Cannibalism on the rise among polar bears: Scientist

MOSCOW • Cases of polar bears killing and eating one another are on the rise in the Arctic as melting ice and human activity erode their habitat, a Russian scientist has said.

"Cases of cannibalism among polar bears are a long-established fact, but we're worried that such cases used to be found rarely while now they are recorded quite often," said polar bear expert Ilya Mordvintsev, quoted by Interfax news agency.

"Cannibalism in polar bears is increasing," added the senior researcher at Severtsov Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution.

Speaking at a presentation in St Petersburg on Wednesday, he suggested the behaviour could be due to lack of food. "In some seasons, there is not enough food and large males attack females with cubs," he said.

The rise in cases may also be partly due to more people working in the Arctic and reporting such behaviour. "Now we get information not only from scientists, but also from the growing number of oil workers and defence ministry employees."

This winter, the area from the Gulf of Ob to the Barents Sea, where polar bears used to hunt, is now a busy route for ships carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG), Dr Mordvintsev said.

"The Gulf of Ob was always a hunting ground for the polar bear. Now it has broken ice all year round," he said, linking this to active gas extraction on the huge Yamal peninsula that borders the Gulf of Ob, and the launch of an Arctic LNG plant.

Russia, already a key global oil and gas exporter, is keen to develop its LNG potential in the Arctic. It has also significantly upgraded its military facilities there.

Another Russian scientist, Mr Vladimir Sokolov, said polar bears had mainly been affected this year by abnormally warm weather on Spitsbergen Island to the west in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, where there have been no ice floes and little snow. He predicted that polar bears would eventually no longer hunt on sea ice.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE