The breathing holes of ringed seals provide ideal hunting opportunities for polar bears.

Lord of the Arctic ice with problems

The scene on the Arctic ice with a Ringed seal and a Polar bear – as displayed in a showcase at the MEERESMUSEUM – will perhaps soon just be a view of the past. A massive decrease in the mass of ice around the North Pole has already been observed in recent years. A lasting consequence of global warming or just a temporary phase? For the Polar bears, at least, the consequences of declining sea ice pose an extreme threat to their living conditions.

Although excellent and long-distance swimmers, the bears of the polar region are reliant for their long walks on largely closed ice sheets. Especially for the young, the shorter and shorter periods of ice can be a lethal danger. These come into the world in the winter on the mainland in protected snow or ice caves and after three months travel with their mother to the feeding grounds in the Arctic Ocean in Summer. If these are becoming increasingly difficult to reach, the chances of survival decrease.

As the display case shows, the habitats of the Ringed seal and Polar bear are closely related. The breathing holes of the seals are ideal hunting opportunities for the white hunters. Even if the exits and ice holes of Ringed seals in the ice are well hidden, the bears, thanks to their good sense of smell, can detect them from great distances.