In a warming world, the polar bear has become the unofficial mascot of ecological collapse. We’ve all seen photos of these majestic predators reduced to skin and bones, clinging to dwindling chunks of sea ice as they try—and fail—to hunt. But in a remote Norwegian archipelago, a very different story unfolds.

Svalbard is home to about 3,000 peopleand almost the same number of polar bears live in the Svalbard and Barents Sea region. An estimated 300 bears remain in the archipelago year-round. Across the Arctic, shrinking sea ice is depriving this species of critical hunting grounds, and Svalbard is no exception. But somehow, its polar bear population is thriving, with bears gaining weight since 2000 despite rapid sea ice loss.

This finding, published Thursday in the journal Scientific reportsThe study’s authors were understandably surprised. Lead author Jon Aars, a senior researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said Ireland Live that when he joined the NPI in 2003, he would have expected that the number of bears would decrease and their population would decrease.

“This paper highlights how different populations of polar bears diverge from each other, using Svalbard as an example of more than two decades of rapid sea ice loss,” co-author Andrew Derocher, professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta, told the advocacy group. International Polar Bears.

Defying the odds

ago RESEARCH REVEALS shows that the average temperature in the Barents Sea region surrounding Svalbard has increased by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) per decade since 1980. As a result, this area lost sea ice habitat at a rate of four days per year between 1979 and 2014, study show. That’s more than double the rate of any other polar bear habitat, according to Aars and his colleagues.

Despite this, the polar bear population in the Barents Sea has remained stable since Aars held a census in 2004, which was estimated at 2,650 individuals throughout the region.

To examine the drivers of this resilience, Aars’ team analyzed body composition data of 770 adult polar bears measured in Svalbard between 1992 and 2019. The researchers then compared changes in the bears’ body composition index (BCI)—an indicator of fat reserves—with the number of ice-free days in the Barents Sea region during the Barents season. Seayear.

They found that the bears are gaining weight even as sea ice continues to disappear, with their average BCI increasing since 2000.

Complexities of a changing Arctic

The find presents an ecological puzzle, but Aars and his colleagues have several ideas about how Svalbard’s polar bears have managed to thrive despite rapid habitat loss.

One reason may be that bear populations of land prey, such as reindeer and walrus, have rebounded after years of overexploitation by humans, the researchers suggest. These species may supplement the bears’ diets because hunting marine prey—especially ringed seals—may become less accessible.

However, it is also possible that the loss of sea ice caused ringed seals to congregate in smaller areas of sea ice, allowing the bears to hunt more efficiently. As such, the authors predict that this benefit will diminish with further sea ice decline, as the distances polar bears must travel across hunting grounds will increase. Researchers have already observed this phenomenon in other populations.

Unraveling the complex factors that allow Svalbard’s polar bears to withstand adversity will require further research, according to the authors. For now, at least, this population is a testament to the fact that life always finds a way, but polar bears across the Arctic still face an existential threat.