Hi Everybody!
Did You Have a HOT Summer Day? Tonight I bring You a Cold Blast from the Ice at the Arctic Circle!!! Prepare to Cool Down.
Find your great chair and have a look at the information I gathered from around the web about Polar Bears. These Guys are really Cool-Enjoy!!
Hello Everybody!! I Am A Polar Bear!!
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Feature Presentation: Photographing Polar Bears
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Polar Bear – Spy on the Ice
Spycams sneak within a paw’s swipe of the world’s largest land predators – Polar bears. Polar Bear Spy on the Ice gets closer than ever before to these charismatic bears and reveals their astonishing intelligence and curiosity.
Iceberg-cam, blizzard-cam and snowball-cam are a new generation of spycams on a mission to explore the icy Arctic islands of Svalbard in Norway. Backed up by snow-cam and drift-cam, these technologically advanced spycams contain sophisticated electronics to endure polar arctic conditions.
From the outset, the wildlife filmmakers are faced withsome of nature’s greatest challenges. But one spycam is just a breath away as cubs emerge from winter maternity dens.
Next the spycams team up and prepare to follow in the footsteps of polar bear mothers and cubs as they face their first summer in a world of shrinking ice. Each mother has a single goal, to guide her cubs to the rich hunting grounds of the sea ice. But on the way they must run the gauntlet of roaming males.
One mother and her cubs make it, and iceberg-cam tracks them across shifting ice as they head north towards the sturdier pack ice. But not all bears are so lucky – a mother and cub are marooned on the island, and it’s here that spycams reveal the true depth of polar bears’ intelligence.
The land offers slim pickings and spycams discover how land-locked bears unearth new opportunities hunting walrus, diving for kelp, eating grass and even raiding bird colonies – filmed for the first time. Elsewhere on the island a washed-up whale carcass offers a bear banquet; and iceberg-cam captures the bears’ little-known social nature as they share this rare bounty.
Back on the sea ice, iceberg-cam makes another discovery – the polar bears’ astonishing intelligence as they hunt seals. While life is relatively good on the ice it has its dangers. The mother and her cubs reach the end of the drift ice and are faced with a marathon swim. Will they make it to the security of the pack ice?
With spycams at their side, Polar Bear Spy on the Ice follows the bears’ fate during a difficult ice-free summer. Ultimately, spycams reveal that polar bears’ intelligence and curiosity are key to their survival in a world of shrinking ice.
The cameras
Blizzard Cam
Designed to operate in extreme arctic environments ranging from the perilous sea ice, frozen glacial fjords and treacherous snow covered mountains. Speed and stealth was achieved by its two powerful electric motors that quietly propel it on skis to 40 mph. Blizzard cam’s robust camera turret was designed to resist temperatures below minus 30 degrees C. The onboard high definition camera was remotely operated over a distance of 1 km. The very real threat of attack from polar bears was thwarted by an onboard decoy device ‘Snowball cam’. This could be deployed remotely from Blizzard cam for front line camera operations, allowing the more vulnerable Blizzard cam to retreat from dangerous situations.
Drift Cam
Drift cams were specifically designed to film autonomously without the need for a camera crew. Driftcams are triggered by detecting infrared heat, their sensitivity could detect a polar bear from a distance of 50 metres. Once deployed they can remain in standby for up to a week, even at minus 30. This proved crucial for filming mother and cubs emerging from their maternity dens. Each Driftcam was fitted with a solar powered satellite phone that alerted the crew every time it was triggered. Drift cams made it possible to capture the emergence even when the crew was snowed in by severe blizzards
Iceberg Cam
For the bears on the sea ice a very different spycam was needed. Iceberg cam was designed to blend seamlessly amongst the ice flows. Its powerful thrusters produced enough speed to keep up with swimming bears. Iceberg cam was decked out with 2 cameras for above and below water filming. This remarkable spycam captured revelatory footage of hunting and scavenging polar bears in breathtaking detail never before seen.
Snowball Cam
The polar bears investigative and often destructive nature required a device that was polar bear proof. Snowball cam was the solution. Its large spherical shape prevented bears from getting a firm bite or hold. Its tough reinforced shell protected it from most polar bear encounters making it perfect for front line filming. Snowball cam has no visible moving parts but was able to roll across most terrains, even up hill. It could also film on the roll thanks to a self-leveling high definition camera. Having the ability to dock and undock from Blizzard cam was essential for safe and effective deployment into the thick of the action.
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Polar bear
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circleencompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size.[3] A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–680 kg (770–1,500 lb),[4] while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet.[5] Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name means "maritimebear", and derives from this fact. Polar bears can hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present.
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations in decline.[6] For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect.[citation needed] For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures.
| Polar Bear | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Ursidae |
| Genus: | Ursus |
| Species: | U. maritimus |
Habitat
The polar bear is often regarded as a marine mammal because it spends many months of the year at sea.[32] Its preferred habitat is the annual sea ice covering the waters over thecontinental shelf and the Arctic inter-island archipelagos. These areas, known as the "Arctic ring of life", have high biological productivity in comparison to the deep waters of the high Arctic.[26][33] The polar bear tends to frequent areas where sea ice meets water, such aspolynyas and leads (temporary stretches of open water in Arctic ice), to hunt the seals that make up most of its diet.[34] Polar bears are therefore found primarily along the perimeter of the polar ice pack, rather than in the Polar Basin close to the North Pole where the density of seals is low.[35]
Annual ice contains areas of water that appear and disappear throughout the year as the weather changes. Seals migrate in response to these changes, and polar bears must follow their prey.[33] In Hudson Bay, James Bay, and some other areas, the ice melts completely each summer (an event often referred to as "ice-floe breakup"), forcing polar bears to go onto land and wait through the months until the next freeze-up.[33] In the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, polar bears retreat each summer to the ice further north that remains frozen year-round.
