"Climate Change:
It's a heart-rending video: The National Geographic tape shows a plainly starving, shockingly thin polar bear rummaging for food.
It's near death.
The tragic scene went viral on the internet.
...And, of course, the media wasted no time in fixing blame: global warming.
...It's important to note, however, that starvation is a leading cause of death among polar bears, especially the old and the young.
Though they have no real predatory enemies, they can be outfought for food by bigger, more robust bears.
Even the National Geographic, which put out the video, was somewhat circumspect in its conclusion about the bear, noting, "As a whole, polar bear populations around the world are not in immediate peril."
Nor are polar bears in peril where the starving bear was filmed, on Baffin Island..."
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