Where did all the snow go? The polar bear who can't understand why his world has suddenly turned purple



This confused polar bear looks as though he's taken a bit of a wrong turn - the Arctic landscape is covered in beautiful purple flowers instead of crisp white snow.

Far from being camouflaged, the bear can be seen from far away as he stands among thousands of fireweed flowers.

The pictures were taken by photographer Michael Poliza, 53, who couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the bear wandering across the landscape.

Where there should be snow, instead there is a field of purple flowers, confusing this polar bear

A changed landscape: Normally this area would be covered by snow at this time of year, but climate change means the ice has already retreated He said: 'The polar bear was all by himself as they are very solitary animals anyway. 'But this one looked particularly sad as it wandered around, almost a though it didn't understand where the snow had gone.' However stunning the pictures are though, they show the serious effect that climate change is having on our planet. Polar bears are having to adapt to the changing world and forage for food inland. Normally they do all their feeding on ice during the winter months, but each year the ice is melting earlier in the spring and forming later in autumn. That means they are facing increasingly longer summers without fat reserves from seals.

Looking for food: Polar bears are solitary animals, but this one appeared particularly sad

The pictures were taken by Michael Poliza in Hudson Bay at Point Hubbard, Canada

Mr Poliza, from Hamburg, Germany, said: 'During the Arctic summer polar bears fast and spend most of their time resting.

'This polar bear still had three months to go before the seal hunting season began again. Because there are only about 25,000 polar bears left in the wild their future looks more uncertain than ever.