Are You Polar Bear Aware?

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species: U. maritimus

Binomial name
Ursus maritimus
Phipps

From Wikipedia

I created this lens to be the GO-TO place on all things polar bear. Here you'll find loads of interesting photos and facts which might be just what you're looking for. For those of you who want more, you'll find many relevant links to more in-depth info.

As sections become overly large, I split them off into their own sites and have links to get to them. For example, Polar Bear Videos, Polar Bear Cartoons, Goodbye Knut - A Tribute, Polar Bear Ware for bear t-shirts, hats and other bear wares, Bear Fetishes.

It is a long lens so you are not expected to take it all in in one bite. I've organized it logically (I think) so read for a while, bookmark the page, and come back often. I add to it often. (I research, write about, read about or sculpt polar bears every single day so I have a mammoth amount of information on them.)

To share your thoughts and/or questions about this lens, click Guest Book.

To contact me or join my Fan Club, click Frankster's profile. There you'll also find a list of all of the other lenses I've created.

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Polar bear drawing @ Copyright 2009, David M. Booth

Polar bears are such great creatures. And to think that it's only in recent evolutionary time that bears adapted to arctic sea life. It started during the Ice Age, in the northern seas, when the seals needed to breathe and reproduce at the surface. By doing this, the seals put a rich year-round food source within reach of a population of brown bears, who then started to live on the ice, evolving into something like the polar bear of today around 100,000 years ago.

Weighing about 330 to 1,760 pounds, the length of the polar bear's body is approximately 6.6 to 10 feet (some sources say 8 to 11 feet) tall. The male body is usually larger than the female. The polar bear, similar to the brown bear, is large and stocky. It has an elongated neck and small head. Its fur, usually white, sometimes appears yellow, due to oxidation.

A polar bear has black skin, which helps it absorb and hold heat from the sunlight. It is definitely well dressed for the weather with a layer of fat more than 4 inches thick to provide good insulation. The heavy fur on its feet (its foot is about 9 inches wide and 12 inches long) provides warmth and traction. Since each foot is so large, it acts as a handy snowshoe. They walk with a bow-legged gait.

It is a good swimmer with its broad forepaws that serve as paddles. When swimming underwater, the small ears flatten for protection and its nostril close. It paddles at about 6 and one-half miles per hour - front feet only, hind feet trailing - and can remain submerged for about 2 minutes. The hairs of its waterproof coat are hollow which is a good insulator and increases the bear's buoyancy when swimming.

A polar bear has a good sense of smell, sensing prey at a distance of about 20 miles. Although little is known about its sense of touch (its eyesight and hearing is acute), a polar bear is able to manipulate various objects with great dexterity.

With canine teeth larger and sharper than those of other bears, the polar bear is the most carnivorous North American bear.

Photos: iStockPhoto

The earliest polar bear fossil is less than 100,000 years old. And it is likely that they separated from the brown (grizzly) bear somewhere near the arctic coast of Siberia.

As the polar bear evolved, it's appearance diverged from the brown bear's, growing hair all over it's body except nose and pads of feet. The bear's coat became white to yellow and sometimes light brown depending on the time of year.

The head became elongated with a Roman nose. The cheek teeth became smaller and more jagged and the canines larger and sharper for tearing apart it's favorite food, seal. And their claws are also shorter and more solid than the brown bear.

The polar bear's tail and ears are smaller than the brown bear's but they have huge feet. Their feet are used to swim (used oar-like) and like snowshoes on the snow and ice. They also have small, soft papillae on the bottoms of their feet which gives them traction on the ice when they run.

Polar bears mate in April or May.
Although the egg is fertilized, it remains in a state of suspension in the female until late in August or early September. The egg then implants in the wall of the uterus and begins to grow.

Early in November or December, the female, prepares for the impending birth by digging a maternity den. She stays in the den and the babies are born between late November and early January.

One of the most extensive denning areas for polar bears is the lowlands of Hudson Bay and James Bay--the only known location where polar bears den in earth rather than in snow--where by digging down to the permafrost they choose to dig out caves in lake and stream banks and peat hummocks. It is believed that they might also use these permafrost dens to find shade in the summer time.

Photo: iStockPhoto

Cibachrome print of polar bear embryos by award winning international photographers, Daniel & Geo Fuchs. To see it and more of their fabulous work, click The Bulger Gallery.

By the way, how many embryos do you count?

Polar bears, like people, prefer certain foods. They have an acute sense of smell and is able to locate prey, even when hidden by snowdrifts or ice. Polar bears mainly stalks young seals and can eat nearly 50 a year). They also like walruses and capture them by swimming underwater to their ice floes. They also likes algae (when available), berries, birds and bird eggs, crabs, dead animals (including whales), grasses, mushrooms, small mammals, starfish, and sometimes...adult seals.

