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Polar Bears Officially in Danger of Extinction
Polar bears are in trouble. They've been added to a list of threatened species by the United States government. The problem is that the place they live is vanishing. Polar bears live on ice that floats on the Arctic sea. The bears eat seals, and they must travel long distances over ice to find food. Because of global warming, that ice is melting If this keeps up, then in 50 years most of the polar bear's habitat or home will be gone.
Polar bears are built to live on ice, so when it goes, they won't be able to live anywhere else. They have a four-inch thick layer of fat around their whole body to keep them warm. They only live in the Northern Hemisphere, in Alaska, Canada, Norway, Russia and Greenland. The government can use a law called the Endangered Species Act to protect threatened animals. For example, when the Spotted Owl was threatened, people were not allowed to chop down trees where the owl lived. In the case of the polar bear, we'd have to stop power plants, cars, and factories from polluting. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne said that he doesn't think we should use the Endangered Species Act to combat global warming. But environmental groups may challenge his view to see if things can be done to save the bears.
I'm Adelbert and that's what happened in Science this week!
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