Polar bears in Svalbard archipelago are inbreeding due to sea ice loss

By Christa Lesté-Lasserre

A polar carnivore successful the Svalbard archipelago

Shutterstock / Ondrej Prosicky

As planetary warming causes Arctic crystal to melt away, archipelago-based polar bears are having much trouble reaching each other, particularly during mating season, resulting successful what a probe squad has dubbed an “alarming” driblet successful cistron travel and familial diverseness owed to inbreeding.

Researchers astatine the Norwegian Polar Institute successful Tromsø person been collecting tiny insubstantial samples from polar bears (Ursus maritimus) inhabiting Svalbard’s islands successful the Arctic Barents Sea since 1995. Most of these bears usually roam crossed crystal paths passim the …

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