Biology and behavior
Physical characteristics
The polar bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore, being more than twice as big as the Siberian tiger.[36] It shares this title with the Kodiak Bear.[37] Adult males weigh 350–680 kg (770–1500 lbs) and measure 2.4–3 m (7.9–9.8 ft) in length.[38] Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–250 kg (330–550 lb), measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5.9–7.9 ft) in length. When pregnant, however, they can weigh as much as 500 kg (1,100 lb).[38]The polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic of mammals, surpassed only by thepinnipeds.[39] The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 1,002 kg (2,210 lb), was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960.[40] The shoulder height of the polar bear is 130–160 cm (51–63 in).[41]
Compared with its closest relative, the brown bear, the polar bear has a more elongated body build and a longer skull and nose.[24] As predicted by Allen's rule for a northerly animal, the legs are stocky and the ears and tail are small.[24] However, the feet are very large to distribute load when walking on snow or thin ice and to provide propulsion when swimming; they may measure 30 cm (12 in) across in an adult.[42] The pads of the paws are covered with small, soft papillae (dermal bumps) which provide traction on the ice.[24] The polar bear's claws are short and stocky compared to those of the brown bear, perhaps to serve the former's need to grip heavy prey and ice.[24] The claws are deeply scooped on the underside to assist in digging in the ice of the natural habitat. Research of injury patterns in polar bear forelimbs found injuries to the right forelimb to be more frequent than those to the left, suggesting, perhaps, right-handedness.[43] 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.
The 42 teeth of a polar bear reflect its highly carnivorous diet.[24] The cheek teeth are smaller and more jagged than in the brown bear, and the canines are larger and sharper.[24] The dental formula is 
[24]
[24]
Polar bears are superbly insulated by up to 10 cm (3.9 in) of blubber,[42] their hide and their fur; they overheat at temperatures above 10 °C (50 °F), and are nearly invisible under infrared photography.[44] Polar bear fur consists of a layer of dense underfur and an outer layer ofguard hairs, which appear white to tan but are actually transparent.[42] The guard hair is 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) over most of the body.[45] Polar bears gradually moult from May to August,[46]but, unlike other Arctic mammals, they do not shed their coat for a darker shade to camouflage themselves in the summer conditions. The hollow guard hairs of a polar bear coat were once thought to act as fiber-optic tubes to conduct light to its black skin, where it could be absorbed; however, this theory was disproved by recent studies.[47]
The white coat usually yellows with age. When kept in captivity in warm, humid conditions, the fur may turn a pale shade of green due to algae growing inside the guard hairs.[48] Males have significantly longer hairs on their forelegs, that increase in length until the bear reaches 14 years of age. The male's ornamental foreleg hair is thought to attract females, serving a similar function to the lion's mane.[49]
The polar bear has an extremely well developed sense of smell, being able to detect seals nearly 1 mi (1.6 km) away and buried under 3 ft (0.9 m) of snow.[50] Its hearing is about as acute as that of a human, and its vision is also good at long distances.[50]
The polar bear is an excellent swimmer and individuals have been seen in open Arctic waters as far as 200 mi (320 km) from land. With its body fat providing buoyancy, it swims in a dog paddle fashion using its large forepaws for propulsion.[51] Polar bears can swim 6 mph (9.7 km/h). When walking, the polar bear tends to have a lumbering gait and maintains an average speed of around 3.5 mph (5.6 km/h).[51] When sprinting, they can reach up to 25 mph (40 km/h).[52]
Hunting and diet
The polar bear is the most carnivorous member of the bear family, and most of its diet consists of ringed and bearded seals.[54] The Arctic is home to millions of seals, which become prey when they surface in holes in the ice in order to breathe, or when they haul out on the ice to rest.[53] Polar bears hunt primarily at the interface between ice, water, and air; they only rarely catch seals on land or in open water.[55]
The polar bear's most common hunting method is called still-hunting:[56] The bear uses its excellent sense of smell to locate a seal breathing hole, and crouches nearby in silence for a seal to appear. When the seal exhales, the bear smells its breath, reaches into the hole with a forepaw, and drags it out onto the ice. The polar bear kills the seal by biting its head to crush its skull. The polar bear also hunts by stalking seals resting on the ice: Upon spotting a seal, it walks to within 100 yd (91 m), and then crouches. If the seal does not notice, the bear creeps to within 30 to 40 feet (9.1 to 12 m) of the seal and then suddenly rushes forth to attack.[53] A third hunting method is to raid the birth lairs that female seals create in the snow.[56]
A widespread legend tells that polar bears cover their black noses with their paws when hunting. This behavior, if it happens, is rare — although the story exists in native oral history and in accounts by early Arctic explorers, there is no record of an eyewitness account of the behavior in recent decades.[51]
Mature bears tend to eat only the calorie-rich skin and blubber of the seal, whereas younger bears consume the protein-rich red meat.[53] Studies have also photographed polar bears scaling near-vertical cliffs, to eat birds' chicks and eggs.[57] For subadult bears which are independent of their mother but have not yet gained enough experience and body size to successfully hunt seals, scavenging the carcasses from other bears' kills is an important source of nutrition. Subadults may also be forced to accept a half-eaten carcass if they kill a seal but cannot defend it from larger polar bears. After feeding, polar bears wash themselves with water or snow.[51]
The polar bear is an enormously powerful predator. It can kill an adult walrus, although this is rarely attempted. A walrus can be more than twice the bear's weight,[58] and has up to 3-foot (0.91 m) long ivory tusks that can be used as formidable weapons. Most attacks on walruses occur when the bear charges a group and either targets the slower moving walruses, usually either young or infirm ones, or a walrus that is injured in the rush of walruses trying to escape. They will also attack adult walruses when their diving holes have frozen over or intercept them before they can get back to the diving hole in the ice. Since an attack on a walrus tends to be an extremely protracted and exhausting venture, bears have been known to abandon the hunt after making the initial injury.[59] Polar bears have also been seen to prey on beluga whales, by swiping at them at breathing holes. The whales are of similar size to the walrus and nearly as difficult for the bear to subdue. Polar bears very seldom attack full-grown adult whales. Most terrestrial animals in the Arctic can outrun the polar bear on land as polar bears overheat quickly, and most marine animals the bear encounters can outswim it. In some areas, the polar bear's diet is supplemented by walrus calves and by the carcasses of dead adult walruses or whales, whose blubber is readily devoured even when rotten.[60]
