Majestic, increasingly hungry and at risk of disappearing, the polar bear is dependent on something melting away on our warming planet: sea ice.

Nearly 60 polar bears have been stranded on the Arctic coast near a remote village in Russia's Far East after warm winter weather hampered their hunting routine.

More polar bears on land have been encountering more people in the Arctic, a perfect storm of dangerous conditions, one scientist says.

The habitat overlap of polar bears and their main prey, ringed seals, is disappearing and the bears are instead getting closer to nesting birds.

Seven polar bears, including a wounded mother bear with two cubs, were scared away by rescuers after they got dangerously close to reindeer herders at several locations on the Yamal peninsula. There are concern over rising numbers of the Arctic’s largest predators leaving their natural habitat and coming closer to humans.