2023/11/02 by Matthieu Weiss-Blais, David Bolduc, Madeleine-Zoé Corbeil-Robitaille +6 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics #Cryospheric studies and observations #Marine animal studies overview
paper · pdf · doi:10.1139/as-2023-0036
openalex publication_date 2023/11/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
As sea-ice cover is shrinking, polar bears ( Ursus maritimus, Phipps, 1774) face decreased access to seals, their primary prey, resulting in a greater dependence on terrestrial food sources. Whether polar bears can benefit from these terrestrial food sources, however, depends on their ability to find and capture prey items without expending more energy than is acquired. Here, we report one of the northernmost observations of polar bear predation on adult birds. The bear used a dive-hunting technique, which consisted of submerging itself, approaching underwater, and catching flightless greater snow geese ( Anser caerulescens caerulescens (Linnaeus, 1758)) from beneath the surface of a tundra pond. After evaluating energy expenditures during swimming and energy intakes from consuming geese, we estimated that this rarely documented dive-hunting technique could be energetically profitable for a certain range of pursuit durations. This observation highlights the behavioral plasticity that polar bears can deploy to punctually exploit land-based food sources.