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Polar Bears Are Inefficient Predators Of Seabird Eggs, Patrick M. Jagielski, Cody J. Dey, H. Grant Gilchrist, Evan S. Richardson, Oliver P. Love, Christina A.D. Semeniuk
Polar Bears Are Inefficient Predators Of Seabird Eggs, Patrick M. Jagielski, Cody J. Dey, H. Grant Gilchrist, Evan S. Richardson, Oliver P. Love, Christina A.D. Semeniuk
Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research Publications
Climate-mediated sea-ice loss is disrupting the foraging ecology of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) across much of their range. As a result, there have been increased reports of polar bears foraging on seabird eggs across parts of their range. Given that polar bears have evolved to hunt seals on ice, they may not be efficient predators of seabird eggs. We investigated polar bears' foraging performance on common eider (Somateria mollissima) eggs on Mitivik Island, Nunavut, Canada to test whether bear decision-making heuristics are consistent with expectations of optimal foraging theory. Using aerial-drones, we recorded multiple foraging bouts over 11 days, and …