ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska polar bears are losing their fur
and U.S. Geological Survey scientists don’t know why. In the
past two weeks, nine of 33 bears checked by scientists in the
southern Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found to have
alopecia — loss of fur — and skin lesions, said Tony DeGange,
chief of the biology office at the USGS Science Center in
Anchorage. Three of four bears inspected Thursday near Kaktovik
showed the symptoms as well. Scientists have been collecting
blood and tissue samples from the afflicted bears, but they do
not know the cause or the significance of the outbreak, the
Anchorage Daily News reported. “Our data set suggests that this
is unusual but not unprecedented,” DeGange said. Ten of 48 bears
checked by the team in 1998-99 had a similar condition, he said.