A study by the University of Alberta and the Manitoba and federal governments suggests land-based food isn't much help to polar bears.
Researcher Andrew Derocher says 142 nuisance bears kept at a so-called polar bear jail in Churchill, Manitoba, were not fed before being released, and were found to lose about one kilogram of mass a day.
The same amount of weight was lost by free-ranging bears that foraged on land-based food such as berries, kelp and goose eggs during the ice-free season.
That contradicts other studies suggesting polar bears might adapt to land food to offset shorter seal-hunting seasons caused by declining sea ice.
