{"id":52994,"date":"2026-01-29T17:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/?post_type=nyhet&p=52994"},"modified":"2026-01-29T18:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:06:16","slug":"surprising-findings-on-polar-bear-body-condition","status":"publish","type":"nyhet","link":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/newsarticle\/surprising-findings-on-polar-bear-body-condition\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprising findings on polar bear body condition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is a surprising finding. If we had been asked 25 years ago about the consequences of bears now spending two fewer months on the ice each year, we would have expected leaner animals, reduced reproduction, and the beginning of a population decline. Instead, we see that they are in better condition,\u201d says senior researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, Jon Aars.<\/p>\n

He is the lead author of the study which has just been published in Scientific Reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The research maps the polar bears\u2019 body condition in spring over the period from 1995 to 2019. Body condition is a measure of how large the bears\u2019 fat reserves are.<\/p>\n

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Jon Aars. Photo: Magnus Andersen, Norwegian Polar Institute<\/p><\/div>\n

The polar bear finds different kinds of food<\/h2>\n

Based on the collected data, the researchers arrived at this striking result.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most likely explanation is that polar bears have increasingly managed to compensate for shorter time on the sea ice by exploiting resources on land. They take more reindeer, feed on walrus carcasses, and make use of eggs, birds, and harbour seals,\u201d says Aars.<\/p>\n

All three of these species have increased significantly in numbers during this period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis appears to have enabled the bears to maintain\u2014and even improve\u2014their body condition, even though they spend far more time on land than they did previously,\u201d Aars explains.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud, Norwegian Polar Institute<\/p><\/div>\n

He adds that this development differs from what has been observed in several other parts of the Arctic, where polar bears become thinner in years with longer ice-free seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis also means that polar bears are increasingly affecting terrestrial ecosystems, particularly bird colonies, and are becoming a more important part of Svalbard\u2019s terrestrial ecosystem than before,\u201d says Aars.<\/p>\n

Dependent on sea ice<\/h2>\n

In the longer term, however, it is still likely that body condition will decline as sea ice loss continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolar bears depend on sea ice for a minimum period each year, but we do not yet know where this critical threshold lies. So far, there are no signs of a dramatic decline in survival or reproduction,\u201d Aars emphasizes.<\/p>\n

Body condition is nevertheless considered an early warning indicator, and changes here may be among the first signs of more serious consequences in the future. This is why monitoring data such as those analysed in this study are important for management.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Adam Steer, Norwegian Polar Institute<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":52991,"template":"","tags":[],"emne":[101,475,487],"horinger":[],"class_list":["post-52994","nyhet","type-nyhet","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","emne-scientific-research","emne-barentshavet-en","emne-svalbard-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nyhet\/52994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nyhet"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nyhet"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nyhet\/52994\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53061,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nyhet\/52994\/revisions\/53061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52994"},{"taxonomy":"emne","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emne?post=52994"},{"taxonomy":"horinger","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/horinger?post=52994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}