When it comes to the most “stupid” large-scale carnivorous beasts, I believe everyone will think of “big stupid bears” invariably.
Bears are found almost all over the world, from cold Alaska, Greenland, Canada, Siberia, to hot Southeast Asia, you can find all kinds of bears of all sizes. Even in the icy Arctic, the world’s largest bear, the polar bear, is active.
The thick fur and fat of polar bears, as well as their snow-white hair, allow them to survive in the low temperature of minus 30 degrees Celsius in the Arctic. They spend almost their entire lives on the ice, feeding on fat seals. But for some reason, in Antarctica, another kingdom of ice and snow, although there are seals that polar bears love to eat, there is no sign of the bear. Why is there no “Antarctic bear”?
In fact, almost all bears live in the northern hemisphere, only the spectacled bear, a small bear, lives in Latin America in the southern hemisphere, and the others are only found in the northern hemisphere. This is because the ancestors of bears only appeared in the northern hemisphere at the earliest, so the evolved descendants naturally cannot cross the ocean to settle in the southern hemisphere.
For example, the common ancestor of polar bears and brown bears lived between 5 million and 500,000 years ago. While 5 million years may seem like a huge timescale to us, it is not worth mentioning in the history of the entire planet. At that time, the positions of the continental plates on the earth were almost the same as they are today, so the polar bears who arrived late naturally no longer had the opportunity to “immigrate” from the North Pole to the South Pole. Remember, the continents closest to the South Pole are the southern tip of South America, including Chile and Argentina. Even if a persistent polar bear trudges through mountains and waters to get to Chile, to reach the South Pole, it must cross the dangerous Drake Passage, an area known for its high winds and waves.
Geographical factors aside, if we airlift polar bears to Antarctica, can they live here?
Don’t say, there’s really no problem, even these big white guys may live more comfortably than in their hometown in the north! Polar bears mainly feed on seals, and occasionally birds or eggs, all three of which are abundant in Antarctica, not to mention that Antarctica is also full of fat and flightless penguins. In addition, animals in Antarctica have not evolved vigilance against large terrestrial predators due to a lack of natural predators. Therefore, for polar bears, Antarctica is simply a “luxury cafeteria” where you can indulge in delicious food!
That’s why people don’t put polar bears in Antarctica – it could lead to the collapse of the Antarctic ecosystem!