With the exception of pregnant females, polar bears are active year-round,[61] although they have a vestigial hibernation induction trigger in their blood. Unlike brown and black bears, polar bears are capable of fasting for up to several months during late summer and early fall, when they cannot hunt for seals because the sea is unfrozen.[61] When sea ice is unavailable during summer and early autumn, some populations live off fat reserves for months at a time.[44] Polar bears have also been observed to eat a wide variety of other wild foods, including muskox, reindeer, birds, eggs, rodents, shellfish, crabs, and other polar bears. They may also eat plants, including berries, roots, and kelp, however none of these are a significant part of their diet.[58] The polar bear's biology is specialized to require large amounts of fat from marine mammals, and it cannot derive sufficient caloric intake from terrestrial food.[62][63]
Being both curious animals and scavengers,[58][64] polar bears investigate and consumegarbage where they come into contact with humans.[58] Polar bears may attempt to consume almost anything they can find, including hazardous substances such as styrofoam, plastic,car batteries, ethylene glycol, hydraulic fluid, and motor oil.[58][64] The dump in Churchill,Manitoba was closed in 2006 to protect bears, and waste is now recycled or transported toThompson, Manitoba.[65][66]
Behavior
Unlike grizzly bears, polar bears are not territorial. Although stereotyped as being voraciously aggressive, they are normally cautious in confrontations, and often choose to escape rather than fight.[67] Satiated polar bears rarely attack humans unless severely provoked, whereas hungry polar bears are extremely unpredictable and are known to kill and sometimes eat humans.[60] Polar bears are stealth hunters, and the victim is often unaware of the bear's presence until the attack is underway.[68] Whereas brown bears often maul a person and then leave, polar bear attacks are more likely to be predatory and are almost always fatal.[68] However, due to the very small human population around the Arctic, such attacks are rare.
In general, adult polar bears live solitary lives. Yet, they have often been seen playing together for hours at a time and even sleeping in an embrace,[60] and polar bear zoologist Nikita Ovsianikov has described adult males as having "well-developed friendships."[67] Cubs are especially playful as well. Among young males in particular, play-fighting may be a means of practicing for serious competition during mating seasons later in life.[69] Polar bears have a wide range of vocalisations, including bellows, roars, growls, chuffs and purrs.[70]
In 1992, a photographer near Churchill took a now widely circulated set of photographs of a polar bear playing with a Canadian Eskimo Dog a tenth of its size.[71][72] The pair wrestled harmlessly together each afternoon for ten days in a row for no apparent reason, although the bear may have been trying to demonstrate its friendliness in the hope of sharing the kennel's food.[71] This kind of social interaction is uncommon; it is far more typical for polar bears to behave aggressively towards dogs.[71]
Reproduction and lifecycle
Courtship and mating take place on the sea ice in April and May, when polar bears congregate in the best seal hunting areas.[73] A male may follow the tracks of a breeding female for 100 km (62 mi) or more, and after finding her engage in intense fighting with other males over mating rights, fights which often result in scars and broken teeth.[73] Polar bears have a generally polygynous mating system; recent genetic testing of mothers and cubs, however, has uncovered cases of litters in which cubs have different fathers.[74] Partners stay together and mate repeatedly for an entire week; the mating ritual induces ovulation in the female.[75]
After mating, the fertilized egg remains in a suspended state until August or September. During these four months, the pregnant female eats prodigious amounts of food, gaining at least 200 kg (440 lb) and often more than doubling her body weight.[73]
Maternity denning and early life
When the ice floes break up in the fall, ending the possibility of hunting, each pregnant female digs amaternity den consisting of a narrow entrance tunnel leading to one to three chambers.[73] Most maternity dens are in snowdrifts, but may also be made underground in permafrost if it is not sufficiently cold yet for snow.[73] In most subpopulations, maternity dens are situated on land a few kilometers from the coast, and the individuals in a subpopulation tend to reuse the same denning areas each year.[26] The polar bears that do not den on land make their dens on the sea ice. In the den, she enters a dormant state similar to hibernation. This hibernation-like state does not consist of continuous sleeping; however, the bear's heart rate slows from 46 to 27 beats per minute.[76] Her body temperature does not decrease during this period as it would for a typical mammal in hibernation.[44][77]
Between November and February, cubs are born blind, covered with a light down fur, and weighing less than 0.9 kg (2.0 lb),[75] but in captivity they might be delivered in the earlier months. The earliest recorded birth of polar bears in captivity was on October 11, 2011 in the Toronto Zoo.[78] On average, each litter has two cubs.[73] 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.[73] By the time the mother breaks open the entrance to the den, her cubs weigh about 10 to 15 kilograms (22 to 33 lb).[73] For about 12 to 15 days, the family spends time outside the den while remaining in its vicinity, the mother grazing on vegetation while the cubs become used to walking and playing.[73] Then they begin the long walk from the denning area to the sea ice, where the mother can once again catch seals.[73] Depending on the timing of ice-floe breakup in the fall, she may have fasted for up to eight months.[73]
Cubs may fall prey to wolves or to starvation. Female polar bears are noted for both their affection towards their offspring[citation needed], and their valiance in protecting them[citation needed]. One case of adoption of a wild cub has been confirmed by genetic testing.[74] Adult male bears occasionally kill and eat polar bear cubs,[79] for reasons that are unclear.[80] As of 2006, in Alaska, 42% of cubs now reach 12 months of age, down from 65% 15 years ago.[81] In most areas, cubs are weaned at two and a half years of age,[73] when the mother chases them away or abandons them. The western coast of Hudson Bay is unusual in that its female polar bears sometimes wean their cubs at only one and a half years.[73]This was the case for 40% of cubs there in the early 1980s; however by the 1990s, fewer than 20% of cubs were weaned this young.[82] After the mother leaves, sibling cubs sometimes travel and share food together for weeks or months.[60]
Later life
Females begin to breed at the age of four years in most areas, and five years in the Beaufort Sea area.[73] 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.[73] A study in Hudson Bay indicated that both the reproductive success and the maternal weight of females peaked in their mid-teens.[83]
Polar bears appear to be less affected by infectious diseases and parasites than most terrestrial mammals.[80] Polar bears are especially susceptible to Trichinella, a parasitic roundworm they contract through cannibalism,[84] although infections are usually not fatal.[80] Only one case of a polar bear with rabies has been documented, even though polar bears frequently interact with Arctic foxes, which often carry rabies.[80] Bacterial Leptospirosis and Morbillivirus have been recorded. Polar bears sometimes have problems with various skin diseases which may be caused by mites or other parasites.
