Exhibition highlights threat of warming on polar regions

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters Life!) - Ever wonder what it must be like to be a polar bear living in a region threatened by climate change?

A new exhibition opening on Saturday at Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences aims to educate visitors of all ages about the threats faced by polar bears and other wildlife whose habits are changing due to global warming.

"Ends of the Earth: From Polar Bears to Penguins", which runs until April 27, features a huge stuffed polar bear standing on its hind legs, interactive exhibits, maps and photographs.

Children can crawl into an imitation of a bear den to see how the animals live and compare their own weight on a special scale to that of a giant bear.

They can also learn about how melting ice forces the bears to go further to find food and limits their ability to build up fat to survive the Arctic winter. The result is smaller bears, fewer cubs, higher death rates and an increased threat of extinction in the most southerly part of their habitat.

"I hope and expect this exhibit will open new eyes to the warming impacts of man's excesses in the Earth's most frigid places," said William Brown, the president of the academy.

The show takes a broad view of the natural life of the polar regions, and the scientific research being conducted there, but the academy, the oldest natural history museum in the Americas, has staged the exhibition to heighten public awareness of the consequences of global warming.

In an attempt to link the Arctic to the local environment in the northeastern United States the show will also feature at specific times a live red-tailed hawk, a familiar species in the Philadelphia area which is now starting to move into the north polar region as rising temperatures allow it to find food there.

Although people are becoming more aware of the impact of individual lifestyles on global warming, many do not know how they can contribute to worldwide efforts to slow the process, said Jacquie Genovesi, the senior director of education at the academy.

"They are starting to understand that they have an effect but they feel helpless," she said.

The exhibition also aims to raise public understanding about the poles. It traces the history of polar exploration with an exhibit on early explorers and uses maps and photographs to highlight current scientific work, as well as the native peoples of the polar regions.

The Academy isn't trying to tell visitors to buy hybrid cars or vote for pro-environment politicians, but it hopes that people will be better informed about one aspect of the global climate debate by the time they leave the exhibition, Genovesi said.

"We are not going to tell you who to vote for, but we will give you the information so you have a knowledgeable vote," she said.