informative essay about polar bears

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Polar bears roam the Arctic ice sheets and swim in that region's coastal waters. They are very strong swimmers, and their large front paws, which they use to paddle, are slightly webbed. Some polar bears have been seen swimming hundreds of miles from land—though they probably cover most of that distance by floating on sheets of ice.

Arctic Adaptations

Polar bears live in one of the planet's coldest environments and depend on a thick coat of insulated fur, which covers a warming layer of fat. Fur even grows on the bottom of their paws, which protects against cold surfaces and provides a good grip on ice. The bear's stark white coat provides camouflage in surrounding snow and ice. But under their fur, polar bears have black skin—the better to soak in the sun's warming rays.

These powerful predators typically prey on seals. In search of this quarry they frequent areas of shifting, cracking ice where seals may surface to breathe air. They also stalk ice edges and breathing holes. If the opportunity presents itself, polar bears will also consume carcasses, such as those of dead whales. These Arctic giants are the masters of their environment and have no natural enemies.

Breeding and Behavior

Females den by digging into deep snow drifts, which provide protection and insulation from the Arctic elements. They give birth in winter, usually to twins. Young cubs live with their mothers for some 28 months to learn the survival skills of the far north. Females aggressively protect their young, but receive no help from their solitary male mates. In fact, male polar bears may even kill young of their species.

Polar bears are attractive and appealing, but they are powerful predators that do not typically fear humans, which can make them dangerous. Near human settlements, they often acquire a taste for garbage, bringing bears and humans into perilous proximity.

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Home — Essay Samples — Science — Animals — WWF: Protecting Polar Bears

Wwf: Protecting Polar Bears

• Categories: Animals

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Words: 570 |

Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 570 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Reducing Industrial Impact

Protecting the last ice area of the artic.

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Polar bears live along shores and on sea ice in the icy cold Arctic. When sea ice forms over the ocean in cold weather, many polar bears, except pregnant females, head out onto the ice to hunt seals.

Polar bears primarily eat seals . Polar bears often rest silently at a seal's breathing hole in the ice, waiting for a seal in the water to surface. A polar bear may also hunt by swimming beneath the ice. But climate change is making it harder for polar bears to hunt. Ice melts earlier and re-forms later than it has in the past. Without the sea ice, the polar bear must scavenge for other, less nutritious food.

Polar bears roam the Arctic ice sheets and swim in that region's coastal waters. They are very strong swimmers, and their large front paws, which they use to paddle, are slightly webbed. Some polar bears have been seen swimming hundreds of miles from land—though they probably cover most of that distance by floating on sheets of ice.

In fall pregnant polar bears make dens in earth and snowbanks, where they'll stay through the winter and give birth to one to three cubs. In spring the mother emerges from her den followed by her cubs. During that time she will protect them and teach them how to hunt. The U.S. , Canada , Denmark , Norway , and Russia signed an agreement in 1973 to protect polar bears.

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The Polar Bear in the Northern Hemisphere Essay

The polar bear is an important species in the Northern Hemisphere which is threatened by extinction. Global warming and other human activities are endangering their ecosystems and this has led to a reduction in their number. They need to maintain constant body temperatures for them to survive in their natural habitat.

Oil drilling in the northern hemisphere has led to the pollution of their habitats which makes it difficult for them to breed and feed themselves. An increase in hunting has reduced their population and poses a big threat to their existence. All activities that have a negative impact on the survival of polar bears need to be halted to avert their extinction.

The polar bear is a very important species to both the US and humanity as a whole. The mammal has a lot of economic benefits because governments which have conserved habitats where these animals are found can benefit positively from tourism revenues.

Bears feed on seals and other animals and this helps to maintain biodiversity in the northern hemisphere. In some regions, polar bears are used as a source of food for people living there. Their bodies have a lot of furs which is used to make clothes.

Humanity needs to act to save the polar bear. Global warming needs to be addressed urgently to prevent ice in the north pole from melting. It is also necessary for communities that live near polar bear habitats to conserve these habitats to protect this species from extinction.

