Wildlife experts often use images of emaciated polar bears to show how habitats are coming under threat due to ice shrinking and sea levels rising. For example just a few months ago footage emerged of a polar bear prowling around on thin ice in the Nunavut territory in the northernmost region in Canada.
Wildlife experts said that the photos showed how the polar bears' habitat is coming under threat due to human-induced global warming.
However, a new report, drafted by the Nunavut government completely contracts these widely-held claims about declining populations.
The draft report, which is set to be published by the end of this year, claims that polar bear populations are much higher than scientists estimated - and are actually increasing.