# How would polar bears fare in the antarctic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770 "2011-07-04T01:16:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/1 "2011-07-04T01:16:58Z")
Have their been any scientific or speculative studies done about how polar bears would fare if they were released into the antarctic? Any discourse on how the ecology would be impacted by introducing this exotic species into that particular niche? (Mods, I’m not putting this in IMHO because I am interested in finding actual research on the topic, though I’d welcome doper speculation on it too.) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/2 "2011-07-04T01:23:03Z")
I am unaware of any studies. However, I think polar bears would do well in some parts of the Antarctic where they could have access to seals at breathing holes. However, I’m sure they would be extremely destructive to penguin colonies and other seabird colonies, which evolved their behaviors in the absence of land predators. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/3 "2011-07-04T01:41:21Z")
Ok, thanks. Is it wrong of me to want to sneak some polar bears down there, and just see how things work out? I promise I won’t let it get out of hand like the cane toads in Australia or kudzu in the southern US. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/4 "2011-07-04T01:44:17Z")
They’d make out like bandits, because of (a) an abundant supply of tasty and (on land) slow moving penguins, and (b) the absence of a settled human population. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/5 "2011-07-04T01:49:46Z")
I suppose you could introduce sterilized polar bears, just to see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/6 "2011-07-04T02:15:44Z")
Keep in mind that Antarctica is far colder than the Arctic due to one being land and the other ocean. But I’m sure they’d do OK on the coast, and that’s where all the food is anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/7 "2011-07-04T03:32:41Z")
As a side note, the use of sled dogs has been banned in Antarctica because of the havoc a feral population would inflict on bird colonies. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/8 "2011-07-04T03:34:14Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > As a side note, the use of sled dogs has been banned in Antarctica because of the havoc a feral population would inflict on bird colonies. But…but…that would call into question the entire opening sequence of John Carpenter’s _The Thing_! Say it ain’t so! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/9 "2011-07-04T03:45:20Z")
One of my favourite trivia questions is: why do polar bears not eat penguins? It’s surprising how few know the answer. This leads to a question I’ve idly wondered about many times: has any polar bear ever eaten a penguin? ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/10 "2011-07-04T03:46:25Z")
On a related note, I’ve often wondered what would happen if I imported penguins to Nunavut. Could they survive? Or would the polar bears eat them all? What if I made a fenced off, protected area for them? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/11 "2011-07-04T04:43:51Z")
There have been releases of penguins in the Northern Hemisphere, sometimes by the crews of fishing vessels, sometimes by legitimate (if probably misguided) biologists. I can’t say if any were eaten by polar bears. [http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1676/05-130.1](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1676/05-130.1) > **[Stray Penguins Probably Reached Northern Waters By Fishing Boat](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070605185637.htm)** > > Penguins have been spotted periodically in the wild in the Northern Hemisphere during the last 50 years. Two biologists now conclude they probably got so far from home aboard fishing boats, not by swimming. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/12 "2011-07-04T04:53:36Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > This leads to a question I’ve idly wondered about many times: has any polar bear ever eaten a penguin? [The original bird that was called a “penguin” was the extinct Great Auk](http://www.communigate.co.uk/ne/penguins/page2.phtml), and they certainly were occasionally eaten by polar bears. When similar flightless black-and-white birds were found in the Southern Hemisphere the name was transferred to them. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/13 "2011-07-04T04:57:05Z")
> [@Nunavut\_Boy](#): > > On a related note, I’ve often wondered what would happen if I imported penguins to Nunavut. Could they survive? Or would the polar bears eat them all? What if I made a fenced off, protected area for them? Making a fence that can keep out a polar bear would be difficult. They’re incredibly strong. But even if you did, penguins have to feed at sea where they’d be vulnerable to the bears. > [@Colibri](#): > > However, I think polar bears would do well in some parts of the Antarctic where they could have access to seals at breathing holes. Do seals actually live in the Antarctic? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/14 "2011-07-04T04:59:19Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Do seals actually live in the Antarctic? Indeed they do. Leopard seals, in fact, are the principal predator of the penguin. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/15 "2011-07-04T04:59:32Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Do seals actually live in the Antarctic? Yes, [at least six species.](http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/wildlife/seals/index.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/16 "2011-07-04T06:18:28Z")
That would make them bi-polar bears, requiring therapy and being shot with darts filled with lithium. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/17 "2011-07-04T06:47:27Z")
> [@](#): > > But…but…that would call into question the entire opening sequence of John Carpenter’s The Thing! Say it ain’t so! No, that just means that _all_ of the dogs you saw at the base were Things. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/18 "2011-07-04T06:58:24Z")
You got yourself a fish biscuit! ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/19 "2011-07-04T12:25:31Z")
Here’s a previous [short thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=479675&highlight=bears+kerguelan) on the subject. I remember there was at least one more old thread (about suitable Arctic habitat shrinking, I think) including posts about introducing polar bears on Kerguelen but it seems to have disappeared. iirc several people argued that it was a bad idea. And dogs were only banned from Antarctica in 1994, 12 years after John Carpenter’s film was made… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770/20 "2011-07-04T12:28:32Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > One of my favourite trivia questions is: why do polar bears not eat penguins? It’s surprising how few know the answer. They can’t get the [wrappers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penguin_%28biscuit%29)off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-polar-bears-fare-in-the-antarctic/587770.md?page=2)