Polar bears floating past the Houses of Parliament

It looks like a scene from a surreal post-apocalyptic film - a polar bear and her cub stranded on an iceberg float past the Houses of Parliament.

But the creatures floating down the Thames today were sculptures launched in the river to raise awareness of climate change.

The polar bear stranded on the ever-receding icecaps has become the iconic image of the effects of global warming.



The 16ft-high structure was launched in Greenwich, south east London and travelled upstream to Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament.

A team of 15 artists spent two months working on the piece which aims to draw attention to climate change and its effect on the Arctic mammal.



The work was commissioned by Eden, a new digital television channel devoted to natural history programming.

Wildlife broadcaster Sir David Attenborough said: 'The melting of the polar bears' sea ice habitat is one of the most pressing environmental concerns of our time.'



'We need to do what we can to protect the world's largest land carnivores from extinction.'

The sculpture will travel to other UK cities including Birmingham and Glasgow.