Life expectancy
Polar bears rarely live beyond 25 years.[85] The oldest wild bears on record died at age 32, whereas the oldest captive was a female who died in 1991, age 43.[86] The oldest living polar bear was Debby of the Assiniboine Park Zoo, who was probably born in December 1966[86] and died on November 17, 2008. The causes of death in wild adult polar bears are poorly understood, as carcasses are rarely found in the species's frigid habitat.[80] In the wild, old polar bears eventually become too weak to catch food, and gradually starve to death. Polar bears injured in fights or accidents may either die from their injuries or become unable to hunt effectively, leading to starvation.[80]
Ecological role
The polar bear is the apex predator within its range. Several animal species, particularly Arctic Foxes and Glaucous Gulls, routinely scavenge polar bear kills.[51]
The relationship between ringed seals and polar bears is so close that the abundance of ringed seals in some areas appears to regulate the density of polar bears, while polar bear predation in turn regulates density and reproductive success of ringed seals.[55] Theevolutionary pressure of polar bear predation on seals probably accounts for some significant differences between Arctic and Antarctic seals. Compared to the Antarctic, where there is no major surface predator, Arctic seals use more breathing holes per individual, appear more restless when hauled out on the ice, and rarely defecate on the ice.[51] The baby fur of most Arctic seal species is white, presumably to provide camouflage from predators, whereas Antarctic seals all have dark fur at birth.[51]
Polar bears rarely enter conflict with other predators, though recent brown bear encroachments into polar bear territories have led to antagonistic encounters. Brown bears tend to dominate polar bears in disputes over carcasses,[87] and dead polar bear cubs have been found in brown bear dens.[88] Wolves are rarely encountered by polar bears, though there are two records of wolf packs killing polar bear cubs.[89] Polar bears are sometimes the host of arctic mites such as Alaskozetes antarcticus.[51]
Long distance swimmer
The Canadian Journal of Zoology tracked 52 sows in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska with GPS system collars; no boars were involved in the study due to males' necks being too thick for the GPS-equipped collars. Fifty long-distance swims were recorded; the longest at 354 kilometres (220 mi), with an average of 155 kilometres (96 mi). The length of these swims ranged from most of a day to ten days. Ten of the sows had a cub swim with them and after a year six cubs survived. The study did not determine if the others lost their cubs before, during, or some time after their long swims. Researchers do not know whether or not this is a new behavior; prior to polar ice shrinkage, they opined that there was probably neither the need nor opportunity to swim such long distances.
Hunting
Indigenous people
Polar bears have long provided important raw materials for Arctic peoples, including the Inuit,Yupik, Chukchi, Nenets, Russian Pomors and others. Hunters commonly used teams of dogs to distract the bear, allowing the hunter to spear the bear or shoot it with arrows at closer range.[91] Almost all parts of captured animals had a use.[92] The fur was used in particular to sew trousers and, by the Nenets, to make galoshes-like outer footwear calledtobok; the meat is edible, despite some risk of trichinosis; the fat was used in food and as a fuel for lighting homes, alongside seal and whale blubber; sinews were used as thread for sewing clothes; the gallbladder and sometimes heart were dried and powdered for medicinal purposes; the large canine teeth were highly valued as talismans.[93] Only the liver was not used, as its high concentration of vitamin A is poisonous.[94] Hunters make sure to either toss the liver into the sea or bury it in order to spare their dogs from potential poisoning.[93]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.[95]
History of commercial harvest
In Russia, polar bear furs were already being commercially traded in the 14th century, though it was of low value compared to Arctic Fox or even reindeer fur.[93] The growth of the human population in the Eurasian Arctic in the 16th and 17th century, together with the advent of firearms and increasing trade, dramatically increased the harvest of polar bears.[44][96] However, since polar bear fur has always played a marginal commercial role, data on the historical harvest is fragmentary. It is known, for example, that already in the winter of 1784/1785 Russian Pomors on Spitsbergen harvested 150 polar bears in Magdalenefjorden.[93] In the early 20th century, Norwegian hunters were harvesting 300 bears a year at the same location. 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.[93]
In the first half of the 20th century, mechanized and overpoweringly efficient methods of hunting and trapping came into use in North America as well.[97] Polar bears were chased from snowmobiles, icebreakers, and airplanes, the latter practice described in a 1965 New York Times editorial as being "about as sporting as machine gunning a cow."[97] The numbers taken grew rapidly in the 1960s, peaking around 1968 with a global total of 1,250 bears that year.[98]
Contemporary regulations
Concerns over the future survival of the species led to the development of national regulations on polar bear hunting, beginning in the mid-1950s. The Soviet Union banned all hunting in 1956. Canada began imposing hunting quotas in 1968. Norway passed a series of increasingly strict regulations from 1965 to 1973, and has completely banned hunting since then. The United States began regulating hunting in 1971 and adopted the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. In 1973, the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears was signed by all five nations whose territory is inhabited by polar bears Canada, Denmark, Norway, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Member countries agreed to place restrictions on recreational and commercial hunting, ban hunting from aircraft and icebreakers, and conduct further research.[99] The treaty allows hunting "by local people using traditional methods". Norway is the only country of the five in which all harvest of polar bears is banned. The agreement was a rare case of international cooperation during the Cold War. 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. Such was the intensity of human fascination with this magnificent predator, the only marine bear."[100]
Agreements have been made between countries to co-manage their shared polar bear subpopulations. After several years of negotiations, Russia and the United States signed an agreement in October 2000 to jointly set quotas for indigenous subsistence hunting in Alaska and Chukotka.[101] The treaty was ratified in October 2007.[102]
Russia
The Soviet Union banned the harvest of polar bears in 1956, however poaching continued and is believed to pose a serious threat to the polar bear population.[28] In recent years, polar bears have approached coastal villages in Chukotka more frequently due to the shrinking of the sea ice, endangering humans and raising concerns that illegal hunting would become even more prevalent.[103] In 2007, the Russian government made subsistence hunting legal for Chukotka natives only, a move supported by Russia's most prominent bear researchers and the World Wide Fund for Nature as a means to curb poaching.[103]
Greenland
