LONDON: Scientists blame global warming for weird behaviour
Polar bears in the Arctic have been seen eating dolphins for the first time ever.
Scientists in the Norwegian High Arctic witnessed an adult male polar bear prey on two white-beaked dolphins in April 2014.
According to the Huffington Post, the predator was spotted eating one of the dolphins and covering another with snow, which they believe it was saving for later.
The researchers found seven other dolphin carcasses which appeared to be have been scavenged on by six different polar bears.
“It is likely that new species are appearing in the diet of polar bears due to climate change because new species are finding their way north,” Jon Aars, one of the researchers at the Norwegian Polar Institute, told AFP.
Dolphins are regularly seen in the Norwegian Arctic during the summer months when the ice melts but never during the winter or spring when the sea is usually covered with ice.
Scientists believe the dolphins were lured by warm water and retreating ice.
The Guardian reports that Jon Aars, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, said photographed the bears eating the two dolphins and said they were probably caught as they surfaced to breathe through a small hole in the ice.
