A starved polar bear found found dead in Svalbard as "little more than skin and bones" perished due to a lack of sea ice on which to hunt seals, according to a renowned polar bear expert. [Photo/Xinhua]

A Norwegian expert on Friday did not rule out starvation as the cause of the death of an old polar bear, but said the exact cause could not be determined before a closer examination is done.

The 16-year-old polar bear was found dead on a Svalbard island in late July, three months after he was checked by experts at the Norwegian Polar Institute.

The bear was reduced to skin and bones when its body was discovered, giving rise to speculations over the past two weeks that the bear died of starvation as a result of the global warming melting sea ice in the Arctic and in turn, making it difficult for bears to hunt seals.

Jon Aars, an expert with the Norwegian Polar Institute, said that the body of the bear was still at the site where it was discovered.

"It is not possible to give any certain reason for the death of this bear" as no closer examination of the bear has been done yet, said Aars, who studies seals, polar bears, ice and the effects of climate change.

The old age of the bear and the lack of sea ice in the area in summer might have contributed to the death of the bear, whose health condition was checked in April this year, he told Xinhua by phone.

"The bear was old. And that old bears have in general a much lower annual survival than bears in prime age, starvation is the most likely cause of death for old bears," said Aars.

In addition, the lack of sea ice in summer in the general area where the bear was found dead likely made it less able to hunt as seals on the sea ice is the most likely and accessible prey for polar bears, he said.

Duan Xu, a Chinese polar scientist, said he saw the bear's body and took some photos of it on July 29.

The bear's incisors and canine teeth were in a very poor shape and its claw tips were blunt, a sign of old age, he said on the Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of twitter that.

An old polar bear in this condition might starve to death anyhow for not being able to hunt, in disregard of the climate change, said Duan.

Echoing with Duan, Aars said that the high age of the polar bear was an important factor in its death.

"However, the teeth of this bear I do not think are telling too much. We examined them in April. It had some breakage, but they were not in a bad condition, the age of the bear taken into account," said Aars.

"I have seen bears with much worse teeth surviving many years thereafter," he added.

Aars said that he would like to have a bone from the bear's body for scientific study.

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