In Greenland, hunting restrictions were first introduced in 1994 and expanded by executive order in 2005.[28] Until 2005 Greenland placed no limit on hunting by indigenous people. However, in 2006 it imposed a limit of 150, while also allowed recreational hunting for the first time.[104] Other provisions included year-round protection of cubs and mothers, restrictions on weapons used, and various administrative requirements to catalogue kills.[28]
Canada and the United States
About 500 bears are killed per year by humans across Canada,[105] a rate believed by scientists to be unsustainable for some areas, notably Baffin Bay.[27] Canada has allowed sport hunters accompanied by local guides and dog-sled teams since 1970,[106] but the practice was not common until the 1980s.[107] The guiding of sport hunters provides meaningful employment and an important source of income for native communities in which economic opportunities are few.[30] Sport hunting can bring CDN$20,000 to $35,000 per bear into northern communities, which until recently has been mostly from American hunters.[108]
On 15 May 2008, the United States listed the polar bear as a threatened species under theEndangered Species Act and banned all importing of polar bear trophies. Importing products made from polar bears had been prohibited from 1972 to 1994 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and restricted between 1994 and 2008. Under those restrictions, permits from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) were required to import sport-hunted polar bear trophies taken in hunting expeditions in Canada. The permit process required that the bear be taken from an area with quotas based on sound management principles.[109] Since 1994, more than 800 sport-hunted polar bear trophies have been imported into the U.S.[110]
The territory of Nunavut accounts for the location 80% of annual kills in Canada.[105] In 2005, the government of Nunavut increased the quota from 400 to 518 bears,[108] despite protests from some scientific groups.[111] In two areas where harvest levels have been increased based on increased sightings, science-based studies have indicated declining populations, and a third area is considered data-deficient.[112] While most of that quota is hunted by the indigenous Inuit people, a growing share is sold to recreational hunters. (0.8% in the 1970s, 7.1% in the 1980s, and 14.6% in the 1990s)[107] Nunavut polar bear biologist, Mitchell Taylor, who was formerly responsible for polar bear conservation in the territory, insists that bear numbers are being sustained under current hunting limits.[113] In 2010, the 2005 increase was partially reversed. Government of Nunavut officials announced that the polar bear quota for the Baffin Bay region would be gradually reduced from 105 per year to 65 by the year 2013.[114] The Government of the Northwest Territories maintain their own quota of 72 to 103 bears within the Inuvialuit communities of which some are set aside for sports hunters.[citation needed]Environment Canada also banned the export from Canada of fur, claws, skulls and other products from polar bears harvested in Baffin Bay as of January 1, 2010.[114]
Because of the way polar bear hunting quotas are managed in Canada, attempts to discourage sport hunting would actually increase the number of bears killed in the short term.[30] Canada allocates a certain number of permits each year to sport and subsistence hunting, and those that are not used for sport hunting are re-allocated to Native subsistence hunting. Whereas Native communities kill all the polar bears they are permitted to take each year, only half of sport hunters with permits actually manage to kill a polar bear. If a sport hunter does not kill a polar bear before his or her permit expires, the permit cannot be transferred to another hunter.[30]
Conservation status, efforts and controversies
As of 2008, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) reports that the global population of polar bears is 20,000 to 25,000, and is declining.[1] In 2006, the IUCN upgraded the polar bear from a species of least concern to a vulnerable species.[115] It cited a "suspected population reduction of >30% within three generations (45 years)", due primarily to climate change.[7] Other risks to the polar bear include pollution in the form of toxic contaminants, conflicts with shipping, stresses from recreational polar-bear watching, and oil and gas exploration and development.[7] The IUCN also cited a "potential risk of over-harvest" through legal and illegal hunting.[7]
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the polar bear is important as an indicator of arctic ecosystem health. Polar bears are studied to gain understanding of what is happening throughout the Arctic, because at-risk polar bears are often a sign of something wrong with the arctic marine ecosystem.[116]
Climate change
The IUCN, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, United States Geological Survey and many leading polar bear biologists have expressed grave concerns about the impact of climate change, including the belief that the current warming trend imperils the survival of the species.[26][117][118][119][120][121]
The key danger posed by climate change is malnutrition or starvation due to habitat loss. Polar bears hunt seals from a platform of sea ice. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier in the year, driving the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves to survive the period of scarce food in the late summer and early fall.[82] Reduction in sea-ice cover also forces bears to swim longer distances, which further depletes their energy stores and occasionally leads to drowning.[122] Thinner sea ice tends to deform more easily, which appears to make it more difficult for polar bears to access seals.[55] Insufficient nourishment leads to lower reproductive rates in adult females and lower survival rates in cubs and juvenile bears, in addition to poorer body condition in bears of all ages.[26]
In addition to creating nutritional stress, a warming climate is expected to affect various other aspects of polar bear life: Changes in sea ice affect the ability of pregnant females to build suitable maternity dens. [23] As the distance increases between the pack ice and the coast, females must swim longer distances to reach favored denning areas on land.[26] Thawing of permafrost would affect the bears who traditionally den underground, and warm winters could result in den roofs collapsing or having reduced insulative value.[26] For the polar bears that currently den on multi-year ice, increased ice mobility may result in longer distances for mothers and young cubs to walk when they return to seal-hunting areas in the spring.[26]Disease-causing bacteria and parasites would flourish more readily in a warmer climate.[55]
Problematic interactions between polar bears and humans, such as foraging by bears in garbage dumps, have historically been more prevalent in years when ice-floe breakup occurred early and local polar bears were relatively thin.[117] Increased human-bear interactions, including fatal attacks on humans, are likely to increase as the sea ice shrinks and hungry bears try to find food on land.[117][123]
The effects of climate change are most profound in the southern part of the polar bear's range, and this is indeed where significant degradation of local populations has been observed.[121]The Western Hudson Bay subpopulation, in a southern part of the range, also happens to be one of the best-studied polar bear subpopulations. This subpopulation feeds heavily on ringed seals in late spring, when newly weaned and easily hunted seal pups are abundant.[112] The late spring hunting season ends for polar bears when the ice begins to melt and break up, and they fast or eat little during the summer until the sea freezes again.[112]