Countries which occupy the Northern hemisphere need to stop oil companies from drilling delicate ecosystems. This will help to protect the natural habitats of polar bears, seals and other endangered species from pollution. Polar bears need to be protected because they help to foster biodiversity in the Northern Hemisphere.

All governments need to work together to save the polar bear. It is necessary to conserve their habitats to ensure that their reproduction patterns are not interfered with. They spend a lot of time hunting for food because seals and other animals in their ecosystems are also endangered.

Several European nations have failed to agree on a ban to prohibit the global trafficking of polar bears which does not augur well for conservation efforts. All nations need to prohibit hunting and trading of polar bears to safeguard their existence on the planet.

More efforts are needed to ensure the population of polar bears remains stable. Global organizations and industrialized countries need to be more committed to reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere. This will ensure that ice in the North pole does not melt.

The global trade in polar bears needs to be prohibited to discourage people from hunting them. Countries which have large numbers of polar bears need to formulate policies that ensure their survival is not endangered by human activities.

Economic and non- economic benefits of saving the bear cannot justify the costs used. This species is very important to many regions of the northern hemisphere because it contributes positively to the environment.

It is important to conserve the habitat where the polar bear lives to ensure that it is protected from the reckless actions of a few individuals. Polar bears, just like other species need to be protected from extinction. They need to be allowed to live in their own natural habitat where they can reproduce without any external interference.

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IvyPanda. (2020, March 13). The Polar Bear in the Northern Hemisphere. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-polar-bear-in-the-northern-hemisphere/

"The Polar Bear in the Northern Hemisphere." IvyPanda , 13 Mar. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/the-polar-bear-in-the-northern-hemisphere/.

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IvyPanda . 2020. "The Polar Bear in the Northern Hemisphere." March 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-polar-bear-in-the-northern-hemisphere/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Polar Bear in the Northern Hemisphere." March 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-polar-bear-in-the-northern-hemisphere/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Polar Bear in the Northern Hemisphere." March 13, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-polar-bear-in-the-northern-hemisphere/.

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Polar bears and climate change: What does the science say?

By Ayesha Tandon  and  Roz Pidcock .

Design by Tom Pearson  and  Tom Prater .

8 December 2022

The image of a polar bear stranded on melting sea ice is often used as a symbol of the world’s rapidly changing climate. Yet every now and again, claims emerge in the media that polar bears’ plight might not be so serious after all.

Carbon Brief has dug through the literature on polar bears and climate change and spoken to experts from around the world to determine what a changing climate means for polar bears.

The consensus is clear – as Arctic sea ice melts , polar bears are finding it harder to hunt, mate and breed. While polar bears have shown some ability to adapt to changes in their surroundings – for example, by foraging for food on land, or swimming more to hunt for prey – scientists project that as sea ice diminishes, polar bears will find it harder to survive and populations will decline.

Polar bears and sea ice loss

Polar bears depend on sea ice for most important aspects of their lives – including hunting, mating and resting . While polar bears are strong swimmers, capable of swimming for hours on end, they find swimming much more energy intensive than walking. As such, sea ice is crucial for polar bears to survive.

However, temperatures in the Arctic are rising nearly four times as fast as the global average, and Arctic sea ice extent has declined since 1979 for every month of the year. The chart below shows how Arctic sea ice extent has diminished in recent decades.

Changes in Arctic Sea Ice, 1980 - 2022

Extent, million km 2, volume, km 3.

Source: NSIDC Sea Ice Index v3.0, APL/PSC PIOMAS v2.1

Note the truncated axis.

Prof Andrew Derocher is an expert in polar bear ecology and conservation at the University of Alberta . He tells Carbon Brief that “without sea ice, there is no sea ice ecosystem – and losing that ecosystem includes losing polar bears”.

Scientists have defined 19 key regions where polar bears live, extending across Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russian and the US. All 19 subpopulations of polar bears have experienced some degree of ice loss.

The 19 polar bear subpopulations can be grouped into four “ecoregions” , based on the annual pattern of sea ice loss and gain, as shown by the different colours on the map below. Purple, blue, yellow and red indicate archipelago, convergent, divergent and seasonal regions, respectively. Click on each subregion to learn more about its polar bear population.

