How does melting Arctic sea ice make it harder for polar bears to catch prey?

Polar bears rely on Arctic sea ice as a platform for hunting their primary prey, such as ringed seals. The bears typically stalk seals resting on the ice or ambush them at breathing holes, which are small gaps in the ice that provide seals with necessary access to both air and water.12

As global warming causes Arctic sea ice to melt and fragment, these critical hunting platforms disappear. The widening of gaps in the ice and the overall reduction in ice coverage make it significantly more challenging for polar bears to locate and capture their prey. Furthermore, longer ice-free seasons force bears to spend more time on land, where they are often restricted to lower-quality food sources like berries and seabird eggs, which require more energy to obtain and do not provide the same nutritional value as their traditional marine diet. This loss of habitat and the resulting difficulty in hunting are primary drivers of predicted population declines and increased starvation rates among the species.12