Due to warming air temperatures, ice-floe breakup in western Hudson Bay is currently occurring three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago, reducing the duration of the polar bear feeding season.[112] The body condition of polar bears has declined during this period; the average weight of lone (and likely pregnant) female polar bears was approximately 290 kg (640 lb) in 1980 and 230 kg (510 lb) in 2004.[112] Between 1987 and 2004, the Western Hudson Bay population declined by 22%.[124]
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.[81][125] In recent years, polar bears in the Arctic have undertaken longer than usual swims to find prey, resulting in four recorded drownings in the unusually large ice pack regression of 2005.[122]
Pollution
Polar bears accumulate high levels of persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides. Due to their position at the top of the food pyramid, with a diet heavy in blubber in which halocarbons concentrate, their bodies are among the most contaminated of Arctic mammals.[126] Halocarbons are known to be toxic to other animals, because they mimichormone chemistry, and biomarkers such as immunoglobulin G and retinol suggest similar effects on polar bears. PCBs have received the most study, and they have been associated with birth defects and immune system deficiency.[127]
The most notorious of these chemicals, such as PCBs and DDT, have been internationally banned. Their concentrations in polar bear tissues continued to rise for decades after the ban as these chemicals spread through the food chain. But the trend seems to have abated, with tissue concentrations of PCBs declining between studies performed from 1989 to 1993 and studies performed from 1996 to 2002.[128]
Oil and gas development
Oil and gas development in polar bear habitat can affect the bears in a variety of ways. An oil spill in the Arctic would most likely concentrate in the areas where polar bears and their prey are also concentrated, such as sea ice leads.[7] Because polar bears rely partly on their fur for insulation and soiling of the fur by oil reduces its insulative value, oil spills put bears at risk of dying from hypothermia.[61] Polar bears exposed to oil spill conditions have been observed to lick the oil from their fur, leading to fatal kidney failure.[61] Maternity dens, used by pregnant females and by females with infants, can also be disturbed by nearby oil exploration and development. Disturbance of these sensitive sites may trigger the mother to abandon her den prematurely, or abandon her litter altogether.[7]
Predictions
The U.S. Geological Survey predicts two-thirds of the world's polar bears will disappear by 2050, based on moderate projections for the shrinking of summer sea ice caused by climate change.[55] The bears would disappear from Europe, Asia, and Alaska, and be depleted from the Arctic archipelago of Canada and areas off the northern Greenland coast. By 2080, they would disappear from Greenland entirely and from the northern Canadian coast, leaving only dwindling numbers in the interior Arctic archipelago.[55]
Predictions vary on the extent to which polar bears could adapt to climate change by switching to terrestrial food sources. Mitchell Taylor, who was director of Wildlife Research for the Government of Nunavut, wrote to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arguing that local studies are insufficient evidence for global protection at this time. The letter stated, "At present, the polar bear is one of the best managed of the large Arctic mammals. If all Arctic nations continue to abide by the terms and intent of the Polar Bear Agreement, the future of polar bears is secure ... Clearly polar bears can adapt to climate change. They have evolved and persisted for thousands of years in a period characterized by fluctuating climate."[113] Ken Taylor, deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, has said, "I wouldn't be surprised if polar bears learned to feed on spawning salmon like grizzly bears."[30]
However, many scientists consider these theories to be naive;[30] it is noted that black and brown bears at high latitudes are smaller than elsewhere, because of the scarcity of terrestrial food resources.[112] An additional risk to the species is that if individuals spend more time on land, they will hybridize with brown or grizzly bears.[121] The IUCN wrote:
| “ | Polar bears exhibit low reproductive rates with long generational spans. These factors make facultative adaptation by polar bears to significantly reduced ice coverage scenarios unlikely. Polar bears did adapt to warmer climate periods of the past. Due to their long generation time and the current greater speed of climate change, it seems unlikely that polar bear will be able to adapt to the current warming trend in the Arctic. If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years.[7] | ” |
Controversy over species protection
Warnings about the future of the polar bear are often contrasted with the fact that worldwide population estimates have increased over the past 50 years and are relatively stable today.[129][130] Some estimates of the global population are around 5,000 to 10,000 in the early 1970s;[131] other estimates were 20,000 to 40,000 during the 1980s.[33][44] Current estimates put the global population at between 20,000 and 25,000.[28]
There are several reasons for the apparent discordance between past and projected population trends: Estimates from the 1950s and 1960s were based on stories from explorers and hunters rather than on scientific surveys.[132][133] Second, controls of harvesting were introduced that allowed this previously overhunted species to recover.[132] Third, the recent effects of climate change have affected sea ice abundance in different areas to varying degrees.[132] Finally, the prediction methods used to predict the decline in the future population of bear bears excluded key forecasting principles and included unquestionable assumptions. [134]
Debate over the listing of the polar bear under endangered species legislation has put conservation groups and Canada's Inuit at opposing positions;[30] the Nunavut government and many northern residents have condemned the U.S. initiative to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.[135][136] Many Inuit believe the polar bear population is increasing, and restrictions on sport-hunting are likely to lead to a loss of income to their communities.[30][137]
U.S. endangered species legislation
On 14 May 2008 the U.S. Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, citing the melting of Arctic sea ice as the primary threat to the polar bear.[138] While listing the polar bear as a threatened species, the Interior Department added a seldom-used stipulation to allow oil and gas exploration and development to proceed in areas inhabited by polar bears, provided companies continue to comply with the existing restrictions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The main new protection for polar bears under the terms of the listing is that hunters will no longer be able to import trophies from the hunting of polar bears in Canada.[139]