The 19 polar bear subpopulations can be grouped into four “ecoregions”, based on the annual pattern of sea ice loss and gain

Ecoregions provided by Eric Regehr. Text source: IUCN (2021) .

The Arctic Basin (AB) subpopulation likely has few year-round resident polar bears and is generally excluded from analyses .

The four ecoregions are categorised by different seasonal ice melt and growth patterns. The latest Polar Bear Specialist Group status report ( pdf ) outlines the patterns of ice coverage for each one:

• Seasonal : The “rich environment” allows bears to gain weight in spring. But in summer, the ice melts completely – so polar bears are forced ashore and largely live off their fat reserves until ice reforms.
• Divergent : This region has historically had ice coverage all year round. However, as the climate warms, the sea ice is retreating farther from shore.
• Convergent : In this region, ice collects along the shore in summer, allowing the bears to remain on sea ice all-year round.
• Archipelago : Full ice coverage all year round. This region is “likely to provide a last refuge for polar bears and their prey”.

A review published in 2016 finds that “loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is the primary threat to polar bears throughout their range”. The paper plots sea-ice concentration in 18 of the 19 key regions over 1979-2014. It shows that ice decline is more notable in some regions than others. Analysis was not conducted for the 19th subpopulation – the Arctic Basin – due to the small polar bear subpopulation.

Between 1979 and 2014 the number of "ice covered" days decreased for 18 of the 19 polar bear subpopulations

The lines show the rate of decline in ice covered days/ year over the period

Baffin Bay

Barents Sea

Chukchi Sea

Davis Strait

East Greenland

Foxe Basin

Gulf of Boothia

Kane Basin

Kara Sea

Laptev Sea

Lancaster Sounds

M’Clintock Channel

Northern Beaufort Sea

Norwegian Bay

Southern Beaufort Sea

Southern Hudson Bay

Viscount Melville Sound

Western Hudson Bay

Source: Regehr et al 2016

Within each of the 19 subpopulation areas, daily sea-ice area was calculated by summing the product of ice concentration and grid cell area over all 25x25 km grid cells with concentration more than 15%. The midpoint between summer-minimum and winter-maximum ice areas was determined, and the number of days per year that ice area was above the midpoint calculated (i.e. the number of "icecovered" days).

The differing behaviour of sea ice across the Arctic means that not all polar bear populations will respond in the same way to thinning ice.

In subregions including the Southern Beaufort Sea , Baffin Bay and Western Hudson Bay , sea-ice loss has been directly linked to past or present declines in the polar bear population. For example, the video below shows how polar bears from the Western Hudson Bay migrate throughout the year in response to the annual cycle of growing and shrinking Arctic sea ice.

Video showing the migration pattern of polar bears from the Western Hudson Bay. Credit: Andrew Derocher

However, in regions such as the Kane Basin , which is part of the “archipelago” group, a shift from thick, multi-year ice to thinner, seasonal ice has proved beneficial for bears. Dr Eric Regehr – a polar bear expert at the University of Washington – tells Carbon Brief why thinning ice could, temporarily, help some polar bears:

“​​Historically, there was actually too much sea ice in the high Arctic for bears. The multi-year sea ice can be 10 metres thick, so it stifles productivity. So there is a transient phenomenon where in some of these high Arctic areas, as it’s getting warmer and sea ice is melting, the conditions are getting to be just right.

“It is important to recognise that we fully expect this to be a transient phenomenon, given that climate change today is being driven by greenhouse gas emissions, and that’s kind of a one way driver.”

It can be difficult to produce direct counts of polar bear numbers in the more remote parts of the Arctic, which means that scientists know a lot more about some polar bear populations than others.

Hunting and fasting

Polar bears most often feed on ringed seals that live at the ice edge, waiting for hours – or even days – for seals to emerge at breathing holes in the ice. Polar bear diets can also include bearded seals, harp seals and walruses.

A ringed seal, Svalbard, Norway. Credit: Nature Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo.

