Polar bears are the kings and queens of the north. They live in
peace, searching for food and swimming in the ocean. Polar bears
have no real enemies to speak of. They are the top of the food chain
eating their favorite food, seals. Polar bears are occasionally
hunted by people, but not very often. They are on the top of the
food chain, therefore, they have no animal predators.
Polar bears main enemy are people, inadvertently. People are the
cause of climate change, and therefore are the cause of polar bears now
being on the threatened species list, and soon the endangered species
list. Among the threats for the
polar bears climate change is on the top, along with chemicals and pollutants
in the air. Even though there are no factories up in the far north,
the polar bears still suffer the effects of pollution. Wind and rain
will bring harmful chemicals to the polar region.
The pollutants that arrive, unwelcome in the north can have harmful
effects on the polar bears. They come by air, precipitation, and by
the ocean. One of the most harmful types of these chemicals are
persistent organic pollutants (POP). Theses persistent organic pollutants
do not go away. They accumulate in the food chain. If
they start in a small animal say a small fish, then a bigger fish eats the
smaller one. The bigger fish not only gets the nutrients and vitamins
from the smaller fish, it also gets the POP chemicals. Then when
that fish is eaten the chemicals do not go away. Instead, the
chemical compound and remain in the food chain. By the time the
persistent organic chemicals work their way up to the top, to the polar
bear, the concentration of them is so large that the toxic components in
them are no match of the the large and strong polar bear.
These chemicals not only have adverse affect on adult polar bears, but
some cases have been found where young, baby polar bears are being born
with both male and female sex organs. This may be a result of the
adult polar bear's immune system beginning to fail.
