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Life

Polar bears appear to be ageing faster as the Arctic gets warmer

Markers of biological ageing in polar bear tissue samples reveal that stress associated with climate change appears to be taking a toll

By James Woodford

16 February 2024

Polar bears have a hard time hunting when ice breaks up in the Arctic summer

All Canada Photos / Alamy

The stress of climate change seems to be making polar bears today age at a faster rate than those born just over half a century ago.

In Hudson Bay, Canada, at the southern edge of the Arctic, the ice-free season has lengthened by approximately 8 days per decade since the early 1980s, reducing the time that polar bears have to hunt and…

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