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Bear Essentials

The ancient Greeks regarded the known world as composed of five elements: earth, fire, air and water. If they had known of the polar regions, they would have undoubtedly have added a fifth element, ice.
A Naturalist’s Guide to the Arctic: E.C. Pielou 1994

The visual shock of a Great White Bear boar walking on barren, brown arctic is like a slap in the face. Good morning and welcome to Churchill, and the Waspusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada. We stand 6 degrees south of the Arctic Circle, in a province of Canada that is 20% the size of continental USA, or nearly twice the size of South Africa.
Paging randomly through an Atlas, Churchill is one of those dimly remembered blips from childhood geography. Locating it on a map is easy because no other settlement is found near it. It is, however, steeped in history, the area being first described by a Dane, Jens Munch, who in 1618 named the Cape Churchill area New Denmark, ready to be settled. Munch was so overwhelmed with the wildlife of the area that he spent a whole summer indulging in exploring its endless variety.
Boundless herds of Caribou roamed the pea green plains, fat pods of various species of seals and Beluga whales splashed selfishly in the frigid waters of Hudson’s Bay. Valuable pelts from arctic hares, arctic foxes and polar bears were collected seemingly without end.

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Polar Bear (Ursus Maritimus)

The polar bear or the sea/ice bear are the world's largest land predators. They can be found in the Artic, the U.S. (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), and Norway. Each of these countries either banned hunting or established rules for how many polar bears could be hunted within its own boundaries. These rules help keep polar bear populations stable. Today, 25,000 to 40,000 polar bears roam the Arctic.

Polar Bear with cub

Around the age of four or five the female polar bear can start having babies. They usually only have two cubs and they have these babies in a cave they've dug in a large snow drift. They stay there over winter and come out in spring with the babies.

Cub suckling on it's mother

The babies are much smaller than human babies when they're born. They are the size of a rat and weigh little more than a pound. They can grow to full man size in a year if they have lots of food.

Who's the Boss?

Male polar bears may grow 10 feet tall and weigh over 1400 pounds. Females reach seven feet and weigh 650 pounds. In the wild polar bears live up to age 25.

Male Polar bear

Despite what we think, a polar bear's fur is not white. Each hair is clear hollow tube. Polar bears look white because each hollow hair reflects the light. On sunny days, it traps the sun's infrared heat and keeps the bear warm at 98 degrees F (when they're resting).

Bear on Ice

Polar bear fur is oily and water repellent. The hairs don't mat when wet, allowing the polar bears to easily shake free of water and any ice that may form after swimming.

Hitching a ride!

Humans are the polar bears only predator. Baby polar bears often starve. In fact, 70 percent do not live to their third birthday. Sometimes seals are hard to find, especially in the summer when the ice has melted. All across the Arctic, man is moving in to mine oil and coal and there is less space for the polar bear to live.

Follow the lead

Polar bears have wide front paws with slightly webbed toes that help them swim. They paddle with their front feet and steer with their hind feet. Paw pads with rough surfaces help prevent polar bears from slipping up on the ice. Polar bears have been known to swim 100 miles (161 kilometers) at a stretch.

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