Human disturbance increasing cannibalism among polar bears

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/26/human-disturbance-increasing-cannibalism-among-polar-bears

AFP in Moscow
Wed 26 Feb 2020 12.56 EST
Last modified on Wed 26 Feb 2020 13.07 EST

Cases of polar bears killing and eating each other are on the rise in the Arctic as melting ice and human activity erode their habitat, according to a Russian expert.

“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 Ilya Mordvintsev, a polar bear expert, quoted by Interfax news agency.

Mordvintsev, a senior researcher at Moscow’s Severtsov Institute of Problems of Ecology and Evolution, added: “We state that cannibalism in polar bears is increasing.”

Speaking at a presentation in St Petersburg, Mordvintsev suggested that the behaviour could be due to lack of food. “In some seasons there is not enough food and large males attack females with cubs.”

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