The polar bear is a creamy-white, carnivorous bear found largely within the Arctic Circle and its neighboring seas and land masses.

The polar bear's survival depends on sea ice, and if global gas emissions continue at current rates, people will witness a big crash on the number of endangered polar bears in most parts of Arctic Ocean, Reuters reports.

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Sea ice is where polar bears reside, mate, travel and hunt. And since climate change is inevitable, the ice that polar bears use is melting quickly, forcing them to live on land, where their usual preys like seals are not available. Without their prey to eat, most of the bears will starve to death.

According to Slate, one of the major reasons why polar bear populations will fall within the next 25 years or maybe sooner is when polluters do not cut down on their emissions very soon. This will put the polar bears on the verge of extinction. And even if the polluters do control emissions, polar bear populations are still expected to fall sharply by 2025 as more bears will starve to death due to melting sea ice.

Todd Atwood, USGS research biologist said, "Substantial sea ice loss and expected declines in the availability of marine prey that polar bears eat are the most important specific reasons for the increasingly worse outlook for polar bear populations."

Climate change is not the only reason for the imminent extinction of polar bears, Atwood and his team found that trans-arctic shipping, diseases and contamination, oil and gas exploration and hunting by native people contribute to the small crash on the polar bear populations compared to the larger effect of the loss of sea ice and the inability of bears to access their prey.

Alaska Native News has learned that the polar bear was listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened under the endangered species act in 2008 due to the threat by the loss of sea ice. The polar bear was the first species to be listed in relation to the effects of climate change. A plan to address recovery of the polar bear will be released into the Federal Register by the USFWS for public review on July 2.

Tagspolar bear, Arctic Ocean, endangered species, extinction