He is the undisputed King of the Arctic and at the same time the iconic symbol of climate change. No other animal stands as much for the challenges of our time, as the polar bear, whose habitat disappears year by year in an increasingly warming world. The IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group lists the polar bear as a vulnerable species, citing sea ice loss from climate change as the single biggest threat to their survival. Scientists estimate there are currently about 23,000 polar bears worldwide in 19 distinct sub-populations.