The ruling followed several years of controversy. On 17 February 2005 the Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition asking that the polar bear be listed under the Endangered Species Act. An agreement was reached and filed in Federal district court on 5 June 2006. On 9 January 2007, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed to list the polar bear as a threatened species. A final decision was required by law by 9 January 2008, at which time the agency said it needed another month. On 7 March 2008, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of the Interior began a preliminary investigation into why the decision had been delayed for nearly two months. The investigation is in response to a letter signed by six environmental groups that United States Fish and Wildlife Director Dale Hall violated the agency's scientific code of conduct by delaying the decision unnecessarily, allowing the government to proceed with an auction for oil and gas leases in the Alaska's Chukchi Sea, an area of key habitat for polar bears. The auction took place in early February 2008.[140] An editorial in The New York Times said that "these two moves are almost certainly, and cynically, related."[30][141]Hall denied any political interference in the decision and said that the delay was needed to make sure the decision was in a form easily understood.[140] On 28 April 2008, a Federal court ruled that a decision on the listing must be made by 15 May 2008;[142] the decision came on 14 May to make the polar bear a protected species.[139]
On 18 July 2011, Charles Monnett, whose work was cited by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in its decision to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, was suspended from his work at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.[143] Investigators are reviewing Monnett's research methods as well as the significance he attached to his discovery in 2004 of polar bear carcasses in the Arctic, but supporters argue that the investigation is essentially "a smear campaign" against Monnett.[144]
Upon listing the polar bear under the Endangered species act, the Department of the Interior immediately issued a statement that the listing could not be used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions,[138] although some policy analysts believe that the Endangered Species Act can be used to restrict the issuing of federal permits for projects that would threaten the polar bear by increasing greenhouse gas emissions.[138] Environmental groups have pledged to go to court to have the Endangered Species Act interpreted in such a way.[138] On 8 May 2009, the new administration of Barack Obama announced that it would continue the policy.[145] The polar bear is only the third species, after the elkhorn coral and the staghorn coral protected under the Endangered Species Act due to climate change.[citation needed] On 4 August 2008, the state of Alaska sued U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, seeking to reverse the listing of the polar bear as a threatened species out of concern that the listing would adversely affect oil and gas development in the state. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said that the listing was not based on the best scientific and commercial data available, a view rejected by polar bear experts.[146]
Canadian endangered species legislation
In Canada, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada recommended in April 2008 that the polar bear be assessed as a species of special concern under the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). A listing would mandate that a management plan be written within five years, a timeline criticized by the World Wide Fund for Nature as being too long to prevent significant habitat loss from climate change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear
Just Push Play
http://boneblogger.com/effects-of-climate-change-on-polar-bears/ (top image credit)
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are in the news again because of dire predictions for the coming decades on their population numbers. The effects of climate change have been predicted to impact the polar regions first and most dramatically according to most models, and indeed, it is at the poles where we are recording some of the most dramatic examples of climate change. Polar bears, being the largest of the living bear species, are charismatic and popular, and because of the likely impact that climate change will have on them they have become a poster species for the climate issue.
Polar bear, Ursus maritimus.
In a recent interview bear expert Andrew Derocher predicted that one population of polar bears (western Hudson Bay) could see its numbers drop too low to be viable within three decades (Yale Environment 360 2010). We have explored polar bears and their populations in other posts. Here I want to examine why changes in sea ice and warmer periods are such a concern for polar bears.
Polar bears evolved relatively recently, diverging from an ancestral brown bear population about 150,000 years ago (Lindqvist et al. 2010). There is a unique population of brown bears that live on Admiralty, Baranof, and Chichagof (ABC) islands of southeastern Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago. This population, called the ABC bears, is the closest brown bear relatives of the polar bears—early members of this population split off to live full time on the sea ice, evolving into the modern polar bear species. Thus, polar bears are an example of rapid mammalian evolution, undergoing morphologic changes such as elongated snouts, overall size changes, furry padded feet, and color changes, as well as social and metabolic changes to adapt to the rhythms of the arctic seasons.
It is their complex adaptations to living on the rugged ice that makes them most susceptible to changes in that habitat. They use the ice as a platform for hunting seals, as a habitat for finding mates and mating, and for traveling long distances. As the ice breaks up earlier in the spring, and re-freezes later in the winter, several weeks of prime hunting time are taken away from the polar bears. Today, they are able to spend almost three weeks less on the ice hunting than they were able to several decades ago. This is critical because after the ice breaks up for the year, the bears must fast until the next season, and longer times of open water means long fasting periods.
This can be critical for a female bear that must gestate her young, birth them, and begin to nurse them to a size large enough that they can accompany her onto the ice for hunting the next season. So, she is expending a great deal of energy in contributing to the growth of her young while fasting. If she did not build enough fat reserves the year before to withstand this metabolic marathon, she and her offspring will not survive into the following year. A few additional weeks of having to fast can be the difference between life and death.
The intimate connection that polar bears have evolved with their arctic habitat means that they are finely tuned to changes in that world. And with the effects of climate change appearing in the arctic regions first, they are in fact akin to the “canary in the coal mine,” a harbinger of things to come.
Just Push Play
http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/polarbear/polarbear.html
Polar Bear
WORLD’S LARGEST LAND CARNIVORE
Polar bears are classified as marine mammals because they spend most of their lives on the frozen Arctic sea ice. Males can weigh up to 1,430 pounds and grow as long as 10 feet in length. But only 20,000-25,000 of these powerful animals remain in the wild, and their survival is in jeopardy.
Climate change, which leads to the loss of Arctic sea ice, is the leading threat to polar bears. The survival of polar bears and the protection of their marine habitat are urgent issues for WWF and other conservationists
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Polar-bear-researcher-wins-top-conservation-prize-3633542.phpPolar bear researcher wins top conservation prize
Updated 04:08 a.m., Thursday, June 14, 2012
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Polar bear researcher Steven Amstrup has been named the winner of the 2012 Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation.
