3 ms·
Polar bears without ice and snow will become brown bears. Polar and brown bears can cross breed. My guess is that the polar bears will merge and turn back into
by ianburrell 3y ago
Polar bears without ice and snow will become brown bears. Polar and brown bears can cross breed. My guess is that the polar bears will merge and turn back into brown bears. But polar bears will be gone.
- steve_adams_86 3y agoThis was my intuition as well. The several-hundred year old populations haven’t become brown bears yet (not sure if they’re present in that eco system), but it seems likely that this would be inevitable on a long enough time scale. Having said that, I should also point out that I don’t know anything about any of this.
- swalling 3y agoThe barrier to this is dietary diversity. Brown bears are among the most omnivorous large mammals, whereas polar bears only eat plant matter in limited amounts / specific locales. A brown bear will get fat on food a polar bear starves on. You can’t reproduce if you’re not well fed.