Polar bears get around two-thirds of their energy for the entire year in late spring and early summer, when prey is abundant. They then fast throughout much of the autumn and winter when prey is scarce.

However, as the climate warms, sea ice is retreating earlier in spring and forming later in winter. This gives polar bears less time to hunt , forcing them to go without food for longer and swim greater distances.

This extra exertion and lack of food can drive a decline in body condition and cause a drop in the average weight of adult bears. Meanwhile, fewer bear cubs survive and those that do are smaller .

One study , investigating how ice melt will affect bears’ fasting lengths over the coming century, concludes:

“With high greenhouse gas emissions , steeply declining reproduction and survival will jeopardise the persistence of all but a few high-Arctic subpopulations by 2100. Moderate emissions mitigation prolongs persistence but is unlikely to prevent some subpopulation extirpations within this century.”

The paper identifies a fasting “threshold” for adult males, adult females and cubs. The authors estimate that cubs can survive around 117 days without food during this fasting period, while adult male and female polar bears can survive longer. They then explore expected sea-ice loss under different warming scenarios to determine when polar bears might start experiencing impacts from extended fasting.

The chart shows the expected “year of first impact” from extended fasting, for cubs, adult female, and adult males bears, in both high (top) and mid (bottom) emissions scenarios. Each line shows a different polar bear subregion. The risk of impact increases as the colour of the line darkens – from “possible” impacts in light blue, to “inevitable” impacts in red.

Bears living on seasonal ice will see the greatest threat from warming over the coming decades. Cubs see more severe impacts from extended fasting than adult bears

Cub recruitment, high emissions scenario (rcp8.5), mid emissions scenario (rcp4.5), adult female survival, adult male survival.

Source: Chart made by Carbon Brief using data from Molnar et al

Years when projected annual fasting period lengths exceed cub recruitment (growth to adulthood), and adult survival impact thresholds in different subpopulation regions.

Polar bear impacts

As the climate warms, polar bears are being forced to change their behaviour, and their phenology – the timing of seasonal biological events, such as denning and breeding – is shifting.

For example, research shows that as polar bears lose access to their typical diet of seals, they are becoming increasingly reliant on other types of food , including whale carcasses , sea duck eggs and reindeer .

Derocher tells Carbon Brief that as polar bears are being forced to spend more time on land, they are more likely to be seen in human rubbish dumps as they “seek alternative foods”. He adds that this raises questions around “human-bear interactions”. For example, research finds that longer ice-free periods are linked to increasing conflict between humans and polar bears.

Meanwhile, female bears in the European Arctic now have only one-third as much denning habitat available as in the 1980s. And unusually warm weather in winter can cause the collapse of dens that females build to birth and protect their young. One study finds that female polar bears give birth to smaller litters of cubs when there are longer summer ice-free periods.

A polar bear cub looking out of a den, Hudson Bay, Canada. Credit: Robert Harding / Alamy Stock Photo.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ’s special report on the ocean and cryosphere , published in 2019, outlines the impact of declining sea ice and snow on polar bears:

“Changes in the timing, distribution and thickness of sea ice and snow have been linked to phenological shifts, and changes in distribution, denning, foraging behaviour and survival rates of polar bears ( high confidence ). Less ice is also driving polar bears to travel over greater distances and swim more than previously – both in offshore and in coastal areas, which can be particularly dangerous for young cubs.”

Meanwhile, ice fragmentation is reducing many polar bears’ range of travel and causing polar bear subpopulations to become increasingly isolated. Warming has also been linked to increases in contamination and exposure to diseases .

Other factors such as hunting, shipping, oil-and-gas activities, tourism, prey availability and successful conservation also come into play to greater or lesser extents.

While polar bears have shown some ability to adapt to changes in their surroundings – for example, by foraging for food on land or swimming more to hunt for prey – scientists project that polar bears will become more food-stressed as sea ice diminishes and that populations will decline.

Latest counts

Every few years, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes a “ Red List ” – an overview of the conservation status of threatened animal and plant species. The latest assessment for polar bears, published in 2015, classifies them as “vulnerable”, meaning they are facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Scientists estimate that there is a 70% chance the global population of polar bears will fall by more than a third within the next three generations.

