Evolution is quicker than they thought

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

That's a bit of confusion from the global warming folks: polar bears do not live on ice, they use the ice as fishing platforms. As the ice melts they do not lose their home, which is on land; they lose their jumping-off places to catch more fish.

I haven't seen any miscommunication on that front. It's usually pretty clear that the bears are swimming out to sea in hopes of finding a floe to rest on and fish from, and drowning if they can't. They are good swimmers, but they can't swim indefinitely.

There may be selection pressure that causes them to give up and head back to land earlier, but if that means they don't have enough to feed their young, they aren't going to pass that tendency on. Perhaps they'll have to start picking a cub, and only raise one at a time instead of two.