Polar bears in southern Greenland are 'using jumping genes to rapidly rewrite their own DNA' to survive melting sea ice

A polar bear on the top of an iceberg on the east coast of Greenland,Scoresby Sound, East Greenland.

Temperature stress may be driving genetic mutations in polar bears in southern Greenland, a new study reports.

The species is struggling in the face of a changing global climate. Global sea ice levels dropped to a record low in February, and the warming planet is pushing up sea levels. These changes threaten polar bears, which live and hunt on the shrinking ice sheets.