[20] In Norwegian, one of the primary languages of the Svalbard archipelago,[21] the polar bear is referred to as isbjrn ('ice bear') or kvitbjrn ('white bear'). [112], Being both curious animals and scavengers,[107][113] polar bears investigate and consume garbage where they come into contact with humans. [citation needed], Polar bears rarely live beyond 25 years. Polar bears are popular in fiction, particularly in books for children or teenagers. [156], The Nenets of north-central Siberia placed particular value on the talismanic power of the prominent canine teeth. [91], In 1992, a photographer near Churchill took a now widely circulated set of photographs of a polar bear playing with a Canadian Eskimo Dog (Canis familiaris) a tenth of its size. [49] Sport hunting can bring CDN$20,000 to $35,000 per bear into northern communities, which until recently has been mostly from American hunters. Yet, they have often been seen playing together for hours at a time and even sleeping in an embrace,[85] and polar bear zoologist Nikita Ovsianikov has described adult males as having "well-developed friendships. "The influence of climate variability on polar bear (, "Diet composition of polar bears in Svalbard and the western Barents Sea", "Interactions between polar bears and overwintering walruses in the Central Canadian High Arctic", "An Attack by a Polar Bear on a Juvenile Beluga", "Polar bear metabolism cannot cope with ice loss", "Comments on 'Carnivorous walrus and some Arctic zoonoses', "Hudson Bay Post Goodbye Churchil [sic] Dump", "The Food Habits of Polar Bears of James Bay and Southwest Hudson Bay in Summer and Autumn", "What to eat now? [68] Unlike the brown bear, polar bears in captivity are rarely overweight or particularly large, possibly as a reaction to the warm conditions of most zoos. National Geographic Blog", "PBSG statement on proposed transfer of polar bear to CITES Appendix I", "Nunavut hunters can kill more polar bears this year", "Rethink polar bear hunt quotas, scientists tell Nunavut hunters", "Melting Under Pressure: The Real Scoop on Climate Warming and Polar Bears", "Nunavut hunters still enraged over bear quotas", National Polar Bear Conservation Strategy for Canada, "Russia tries to save polar bears with legal hunt", "Red Data Book of Russia: Marine Mammals: Carnivores", "Strategy for Polar Bear Conservation in the Russian Federation", "Environmental Conservation Online System", "Polar Bear Draft Conservation Management Plan", "Observations of mortality associated with extended open-water swimming by polar bears in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea", "Climate change: Polar bears could be lost by 2100", "Possible effects of climate warming on selected populations of polar bears (, "Next up from climate change: More polar bears on land, potentially running into humans", "As Sea Ice Shrinks, Can Polar Bears Survive on Land? The polar bear also hunts by stalking seals resting on the ice: upon spotting a seal, it walks to within 90m (100yd), and then crouches. Fish and Wildlife Service published a draft conservation management plan for polar bears to improve their status under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The world's 20,000 to 30,000 polar bears range in the snow-covered arctic ice in Alaska, Canada, Russia, and Norway. Wikimedia Commons. Its Latin name, Ursus maritimus, means 'sea bear': an apt name for this amazing species which spends much of its life in, around, or on the water - predominantly on the sea ice. [156] Traditional subsistence hunting was on a small enough scale to not significantly affect polar bear populations, mostly because of the sparseness of the human population in polar bear habitat. [188] As of 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that the global population of polar bears is 22,000 to 31,000, and the current population trend is unknown. "[160] Norwegians used "self-killing guns", comprising a loaded rifle in a baited box that was placed at the level of a bear's head, and which fired when the string attached to the bait was pulled. The Largest Known Bear, Arctotherium angustidens, from the Early Pleistocene Pampean Region of Argentina: With a Discussion of Size and Diet Trends in Bears Journal of Paleontology, 85 (1), 69-75 . Shifts in polar bear diet during the ice-free season in western Hudson Bay", "Predation of Svalbard reindeer by polar bears", "Observations of Polar Bear Predatory Behaviour toward Caribou", "White-beaked dolphins trapped in the ice and eaten by polar bears", "Rejected by their mother, polar cubs now under intensive care at Toronto Zoo", "Evidence of adoption, monozygotic twinning, and low inbreeding rates in a large genetic pedigree of polar bears", "Two cubs die as mother polar bear turns on her three newborns | National Post", "Infanticide and Cannibalism of Juvenile Polar Bears (, "Long-term trends in the population ecology of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay in relation to climatic change", Polar bears, grizzlies increasingly gather on North Slope, "ABC News: Grizzlies encroaching on polar bear Country", "Clash of the fiercest predators as shark eats polar bear", "Polar bears can swim vast distances, study finds", "The vitamin A content and toxicity of bear and seal liver", "U.S. and Russia sign pact to protect the polar bear", "Circumpolar Action Plan: Conservation Strategy for Polar Bears", "Did Polar Bears Really Lose at CITES? This provides enough calories to help cubs grow rapidly. [211], Debate over the listing of the polar bear under endangered species legislation has put conservation groups and Canada's Inuit at opposing positions;[49] the