Is a polar bear eating reindeer normal behavior — or the result of climate change?

A recently filmed hunt on Svalbard captured imaginations — but scientists need more research to understand how unusual this behavior is.

Recently, scientists in Hornsund, Svalbard — a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean — witnessed a polar bear pursuing a reindeer into the sea before killing it, dragging it ashore and eating it. The video that they captured was widely shared on news and social media platforms. Then, two days later, they saw the same bear beside a second fresh reindeer kill.