A federal judge has asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to clarify whether the polar bear should be listed as "endangered" or merely "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, giving Salazar a chance to protect polar bears from the continued destruction of their habitat.

Listing polar bears as an endangered species would provide them with new, stronger protections under federal law, and with studies showing that as much as two-thirds of the polar bear population could be gone by 2050, time is quickly running out to save this species.