Nunavut government and many northern residents have condemned the U.S. initiative to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. [41][45] The subpopulations display seasonal fidelity to particular areas, but DNA studies show that they are not reproductively isolated. The whales are of similar size to the walrus and nearly as difficult for the bear to subdue. [74] Males have significantly longer hairs on their forelegs, which increase in length until the bear reaches 14 years of age. #shorts #polar bear #carnivore #biggest polar bear #bear #interesting facts #facts #interesting #world #curious #fact #documentary Male polar bears weigh between 770-1500 lb, while females typically weigh 330-550 lb, although they can easily hit 1100 lb when pregnant. [118][119] Adult muskox, which can weigh 450kg (1,000lb) or more, are a more formidable quarry. [58], The only other bear of comparable size to the polar bear is the Kodiak bear, which is a subspecies of brown bear. Ringed seals are born weighing 5.4kg (12lb) and grown to an estimated average weight of only 60kg (130lb). The family remains in the den until mid-February to mid-April, with the mother maintaining her fast while nursing her cubs on a fat-rich milk. [32], However, the two species have mated intermittently for all that time, most likely coming into contact with each other during warming periods, when polar bears were driven onto land and brown bears migrated northward. [200], Many chemicals, such as PCBs and DDT, have been internationally banned due to the recognition of their harm on the environment. They created a bilateral agreement in 2000 to manage a polar bear population that . In fact, they are the largest four-legged predator. Most brown bears have about 2 percent genetic material from polar bears, but one population, the ABC Islands bears, has between 5 percent and 10 percent polar bear genes, indicating more frequent and recent mating. [45], Polar bears were hunted heavily in Svalbard, Norway throughout the 19th century and to as recently as 1973, when the conservation treaty was signed. [40] The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 1,002 kg (2,209 lb), was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960. [125] A male may follow the tracks of a breeding female for 100km (60mi) or more, and after finding her engage in intense fighting with other males over mating rights, fights that often result in scars and broken teeth. She said the park provides an excellent environment for its bears, complete with the large areas of land and deep water needed by the largest land carnivore. Biologist Ian Stirling commented, "For many years, the conservation of polar bears was the only subject in the entire Arctic that nations from both sides of the Iron Curtain could agree upon sufficiently to sign an agreement. Researchers do not know whether or not this is a new behaviour; before polar ice shrinkage, they opined that there was probably neither the need nor opportunity to swim such long distances. Estimates of total historical harvest suggest that from the beginning of the 18th century, roughly 400 to 500 animals were being harvested annually in northern Eurasia, reaching a peak of 1,300 to 1,500 animals in the early 20th century, and falling off as the numbers began dwindling. This specimen, when mounted, stood 3.39m (11ft 1in) tall on its hindlegs. [195], In Alaska, the effects of sea ice shrinkage have contributed to higher mortality rates in polar bear cubs, and have led to changes in the denning locations of pregnant females. If the seal does not notice, the bear creeps to within 9 to 12m (30 to 40ft) of the seal and then suddenly rushes forth to attack. A polar bear standing on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean. [175] Between 1987 and 2004, the Western Hudson Bay population declined by 22%,[194] although the population was listed as "stable" as of 2017. [41] Canada has allowed sport hunters accompanied by local guides and dog-sled teams since 1970,[171] but the practice was not common until the 1980s. [2], Steven Amstrup and other U.S. Geological Survey scientists have predicted two-thirds of the world's polar bears may disappear by 2050, based on moderate projections for the shrinking of summer sea ice caused by climate change,[97][195] though the validity of this study has been debated. This specimen, when mounted, stood 3.39 m (11 ft 1 in) tall on its hindlegs. Playful wrestling between two Kodiak brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorff), Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. [172] The guiding of sport hunters provides meaningful employment and an important source of income for northern communities in which economic opportunities are few. Males usually reach sexual maturity at six years; however, as competition for females is fierce, many do not breed until the age of eight or ten. The polar bear faces a number of threats to its survival, primarily climate change and human influences. In 2005, the government of Nunavut increased the quota from 400 to 518 bears,[173] despite protests from the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group. Winnen and his friends actually spotted the massive bear in . Due to the absence of human development in its remote habitat, it retains more of its original range than any other extant carnivore. [196] In recent years, polar bears in the Arctic have undertaken longer than usual swims to find prey, possibly resulting in four recorded drownings in the unusually large ice pack regression of 2005. and females are roughly half that size. 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