The diet of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from Svalbard, Norway, inferred from scat analysis

A circumpolar monitoring framework for polar bears

“…This method requires building a region-specific reference set of fat specimens from all available prey species (Thiemann et al 2007a,b). Diets can also be inferred from morphological and molecular analyses of fecal samples (Iversen 2011). This information can be used to analyze spatial and temporal change in diet composition.…”

Barents Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus): population biology and anthropogenic threats

“…All of these species have been recorded in the diet of polar bears from this area (Lønø 1970;Derocher et al 2002;Iversen et al 2013). Even if seal density is lower in the pack ice, bearded and harp seals are larger prey and represent a larger energy package for polar bears than ringed seals.…”

“…In the eastern Barents Sea, a Russian study reported 68% ringed seal, 22% walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) and other miscellaneous items in the diet of polar bears (Parovshchikov 1964), perhaps reflecting further geographic variation in the same population. Most information on polar bear diet from the Barents Sea is from spring, but Iversen et al (2013) reported findings based on scat samples from both spring and summer. Their study showed that polar bears in Svalbard feed on eggs, reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and vegetation, in addition to seals.…”

“…The world population size is suggested to be 20 000Á25 000 animals, comprising 19 subpopulations (Obbard et al 2010). Polar bears are specialized predators that mainly feed on seals and other marine mammals (Stirling & Archibald 1977;Smith 1980;Derocher et al 2002;Iversen et al 2013). Characterized as marine mammals themselves, polar bears rely on sea ice not only to gain access to their prey but also to travel between hunting and denning habitats.…”

Polar bears: proceedings of the 18th working meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group, Anchorage, Alaska, 7-11 June 2016

“…Samples of polar bear scats collected mainly from early spring were analysed for food species contents, both visually and using DNA analyses (Iversen et al 2013). It was found that ringed seal was the by far most common prey in areas close to shore in Svalbard in spring.…”