14 DAY TRIAL // Polar bears might make excellent swimmers, but the fact of the matter is they cannot survive without sea ice. They need it to go in search of seals and other prey. As climate change and global warming continue to progress, however, they risk losing this hunting ground of theirs.
Photographer Kerstin Langenberger has been observing polar bears in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean for many years now.
She says that, in recent years, she has noticed that, as the local ice cover is moving up north, female polar bears are having trouble finding food for themselves and their cubs. This is because, unlike males, they cannot follow the ice pack as it leaves the region.
“The fat bears are nearly exclusively males which stay on the pack ice all year long. The females, on the other hand, which den on land to give birth to their young, are often slim.”
“With the pack ice retreating further and further north every year, they tend to be stuck on land where there's not much food,” the photographer explains.
Recently, Kerstin Langenberger had the chance to photograph a freakishly skin polar bear treading across the ice, most likely in search of something to eat.
The photo, available below, was shared by the photographer on Facebook about a month ago. However, it is just now getting the attention it deserves. By all accounts, it's one of the saddest photos to hit the online community in a while.
Then again, perhaps it's a good thing that it's gone viral. Maybe this will wake some people up to the reality of climate change and global warming.