Polar bears bulk up despite melting Norwegian Arctic: study

The head of the Polar Bear Program, Jon Aars (R) from Norway, Marie-Anne Blanchet (2nd R) from France, and Norwegian veterinarian Rolf Arne Olberg (L) measure a big male polar bear in eastern Spitzbergen, in the Svalbard archipelago, on April 6, 2025,. The Norwegian Polar Institute, an Arctic research organisation, organised a five-week expedition aboard the high-tech research vessel and icebreaker Kronprins Haakon to collect adipose tissue biopsies and blood samples from polar bears in order to study the impact of pollutants on their health. – Photo: Olivier MORIN/AFP

Their icy hunting grounds are rapidly shrinking, but polar bears in Norway's remote Svalbard archipelago have defied the odds by bulking up instead of wasting away, a study said Thursday.

The Barents Sea has lost sea ice faster than other areas with polar bears as temperatures have risen there more than in other Arctic regions, according to the research published in the journal Scientific Reports.