Aflac this year decided to advertise there for one simple reason, Knutson said: The company knew Fox was airing Sanders’ first two games. “We’re going to continue to follow him around,” Knutson said. “This Fox investment paid off.”

“Populations have not grown,” Steven Amstrup, chief scientist for Polar Bears International, said in an email. “Rather our growing knowledge has shown there may be more bears in these areas than we previously thought.”

John Whiteman, chief research scientist at Polar Bears International, pointed out that the data is sporadic and not as continuous as the graph makes it appear.