Prof Charlotte Lindqvist , an expert in polar bears and climate change at the University of Buffalo , tells Carbon Brief:

“[The data] shows a significant decline in sea ice throughout the entire polar bear range over the last 35 years, and if this trend continues…the future looks dire for the polar bear species.”

However, scientists also think the risk of polar bear numbers dropping by more than half in the next 35 years is low (7%), while the risk of an 80% collapse is negligible. This means that polar bears do not meet the criteria of the IUCN’s more serious “endangered” category.

What needs to happen for polar bears to shift a category in the other direction, from “vulnerable” to the less-severe “near threatened”? Dena Cator – former coordinator of the Species Survival Commission at the IUCN – is clear on this point:

“The single most important factor to improve the long-term survival of polar bears is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and stabilising Arctic sea ice.”

The IUCN assessment does not look at the extinction risk for polar bears over a time span of longer than about 35 years – or three generations of polar bears. But without action to tackle climate change, it is likely that many polar bear subpopulations will cross “tipping points” over the next century if sea-ice loss continues as forecasted, says Cator.

Overall, the IUCN estimates the total number of polar bears at 26,000, with only a 5% chance that it is less than 22,000 or more than 31,000. And on the data available, the latest IUCN assessment says that three polar bear subpopulations are currently in decline, while none have seen a population increase over the last two generations.

As several polar bear subpopulations lack abundance estimates, and there is high uncertainty about the numbers that do exist, scientists are wary of trying to pinpoint the absolute size of the global polar bear population.

A recent study has also documented a 20th polar bear subpopulation – the Southeast Greenland population – for the first time.

However, the trend in populations for which there is data points to a species in decline, compared to two or three decades ago. And with the impacts of warming on polar bear habitat and feeding well-understood, scientists are clear that polar bears face a profound threat to their survival in the coming decades.

In light of growing concern, the US, Canada, Norway, Greenland and Russia all signed a Circumpolar Action Plan (CAP) in September 2015. This 10-year cooperation plan aims to “secure the long-term persistence of polar bears in the wild that represent the genetic, behavioural, life-history and ecological diversity of the species”, through seven key objectives.

A mid-term review , held in 2020, assessed “the degree to which the actions have been implemented, the effectiveness of actions to achieving the stated objectives, and the impact of those actions toward achieving the vision”.

A press release ( pdf ) released following the review said that, of 10 key threats identified, “human-caused climate change and the effects of such changes on polar bear habitat and prey is considered the primary threat”. It emphasised “the need for the global community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to conserve polar bears and their habitat”.

Progress on their 2020-23 implementation plan will be reported prior to a planned meeting of the parties in 2023.

8 December 2022. This article underwent a significant update to include the latest numbers from the IUCN report, interactive graphics and new literature.

22 Mar 2017. This article was updated to include a discussion of recent polar bears counts in Baffin Bay and Kane Basin , published since the last International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessment.

23 Dec 2016. This article was updated to include the latest IUCN Red List and extra comment from scientists. A paper detailing the conservation status of polar bears, the data from which underpinned the IUCN assessment, was published in Royal Society Biology Letters in December 2016.

4 March 2015. This article was updated to include the most recent polar bear subpopulation map from the IUCD/PBSG and further explanation.

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Polar Bear Primary Resource

Learn all about this arctic animal.

These primary resource sheets introduce children to the life of the  polar bear . Discover how polar bears live, hunt and care for their young, and learn about the efforts being made to protect these Arctic animals. How do polar bears survive in their ice-cold habitats? What threats do polar bears face? How are scientists able to track these amazing animals?

Pupils will gain in-depth knowledge of polar bears in these two fact-filled polar bear primary resources. Follow a mother and her new-born cubs on a journey in search of food in  Polar Bears on the Move (download below). And in  Undercover Polar Bears , join a team of scientists as they track and research this vulnerable species (download below).

These teaching resources can be used in study group tasks for discussing polar bear behaviour and conservation, as well as learning about how animals have adapted to survive and care after their young in harsh environments. The resources could be used as printed handouts for each pupil to review and annotate, or for display on the interactive whiteboard for class discussion.

