Polar bears are found in arctic environments where average temperatures are between -29℉ in the winter and 32℉ in the summer. Polar bears require such a cold environment to keep ice constantly frozen. Polar bears need ice not only so that they can get around to hunt, but also because it provides an ecosystem for organisms such as plankton and microorganisms, which seals feed on. The polar bears depend on the seal population as their primary source of food, so without the ice there to keep the seals fed and alive, there would be no polar bears.
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For polar bears, one of the most important environments is at the edges of ice packs where currents and wind interact to form continually melting and refreezing ice patches. This opens up areas between packs of ice so that the polar bears can hunt for the seals under the water. As stated before, polar bears rely on seals as their main source of food. They primarily eat the fat off of the seals and then leave the rest of the seal out. This provides food for other animals in the arctic environment. Many scavengers such as the Arctic fox and the snowy owl depend on the left over seal meat as one of their main sources of food. Without the polar bears hunting seals, many of the other arctic species would be affected, showing how polar bears carry out a big role in their ecosystem.
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