The polar bear, when it returns to it's den is lethargic. Males usually den from late November to late January, while females den for a longer period of time, from November to March. During that time, the sows give birth. The cubs remain with their mother about 1-1/2 to 2 years.

One of the largest denning areas for polar bears is the lowlands of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It is also the only known region where polar bears den in earth rather than in snow. They actually dig down to the permafrost to excavate caves.

Most polar bears meet their potential mates in prime seal-hunting spots. Female polar bears don't breed every year since they have cubs for up to 2 years. So, getting a date can be a real challenge! Therefore, competition for the attention of a female can be truly fierce. The males must fight one another for the privilege of mating, sometimes viciously.

Although mating takes place in late March to mid-July, females delay implantation of its fertilized eggs until early fall when it digs out and enters its den, giving birth a month or two later. To carry off a successful pregnancy and denning, the pregnant female must greatly increase her weight, mostly in fat. The denned mother often goes without food or water for as long as nine months.

The cubs are born in December or January, usually a pair of fur balls. They weigh in at about 1 to 1.5 pounds. When they leave their den in March or Apr, the cubs will weigh 25 to 30 pounds.

Photos: iStockPhoto

Turns out that polar bears have distinctive whisker spot patterns. The University of Central Florida keeps a visual database of polar bears encountered with photos and encountering information.

They have a picture of the polar bears side-view (right or left side) that shows the whisker spot patterns and scars. Each bear's is unique.

For more information, see Reuters's article Of Fingerprints and polar bear whiskers.

Polar bear paws are large -- about 9 inches wide and 12 inches long. Here's a photo of a print left by a polar bear. You can see just the front part of the paw.

The tail of a polar bear is very small compared to the rest of his body.

The tail is flat and between 3 to 5 inches long. It's not always easy to see because the long hair on the body often covers it.

Here's a great shot of one.

Test Your Knowledge

My Blog polarbearnews.com has been HACKED and is down temporarily. Please come back to test your polar bear knowledge.

Answer the following 10 questions to find out how Polar Bear Aware you are. After taking the test, click on the link at the bottom to get the answers and your Aware-ness Quotient. Take the test again after reading though the lens.

1. Polar bears evolved from which other bear?
2. Female polar bears are called what?
3. What is the Inuit name for polar bear?
4. What color is the skin of a polar bear?
5. A polar bear can remain submerged for how long?
6. _________ is known as the polar bear capital of the world.
7. A denned mother often goes without food or water for how long?
8. Cubs don't leave the den until they are how old?
9. Besides man, what is the biggest threat Polar Bears face?
10. What is the Polar Bears favorite food?

Aware-ness Quotients:
0 - 1 wrong answers = Polar Bear Aware
2 - 3 wrong answers = Bear-ly Aware
4 - 5 wrong answers = Bears Repeating
6 + wrong answers = Bear-ly Worth Scoring

Click here to see the answers and get your Aware-ness Quotient.

Photos: iStockPhoto

Weekly Polar Bear Cartoon

Come back every Monday to see a NEW Polar Bear Cartoon. To see all of David's cartoons, be sure to go to his wonderful website Cabin Fever Art. Tell him you saw him at Polar Bear Aware! You can get this design or any of his other dozens of cartoons and artwork on anything from t-shirts to note cards at Cartoon Bear Ware

Polar bears live only in the Northern Hemisphere. They inhabit the Arctic ice cap, islands, sea ice, and water and continental coastlines. Polar bears prefer the sea ice habitat. They like to be near the continental coastlines or islands.

Polar bears are found in Canada, from the northern arctic islands south to the Hudson Bay. They are also found in Greenland, the islands off the coast of Norway, on the northern and northwestern coasts of Alaska and on the northern coast of the former Soviet Union.

Some polar bears spend part of the year on land, although in warmer climates a bear might become stranded. Most pregnant females spend the autumn and winter on land in their maternity dens.

The home range of a polar bear tend to be larger than for other mammal species because of the changes in sea ice from year to year and even season to season. Small home ranges are between 19,000 to 23,000 miles, and can be found near Canadian Arctic Islands. Large home ranges are about 135,000 miles and can be found in the Bering or Chukchi Seas. A polar bear is capable of traveling 19 miles or more per day for several days, although some are capable of much more than that.

Photos: iStockPhoto

Polar bears, like people, prefer certain foods. They have an acute sense of smell and is able to locate prey, even when hidden by snowdrifts or ice. Polar bears mainly stalks young seals and can eat nearly 50 a year). They also like walruses and capture them by swimming underwater to their ice floes. They also likes algae (when available), berries, birds and bird eggs, crabs, beluga whale and bowhead whales carcasses, grasses, mushrooms, small mammals, starfish, and sometimes...adult seals.

