An adult polar bear eating a year-old cub on Baffin Island, Canadian Arctic
As furious predators, polar bears strike fear into the hearts of seals. But it’s not just seals that should be scared of them. Male polar bears are territorial creatures that will fight each other to the death over food and mates. The prevailing male will not stop at killing another male to prevent him from mating with a female, but will also kill and partly consume any of the losing male’s offspring. By doing so, the dominant male cuts off the dead male’s lineage and mates with the female to produce his own bloodline. This form of infantile cannibalism is seen across other big predator species, such as lions and tigers. Experts are concerned that polar bears are not only turning to cannibalism to preserve their genetic lineage, but also due to a lack of food. Researchers at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution in Russia think that cannibalism in polar bears is on the rise, potentially because of a loss of hunting grounds in the Arctic due to climate change.