Norwegian scientists have seen polar bears eating dolphins in the Arctic for the first time ever and blame global warming for the bears expanding their diet.

 

Polar bears feed mainly on seals but Jon Aars at the Norwegian Polar Institute has photographed dolphins being devoured by a bear and published his findings in the latest edition of Polar Research this month.

 

"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," he said.

 

The first incident he documented was in April 2014 when his team came across a polar feeding on the carcasses of two white-beaked dolphins.

 

Although dolphins are regularly seen in the Norwegian Arctic in the summer months when the ice has melted, they have never been observed during winter or spring when the sea is usually still covered in sheets of ice.

 

But Norwegian scientists have reported a strong retreat of ice and two nearly ice-free winters in recent years which they said could have attracted the dolphins further north, where they probably became trapped by the sudden arrival of dense ice blown into a fjord by strong northerly winds.

 

After the first incident in 2014, a further five cases of dolphins stranded or captured and then eaten by bears have been reported.

 

Sitting at the top of the Arctic food chain, polar bears are opportunistic predators that are also known to feed on small whales if the opportunity arises.

 

 

PHOTO: A polar bear eats a white-beaked dolphin in the Raudfjorden fjord, on the northwestern coast of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Norway, on July 2, 2014.

CREDIT: AFP Photo/Samuel Blanc.