Evidently polar bears also love watermelon too. Check out this photo of a polar bear eating one with gusto.



Click to see more photos.

Inuit Beliefs

The prehistoric Inuit people held strong beliefs about animals and about the polar bear specifically. They knew how to kill animals including polar bears but they believed they had to defer to their spirits when they did.

The beliefs and practices varied some depending on where the people lived. However, they had (maybe some still do) the following common themes: They believed that...

* All creatures have souls.

* That a polar bear would give itself to a hunter only if it were treated properly after death.

* The spirit of an animal might be chosen to be the tornaq (spiritual guardian) of an individual.

* The most powerful tornaq (after the Sedna, the Goddess of the sea, who was held to be the most powerful being of all) was that of a polar bear.

* It was wrong to kill a polar bear too soon after another one was killed so there was a taboo set on hunting. For instance, the Netsilik, Copper, and Inland Inuit abstained for 5 days after killing a female and 4 days for a male.

* If a polar bear was wounded by a hunter, it's soul would be deeply offended and cause sickness and harm to the hunter therefore, it had to be tracked down and killed.

The Inuit people still have much regard and reverence for the polar bear.

Qupqugiaq is a 10-legged polar bear in this Inuit legend. In the story, he renounces violence and tries to create a love-based community.

To read the complete story, click Kokogiak

Live Polar Bear Cams

Here is a live cam from the arctic where polar bears are being recorded live. Watch them hunt, play, sleep, or doing whatever they want to do!

WWF Save The Polar Bear, Polar Bear Tracker For the last four years WWF has tracked polar bears in the Arctic. Their positions are beamed from collars on the bears' necks, via satellite to scientists, and then to their website. It allows regular updates about how the polar bears behave in their arctic environment and how they may be affected by climate change. You can read more about tagging the polar bears on the WWF website which is brought to you with the help of the Norwegian Polar Institute.

More Polar Bear Photos

See Polar Bears Live

Want To Swim With Polar Bears?

FREE Polar Bear Stuff

Learn how to draw a vector style polar bear face using photoshop in this free online tutorial. The photo can be used in any graphic design project like in logos. Click Your PhotoShop Guide to get to the tutorial. Here's what the final output of this tutorial would look like:

Polar Bear News

Interesting Bear Sites

When I discovered the problems facing polar bears, I looked for an organization that I could work with to help save them. I found the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). Their mission is to protect wildlife for our children's future, connect people with nature and to confront global warming.

I am proud to be a member of NWF and to support them in their efforts to save Polar Bears and other animals from extinction.

The NWF is helping to lead a nationwide grassroots effort to protect the Arctic Refuge. For more information on this click NWF-Arctic Refuge. Or, for membership information, click NWF Membership.

50% of all income received on this lens is donated to NWF with the other 50% going to PBI.

I am so happy to have found Polar Bears International (PBI), a non-profit "dedicated to understanding and communicating all points of view on issues affecting polar bears throughout the world and conservation through research and education."

A few of their programs include: The Conference Classroom, where field scientist teach live classes from the tundra via Web casts; a Leadership Camp for high school students from around the world who travel to Churchill, Manitoba to study; a Polar Bear Camp at Gordon Point near Churchill; and several guest lecturer series. PBI also have the most comprehensive website on polar bears anywhere.

For more information or to join or donate to this wonderful organization, click Polar Bears International.

50% of all income received on this lens is donated to PBI with the other 50% going to NWF.

David Booth and I are pleased to announce our new polar bear cartoon blog. Check it out at Bear Cartoons.

Animal and Environmental Groups

Interested in learning more about Polar Bears? Read about the organizations and what they are doing to help the polar bear and other endangered species.

National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Tel: 800-822-9919
11100 Wildlife Center Dr, Reston, VA 20190-5362
Mission:
To inspire Americans to:
* protect wildlife for our children's future
* connect people with nature
* confront global warming

Polar Bears International (PBI) Tel: 225-923-3114
105 Morris Street, Suite 188, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Mission:
1. Conserve the world's polar bear through research & education.
2. Serve as a central educational resource on polar bears worldwide.
3. Promote teamwork and encourage constructive dialogue.
4. Build an organization that is international in scope.
5. Operate in a fiscally responsible fashion.

Bears - BearPlanet.org
Mission:
* take care for all species of Bears.
* to educate visitors about all aspects and attributes of Bears

Defenders of Wildlife Tel: 1-800-385-9712
1130 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Mission:
Dedicated to the protection of all native wild animals and plants in their natural communities.

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