WildFact
›
Information Section
›
Terrestrial Wild Animals
›
Carnivorous and Omnivores Animals, Excluding Felids
›
Bears
Polar Bears - Data, Pictures and Videos
Polar Bears - Data, Pictures and Videos
|
Polar Bears - Data, Pictures and Videos
|
A nice insight into the life of a female polar bear (who is pushed south in Summer season).
My opinion of polar bears as being less adaptable than brown bears has changed a bit. Polar bears actually do seem to adapt good to brown bear environments. The she-bear is seen foraging on berries along the Alaskan coast: 
Polar bears will have a lot of tough obstacles to cross if they are forced into grizzly country. A completely new diet is just one of those tests. Another is hibernation. Will a polar bear be guided by instinct to hibernate during the long Winter months? And, if so, can a polar bear gain the necessary fat reserve to survive hibernation? If they can pass these tough obstacles, it is likely that in time, there will be unlimited crossbreeding between the polars and the grizzlies resulting in the polar bears becoming basically lost within the genes of the grizzlies.
The Polar bears could have been absorbed/assimilated by the much larger Brown bear population if they keep moving into their territory.
Photo and information credits: Roie Galitz - Nature and Wildlife Photographer
"The Polar Bear is smelling something miles away, behind the mountains. It has the best sense of smell in all the animal kingdom. We have spent hours next to this majestic animal, the world's largest carnivore, and it was amazing! Svalbard always surprises me."  *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Alex Kirichko
"Orange Sunset. Alaska. October 2016."  *This image is copyright of its original author
BTW, Ursus maritimus tyrannus was in fact a hybrid between the Irish Brown bear and the regular Polar bear, and they were in fact more omnivorous than the regular Polar bear.
Polar bear family taken at Wapusk National Park in Canada, credits to Roie Galitz - Nature and Wildlife Photographer.
 *This image is copyright of its original author
Question from Jor-El: "What do polar bears smell like?"
Answer from Dr. Thea Bechshoft: Jor-El, what a brilliant question! I wondered the same myself for years and so the first time I was close to a sedated polar bear, the first thing I did was to bury my face in its fur and take a good whiff  Unlike for example dogs, cats, horses or sheep, the smell of a polar bear is incredibly subtle. If I were to compare it to anything (and I’ve given this quite a bit of thought), it would be…hmm....imagine you’ve been going for a long walk along the oceanside on a really windy day. The smell of your clean, non-perfumed, windblown hair when you come back inside is the closest I can come, believe it or not. There are a number of reasons why polar bears don’t smell like very much, but primarily: 1) Most polar bears spend their entire lives on the sea ice, a very neutral smelling environment (water, ice, snow), and 2) polar bears don’t have territories to defend like most other carnivores. Hence, they don’t need to scent-mark their particular area. Not by smelling strongly themselves and not by making themselves smell strongly by rolling in smelly things like e.g. dogs to. Finally, a wet polar bear will have a slightly more noticeable smell than a dry bear, and a polar bear that’s in the middle of eating a seal will smell strongly of the prey. Similarly, a bear that is forced to spend its summer on land instead of on the sea ice (as for example the bears in Hudson Bay, Canada) may smell of wet peat, berries, or fermented algae - mostly though, they simply smell like dry sand. I also imagine that a polar bear with an upset stomach or an adult female who has spent the past 3 months in the den with her newborn cub may well have a somewhat stronger smell. If you want to read more related to this topic, have a look at these links: on the polar bear’s sense of smell http://bit.ly/1DQ730r, on their nose and skull http://bit.ly/YESluB, and on the two types of hair their fur is made up of http://bit.ly/1M0uPzy.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Alex Kirichko
Discussion. Alaska. October 2016.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Question from Jonas: How can polar bears survive swimming in ice cold water when humans can't?
Answer from Dr. Thea Bechshoft: The answer can be summed up in one wobbly little word: fat! Polar bears are exceptionally well adapted to the cold Arctic environment, and are able to stay toasty and keep up their 37° C body core temperature even when the snow storm is raging in the middle of the polar night. What keeps the bear from freezing when it’s above water is it’s fur – but when it’s under water, the hair no longer offers much isolation and the bear must instead rely on the fat layer it has accumulated under its skin to stay warm. This fat layer can be up to 11 cm thick, and is especially prominent on the back haunches (rump). How thick this layer becomes obviously depends on how successful of a hunter the individual bear is – the more seals, the fatter the bear. And as I’ve said before, a fat polar bear is a happy polar bear! On a side note, a good layer of fat also helps keep the bear naturally buoyant in the water. Polar bears are very good swimmers, and long distance swims are common in adults that roam the ice alone. Females with cubs on the other hands tend to avoid swimming too much if at all possible; the cubs are not yet very well isolated, and may ultimately die if they are too cold for too long as would happen during a lengthy swim. Some polar bear mothers solve this by giving their cubs a piggyback ride when crossing the water between ice floes (as you can see an example of in the picture I’ve attached). The most extreme polar bear swim on record is that of an adult female who swam for nine days straight, a total of 687 km. Very impressive! Unfortunately, it also cost her her cub and 22% of her body fat, which tells you that although this swim was physically possible for her, it was not without cost. Humans on the other hand are very poorly insulated (even when you may feel that your bathroom scale is trying to tell you something else!). Compared to polar bears we have almost no fat layer under our skin, which is the main reason we don’t last very long in cold water. Some long-distance swimmers cover themselves in grease before an extensive open-water swim (e.g. lanolin, petrolatum, lard), partly to protect themselves against the cold, partly to protect themselves against jellyfish stings.  *This image is copyright of its original author
Photo and information credits: Russell MacLaughlin - Photography
"Moody Arctic colors...."  *This image is copyright of its original author
Sadly, a dog (No sure if same one) was later killed by a Bear.
Tragedy as sledge dog is attacked and killed by polar bear ADORABLE footage of a huge polar bear gently stroking a dog has had a tragic ending. In heartwarming scenes, the powerful bear pats the chained dog with both front paws without any sign of aggression. Now it has been revealed how a sledge dog has been killed by the Arctic’s most formidable wild creature in the same icy wastes where the viral footage was shot. Three polar bears have also been removed by the authorities from the same location. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is today reporting how the landowner on whose property the footage was shot has revealed how another of his dogs was killed by a polar bear. He told CBC News that there were up to nine bears on his land where the dogs are kept chained and one of them struck on the night no food was put out for the massive predators The viral footage was shot in Churchill, Manitoba, the recent home of BBC’s Arctic Live, which saw Kate Humble giving daily updates from the 'Polar Bear Capital of the World'. Churchill’s geographical positioning allows the nomadic bears to walk out on Hudson Bay’s frozen sea ice as temperatures plunge each autumn to hunt seals. Quote:The bear was immobilised and moved to the holding facility because it killed one of the dogs The gathering of the bears during November has created a major tourist attraction for the remote town. CBC says the man has explained how he shows visitors the bears for a fee and has previously described the relationship between the wild animals and the dogs as “nature’s will”. But, says the broadcaster, under Manitoban legislation people should not interfere with endangered species and someone caught feeding polar bears can face enforcement action. The news network also reported today that Manitoba Sustainable Development had removed three bears from the man’s land. A spokesperson told CBC News: “Conservation officers had to immobilise a bear in that area last week and move it to the holding facility because it killed one of his dogs. "A mother and cub were also removed because there were allegations the bears were being fed and the females' behaviour was becoming a concern." http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/733...l-Manitoba |
| Users browsing this thread: |
| 20 Guest(s) |