After a two days and 600 miles from Winnipeg on the Hudson Bay Railroad, we arrived in Churchill, Canada, our destination and where we'd spent 8 days exploring the arctic north and mostly, for me, seeing polar bears in their natural habitat. Our van pulled into the parking lot of the Churchill Northern Studies Center. About half of the people were off the van and the driver yelled, "get back in the car!!" When he quickly repeated it, we hussled back into the van. There was a bear beside the building that was headed our way. I never saw the bear, but at least I knew there were polar bears in the vicinity! As we're eating lunch, a subadult male (a teenager) wandered into the area in front of the cafeteria. We all ran to the window so excited to see our first bear.
The director of the Center was out the door with a gun with what's called cracker shells--they make a loud sound and explodes a ways out like a firecracker. He was off! Someone got in their car and chased after him to make sure he was gone.
Waiting for everyone to arrive, the group went on a walk around the research center for about an hour. It was cold and when the wind would kick up, it would cut through the several layers of clothes. We were accompanied by Rupert, our guide for the week, and two others--they were all armed with guns and the same amno that we'd seen demonstrated at lunch plus some live rounds in case the bear still wanted anything to do with us.
A few thing that I learned about polar bears today:
Polar bears are considered an umbrella species. That is, if the bears are OK, the species under them are OK
About 200,000 years ago, polar bears split from brown bears, such as costal brown bears in Alaska, Kodiak bears on Kodiak Island, and the grizzly bear of the interior of Western US and Canada. Some of the changes aside from the most obvious that their hair turned white was polar bears claws curved from the straight claws of the brown bear, their skin tuned from pink to black and their hair became hollow so that the air inside each hair helps the bear to float. Brown bears and polar bears are similar enough genetically that they interbreed to produce a hybrid that is fertile and capable of producing offspring unlike some species like a mule.
Polar bear mostly live above the arctic circle. Churchill where I am is lower than this, but the weather conditions are similar to the arctic and polar bears live along both Hudson Bay and James Bay to the south of us.
Adult males are twice as big as adult female and weight around 1600 pounds and 800 pounds respectively.
Polar bears have a smaller head and longer neck than other bears. This feature aids greatly in catching the ringed seals that constitiute almost all of their diet.
Females mature at 5 and males mature at 6 years old and add weight and size until they are 11.
Polar bears are hunters and opportunists. When hunting seals they don't chase them into the water. They find their breathing holes since every 2 minutes a seal needs to breathe air, and used their curved claws and long necks to catch them as they come up for air.
Polar bear cubs stay with the moms until they are 2 1/2 years old. (This is an increase from 1 1/2 years not so long ago). The female usually has 2-3 cubs, but usually only one to 2 survives the first year of life.
Females live to be 25 and males 18. Males really beat each other up in competition for breeding with females and after a few years, it really takes a toll on them.
These bears haven't eaten since the ice in Hudson Bay melted in July. Polar bears do not hibernate in the winter--in fact, that is the time when they hunt and eat to survive the rest of the year. They don't eat until the ice freezes and they can go back to the ice to hunt seals and replenish their fat stores.
If the female is pregnant, she does not go out onto the ice and hunt. She goes to the maternity dens that are located inland in what is now Wapusk National Park. She'll stay in the den and have her babies late December and will stay in the den with them feeding from her until they emerge in March at about 30# when she immediately travels about 30 miles to the ice and starts to hunt for food.
This is what it look like here as taken through the car window.
Waiting for everyone to arrive, the group went on a walk around the research center for about an hour. It was cold and when the wind would kick up, it would cut through the several layers of clothes. We were accompanied by Rupert, our guide for the week, and two others--they were all armed with guns and the same amno that we'd seen demonstrated at lunch plus some live rounds in case the bear still wanted anything to do with us.
A few thing that I learned about polar bears today:
Polar bears are considered an umbrella species. That is, if the bears are OK, the species under them are OK
About 200,000 years ago, polar bears split from brown bears, such as costal brown bears in Alaska, Kodiak bears on Kodiak Island, and the grizzly bear of the interior of Western US and Canada. Some of the changes aside from the most obvious that their hair turned white was polar bears claws curved from the straight claws of the brown bear, their skin tuned from pink to black and their hair became hollow so that the air inside each hair helps the bear to float. Brown bears and polar bears are similar enough genetically that they interbreed to produce a hybrid that is fertile and capable of producing offspring unlike some species like a mule.
Polar bear mostly live above the arctic circle. Churchill where I am is lower than this, but the weather conditions are similar to the arctic and polar bears live along both Hudson Bay and James Bay to the south of us.
Adult males are twice as big as adult female and weight around 1600 pounds and 800 pounds respectively.
Polar bears have a smaller head and longer neck than other bears. This feature aids greatly in catching the ringed seals that constitiute almost all of their diet.
Females mature at 5 and males mature at 6 years old and add weight and size until they are 11.
Polar bears are hunters and opportunists. When hunting seals they don't chase them into the water. They find their breathing holes since every 2 minutes a seal needs to breathe air, and used their curved claws and long necks to catch them as they come up for air.
Polar bear cubs stay with the moms until they are 2 1/2 years old. (This is an increase from 1 1/2 years not so long ago). The female usually has 2-3 cubs, but usually only one to 2 survives the first year of life.
Females live to be 25 and males 18. Males really beat each other up in competition for breeding with females and after a few years, it really takes a toll on them.
These bears haven't eaten since the ice in Hudson Bay melted in July. Polar bears do not hibernate in the winter--in fact, that is the time when they hunt and eat to survive the rest of the year. They don't eat until the ice freezes and they can go back to the ice to hunt seals and replenish their fat stores.
If the female is pregnant, she does not go out onto the ice and hunt. She goes to the maternity dens that are located inland in what is now Wapusk National Park. She'll stay in the den and have her babies late December and will stay in the den with them feeding from her until they emerge in March at about 30# when she immediately travels about 30 miles to the ice and starts to hunt for food.
This is what it look like here as taken through the car window.
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