecology and behavior, habitat use, and a rapid population decline.

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