Polar bear climate refugees in Antarctica?

February 20, 2016 10:30 AM

The recent declines of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean have me wondering. Would it be plausible (or even possible) to establish a viable population of polar bears in Antarctica?

Obviously, any introduction of animals into different ecological niches leads to unintended consequences (see: rabbits in Australia, cane toads in Australia, etc.), but I’m not sure I can see any other way of protecting the species from extinction.

posted by nicepersonality to Science & Nature (14 answers total)

Right off the bat I can see one problem: polar bears are omnivorous...... so for penguins (who already have to try to avoid being eaten by orcas etc) it'd be an added predator.
posted by easily confused at 10:45 AM on February 20, 2016

So you'd (potentially) save one species while destroying an entire fragile ecosystem? Antarctica isn't a sterile wasteland, it has its own stuff going on (penguins being the obvious one but it's an entire ecosystem in its own right). Adding in an apex predator in numbers high enough to be sustainable would be a disaster for everything else. Which would screw-up the polar bears in the long run too.
posted by shelleycat at 11:01 AM on February 20, 2016

First of all, thank you so much for being willing to think of new ideas and talk about them. Understandably, many many people don't even bother; they tend to find fault with others' ideas without going the extra step. Which is also understandable - people are busy - but the prevailing "wisdom" that ideas are so cheap they're free is troubling to me.

My personal thoughts on the idea of transporting polar bears: if you can find a way to safely catch and relocate them, maybe there are safer places in the northern arctic region that would be suitable for them. If you could find a way to do that, it might be better for them.
posted by amtho at 11:33 AM on February 20, 2016

Some bear populations are migrating to adapt to climate change. I believe some of the cold climate bears are gradually migrating south for survival.
posted by effluvia at 11:40 AM on February 20, 2016

Some bear populations are migrating to adapt to climate change. I believe some of the cold climate bears are gradually migrating south for survival.

I won't see it but I bet there are polar/black/grizzly cross breeds in just a few decades. Alaska / Siberia could be really interesting in 2040 or so.
posted by Freedomboy at 12:16 PM on February 20, 2016

There already are polar/grizzly hybrids. They're called pizzlies and they're becoming increasingly common, for exactly those reasons: polar bears are gradually migrating southward.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:36 PM on February 20, 2016

Would it be plausible (or even possible) to establish a viable population of polar bears in Antarctica?

This is a great question. Thanks for asking it.

I am an environmental studies major, so I have some background knowledge about such things. You are obviously considering the issue of temperature, but there are a few other biggies that could make this a failure.

There was a medical professional stationed in Antarctica. I saw an interview with her and she talked about how being stationed there did bizarre things to people, like their finger nails would thicken into claw-like forms. In winter, Antarctica is more hostile than doing a moon landing. They talked about the surprisingly high altitudes and extremes of cold and how you cannot even land a plane there at all during parts of the year because the conditions are so extreme.

So, it is possible that the conditions in Antarctica are too extreme for polar bears to survive.

Second, the primary thing that killed so many native tribes when Europeans came to the Americas was not war, it was exposure to new germs. Entire tribes were wiped out by things like small pox. From what I gather, if you travel over 500 miles, you are dealing with alien germs, which is part of why travel bugs have such a vicious reputation generally (Revenge of Montezuma, etc). So, you would be sticking these bears into an alien biome filled with alien microbes for which they may have zero immunity. One possible outcome is that all or most bears so transported would die of infection fairly quickly.

Additionally, there will be a different mix of animals for them to consume. This might be a problem in ways we likely could not predict.

Last, my understanding is that winter is the season when polar bears fatten up. Summer is when they have trouble getting enough to eat and end up losing weight. Given the harsh conditions in the antarctic, this may be unviable as a pattern. It would be a significant adaptation to potentially reverse their abundant and lean seasons. (Or maybe not, given that the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere.)

So, you would need to first determine if polar bears can even survive in Antarctica, a question which has likely not yet been explored.
posted by Michele in California at 1:10 PM on February 20, 2016

They talked about the surprisingly high altitudes and extremes of cold and how you cannot even land a plane there at all during parts of the year because the conditions are so extreme.

For context, I will add that the state of Alaska is very dependent on plane travel over road travel as a response to the snowy, wilderness conditions. So, I think Antarctica likely makes the North Pole look like a pleasant island vacation. Your polar bears might be all "ARE YOU CRAZY? I'm not getting out the plane here!"
posted by Michele in California at 1:21 PM on February 20, 2016

It'd be 10x cheaper and you'd get 10x the result by putting your targeted bear population in a series of giant zoos.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:39 PM on February 20, 2016

I'm also a biologist and even did some polar bear related field work a million years ago when I was young. So I feel qualified to say that they would eat all the penguins immediately.

Polar bears already have access to everywhere in the Arctic since they are a circumpolar species btw.
posted by fshgrl at 7:30 PM on February 20, 2016

The primary problem with this idea is that there are currently no land-based predators in Antarctica, so the animals there are not evolved to cope with them. Arctic seals resting on the ice are constantly vigilant and will slide back into the water if you get anywhere near them; Antarctic seals are much more chill, and penguins are actively curious about humans and presumably would be similar with polar bears. So polar bears would be pretty disruptive to the ecosystem, many parts of which are already somewhat stressed from climate change.
posted by fermion at 7:32 PM on February 20, 2016

There are large penguin species in Antarctica that huddle in extremely large groups for months while they incubate their eggs (which sit on their feet.) If the egg falls off their feet and touches the ground, it freezes, killing the egg.

Now, imagine a polar bear hunting one of these penguins... the other penguins scatter away from the polar bear in panic, dropping their eggs, potentially killing an entire generation of eggs in a single polar bear attack...
posted by A sock, a sock! My kingdom for a sock! at 7:38 PM on February 20, 2016

Yup, add me to the "all the penguins would die" crowd. Penguins are completely fearless on land. Like, 'wandering up to bright red people (survival gear is not subtle) and sticking their noses in the camera lens' fearless. Maybe they would learn fear, but I've heard they never learnt to fear huskies (much to the snacking delight of the huskies). And they can't learn speed, not when they have eggs to look after. Pretty much anywhere a penguin can go, a polar bear can, so no hiding possibilities.
posted by kjs4 at 9:32 PM on February 20, 2016

Thanks, folks. You’ve definitely convinced me it would be a Bad Idea. (Well, I kinda figured it was, but you’ve explained exactly why.)
posted by nicepersonality at 7:23 AM on February 21, 2016