Diet composition of polar bears in Svalbard and the western Barents Sea

• Published in: Polar biology Vol. 25; no. 6; pp. 448 - 452
• Main Authors: DEROCHER, Andrew E, WIIG, Øystein, ANDERSEN, Magnus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Heidelberg Springer 01.06.2002; Berlin Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Aquatic mammals; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Erignathus barbatus; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Mammalia; Marine; Marine mammals; Phoca groenlandica; Phoca hispida; Polar bears; Predation; Prey; Seals; Ursus maritimus; Vertebrata; Arctic Ocean; Svalbard; Arctic Region; Barents Sea; PNE, Barents Sea; PNE, Norway, Svalbard; Fissipedia; Carnivora; Phoca hispida; Biomass; Feeding preference; Pinnipedia; Ursus maritimus; Feeding; Phoca groenlandica; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Diet; Seasonal variation; Polar region; Intraspecific comparison; Predator; Geographical variation
• ISSN: 0722-4060; 1432-2056
• DOI: 10.1007/s00300-002-0364-0

We estimated both the numerical and biomass composition of the prey of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from 135 opportunistic observations of kills in Svalbard and the western Barents Sea collected from March to October 1984-2001. By number, the prey composition was dominated by ringed seals (Phoca hispida) (63%), followed by bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) (13%), harp seals (P. groenlandica) (8%) and unknown species (16%). However, when known prey were converted to biomass, the composition was dominated by bearded seals (55%), followed by ringed seals (30%) and harp seals (15%). Results indicated that bearded seals are an important dietary item for polar bears in the western Barents Sea. We believe that different patterns of space use by different bears may result in geographic variation of diet within the same population.