Blood on the ice. A torso ripped open. Bits of hide scattered to the wind.
On the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska, these signs usually chronicle a quick meal by the Earth’s largest non-aquatic predator.
Photo by USFWS
Polar bears have always made their living by scarfing down ringed seals, what federal biologist Steve Amstrup likes to call “fat pills.” Over tens of thousands of years, the bears have evolved the curiosity and patience to find these subnivian lairs hidden to human eyes — and the lightning reflexes to bust in and seize the seal before it can escape into the sea below.
But this was no seal carcass. It was a female polar bear. And it had been stalked, killed and consumed by an adult male bear.