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Ode to Ursus Maritimus
My ode follows these few words. The fate of the polar bear is precarious, to say the least. There are perhaps as many as 30,000 of these great creatures remaining in the northern world, their habitat ever-shrinking. They are the largest terrestrial predator on Earth. According to Professor Peter Molnar, from the University of Toronto, who has conducted several studies, “polar bears are already sitting at the top of the world, if the ice goes, they have no place to go”. He calls them “the poster child of climate change”.
Sea ice is declining at a rate of about 13% per decade since satellites first started capturing images in the late 1970’s. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that the bears are most vulnerable due to climate change and global warming and the diminishing ice mass curtailing their ability to hunt for seals and sustenance. The U.S. Geological Survey has predicted that two thirds of the species will disappear by 2050. There is grave concern that these mammals will disappear from the world by 2100.