Polar bears are having to shift their diet from eating seals and other marine animals to plants and land animals, largely due to climate change.
Three different studies published last year suggest that the warming Arctic is forcing polar bears in western Hudson Bay to forage through vegetation, including mushrooms and berries, replacing their regular diet of seal pups with snow geese and caribou. The consumption of seal pups and marine animals during the spring months is essential for the bears as this is when they gain their fat reserves.