Polar bear ‘poop’ and how it offers important clues into climate change effects

"Polar bear poop," as it's come to be known, is a valuable tool for researchers at Dalhousie University, as they look for its effects on the animals health and climate change.

It may seem like an unorthodox way to study polar bears, but it turns out the massive animals’ feces is offering vital clues into their health and the effects of climate change.

The “polar bear poop,” as it’s come to be known, is a valuable tool for researchers like Stephanie Collins, a professor at Dalhousie University’s department of agriculture and aquaculture in Halifax.

“(It answers) how we can learn about the diet and whether or not that diet is contributing to the health of an animal,” she said.

The samples come from two groups of polar bears: wild ones that ended up in “polar bear jail” in Churchill, Man., for getting too close to town and bears that live permanently in captivity at the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat.

“It was a lot of fun getting to take part in something that is directly correlating to what’s going on in the wild,” said Amy Baxendell-Young from the habitat.

The samples have shown researchers how changes in the bears’ diet have affected their gut microbiome. Collins and her team determined the two groups have distinctively different microbiomes, which gives them a baseline for future studies on polar bear health.

“Our gut microbiome tells us a lot about us. It can tell us about our health, our diet,” she said.

All this is crucial as climate change leads to shrinking ice coverage, which leaves polar bears’ preferred meal of seals further out of reach.