Activity:  Ask pupils to write an account about a day in the life of a polar bear. They could imagine they are a polar bear adult or cub, and write about their different experiences in the Arctic (e.g. hunting for food, digging/leaving their den, crossing water, the dangers they face, etc.). The children could also draw a picture of a polar bear with annotations explaining how the animal is adapted to life in the Arctic, i.e. fur and body fat to keep warm, large, webbed paws for walking on the snow and swimming, sharp claws for hunting, etc.

N.B. The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the English National Curriculum and Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including South Africa , Australia and New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email: [email protected]

This Animals primary resource assists with teaching the following Key Stage 1 Science (Year 1) objectives from the National Curriculum :

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify and name a variety of common animals including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals
• identify and name a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores
• describe and compare the structure of a variety of common animals (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, including pets)  

Pupils might work scientifically by: using their observations to compare and contrast animals at first hand or through videos and photographs, describing how they identify and group them; grouping animals according to what they eat; and using their senses to compare different textures, sounds and smells.

National Curriculum Key Stage 1 Science (Year 2) objective :

• identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other  
• identify and name a variety of plants and animals in their habitats, including micro- habitats
• describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.  

Pupils should be introduced to the idea that all living things have certain characteristics that are essential for keeping them alive and healthy. They should raise and answer questions that help them to become familiar with the life processes that are common to all living things. Pupils should be introduced to the terms ‘habitat’ (a natural environment or home of a variety of plants and animals) and ‘micro-habitat’ (a very small habitat, for example for woodlice under stones, logs or leaf litter).

  Pupils should compare animals in familiar habitats with animals found in less familiar habitats, for example, on the seashore, in woodland, in the ocean, in the rainforest.

• notice that animals, including humans, have offspring which grow into adults
• find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)  

Pupils should be introduced to the basic needs of animals for survival, as well as the importance of exercise and nutrition for humans. They should also be introduced to the processes of reproduction and growth in animals. The focus at this stage should be on questions that help pupils to recognise growth; they should not be expected to understand how reproduction occurs.

National Curriculum Lower Key Stage 2 Science (Year 3) objective :

• identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition, and that they cannot make their own food; they get nutrition from what they eat  
• Compare and contrast the diets of different animals (including their pets) and decide ways of grouping them according to what they eat. They might research different food groups and how they keep us healthy and design meals based on what they find out.

National Curriculum Lower Key Stage 2 Science (Year 4) objective :

• recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways
• explore and use classification keys to help group, identify and name a variety of living things in their local and wider environment
• recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things  
• construct and interpret a variety of food chains, identifying producers, predators and prey

National Curriculum Upper Key Stage 2 Science (Year 5) objective :

• describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird

This Animals primary resource assists with teaching the following Sciences Early level objectives from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• I have observed living things in the environment over time and am becoming aware of how they depend on each other

This Animals primary resource assists with teaching the following Sciences First level objectives from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• I can explore examples of food chains and show an appreciation of how animals and plants depend on each other for food.
• By comparing generations of families of humans, plants and animals, I can begin to understand how characteristics are inherited

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Second level Sciences objectives :

• I can identify and classify examples of living things, past and present, to help me appreciate their diversity. I can relate physical and behavioural characteristics to their survival or extinction.
• I can use my knowledge of the interactions and energy flow between plants and animals in ecosystems, food chains and webs. I have contributed to the design or conservation of a wildlife area.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Third level Sciences objectives :

• I can sample and identify living things from different habitats to compare their biodiversity and can suggest reasons for their distribution.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Fourth level Sciences objectives :

• I understand how animal and plant species depend on each other and how living things are adapted for survival. I can predict the impact of population growth and natural hazards on biodiversity.

This Geography primary resource assists with teaching the following Social Studies First level objective from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :  

• By exploring climate zones around the world, I can compare and describe how climate affects living things.

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Second level Social Studies objective :  

• By comparing my local area with a contrasting area outwith Britain, I can investigate the main features of weather and climate, discussing the impact on living things.

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