The award announced Thursday recognizes Amstrup's work with other researchers about the possible impact of global warming on polar bears. Prize organizers say that research helped lead to polar bears being listed as a threatened species in 2008 by showing that many Alaskan polar bears give birth on drifting ice floes that are susceptible to rising temperatures.
Amstrup of Kettle Falls, Wash., is the chief scientist for Bozeman, Mont.-based Polar Bears International. He'll receive the $100,000 prize and the Lilly Medal Sept. 29 in Indianapolis.
The prize administered by the Indianapolis Zoo and given every two years claims to be the world's richest individual award for animal conservation.
Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Polar-bear-researcher-wins-top-conservation-prize-3633542.php#ixzz1xmL0lA4E
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/055
Just a Great Hero!
Steve C. Amstrup's research on global warming and polar bears helped put the animals on the threatened list. / Photo provided by Matt Mays
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120614/NEWS/206140358/Climate-change-drives-polar-bear-scientist-Steven-C-Amstrup?odyssey=mod%7Cbreaking%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com
Clutching his remote control, Steven C. Amstrup watches the news of killer tornadoes, destructive hurricanes, hot and cold temperature extremes -- and wishes he could put words into the mouths of those reporters and weather forecasters.
"They should add on the end of every one of these stories . . . 'these sorts of events will continue to increase in number and severity as the world continues to warm,' " Amstrup said from his home in Kettle Falls, Wash.
"Adding that to the broadcast might begin to get people's attention."
More attention to global warming's impact on weather extremes can lead to more action. More action can lead to real solutions.
And solutions could save Amstrup's beloved polar bears -- the focus of his work, the passion of his life and the reason he is being named today winner of the 2012 Indianapolis Prize for animal conservation.
The $100,000 award, presented by the Indianapolis Zoo every other year and funded by the Lilly Foundation, is given to the nation's top scientists and researchers who advance the cause of animal conservation.
Five years ago, Amstrup led an international team of researchers to look at global warming and how it might affect polar bears, producing enough evidence to place the animals on the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
That was a significant milestone as polar bears became the first -- and only species to date -- to be listed solely on the basis of the threat of global warming.
Today, as chief scientist for Polar Bears International, the 62-year-old Amstrup no longer spends long days researching bears in brutal temperatures or facing the wrath of baby cubs, which he describes as "chainsaws wrapped in fur."
Instead, his passion has shifted to educating people -- from average Joes to trained weather forecasters to even some scientists -- about the threat of global warming and how best to change the perception of the problem.
"Across the board, people have not done a very good job of recognizing this threat," he said. "People can't really appreciate climate.
"Whether it's the general public, policy makers or the captains of industry, their appreciation of climate is what they get when they step out the front door. It's hard to get them to recognize that what they are experiencing is not climate but weather."
In other words, you can't write off global warming just because of a snowy winter. By the same token, he adds, it is not proper for anyone to use a hot, dry summer to defend global warming.
There are plenty of champions of global warming. What sets Amstrup apart?
In addition to working with the public and zoos around the nation, Amstrup has taken up the task of training fellow researchers to be clearer in their writing and less wavering when it comes to their research.
"As scientists, we tend to lead our reports with our uncertainties. We are conservative about what we are willing to say," Amstrup said. "But that can lead to too-specific and too-narrow conclusions about the threat of global warming. That needs to be broadened out. We need to keep the big picture in mind and make a statement about it."
And what is that statement?
"If we don't mitigate greenhouse gas rise, all the polar bears will ultimately disappear," he said. "We will no longer be polar bear researchers. We'll be polar bear historians."
Robert Buchanan, chief executive of Polar Bears International, said Amstrup is an example of what differentiates a good scientist from a great one.
"It's more than just research; it's an ability to write," he said. "Steve's ability to communicate his message is just outstanding."
Polar Bears International works with more than 70 facilities, including the Indianapolis Zoo, to educate the masses. While some bear populations in remote, arctic locations have rebounded after hunting rules were put into place in the 1970s, the numbers on the southern fringes of the globe, where the seas are getting warmer, are not.
Polar bears in these regions are finding it more difficult to sustain themselves, much less procreate. And change in global behavior is not likely to be a top-down solution, but rather a bottom-up success story.
Buchanan says he has seen it done before.
"When I was in my early 20s, MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) proved people can change. It was not socially acceptable any more to drink and drive. People can change, and change can rather rapidly occur when it needs to."
A child inspired
Amstrup grew up in Fargo, N.D., reading Field & Stream magazine and watching Marlin Perkins and his show "Wild Kingdom," influences that helped form his opinion and point him north toward the land of ice.
"Bears have had my imagination since I was a little kid," Amstrup said. "I was one of those kids who always wanted to go out in the woods and study bears."
His passion led him to the University of Washington, where he studied wildlife. He got his first taste of outdoor field work by studying black bears before taking a research job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service studying a variety of animals. In 1980, he moved to Alaska to take over polar bear research.
Early in his career, Amstrup solved the mystery of where Alaskan polar bears go to give birth to their young -- on drifting ice floes, which are susceptible to rising temperatures, a little tidbit that helped the cause of getting the bears listed as endangered.
It was one of the many things he would learn and then use to predict in 2007 that two-thirds of the world's polar bears could disappear by midcentury, and all of them by the end of the century, if behaviors are not changed and greenhouse gas emissions not lowered.
Michael Crowther, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo, said one of the things he admires most about Amstrup is his willingness to actually stop what he loved to do in the wild.
"Steve is a classic case . . . a pure researcher who can no longer afford the luxury of doing what he loves. Instead, he says, 'I have to do what is important,' converting from science focus to outreach focus," Crowther said.
"He understands we need to engage an audience. Once we engage them, we can enlighten them, teach them something they did not know and, finally, we can empower them."
The conservation movement can send a million scientists into the world, Crowther said, "but unless we engage the public, the efforts are going to be futile."
Amstrup is working on an international monitoring plan for polar bears, the first time a group of scientists will be working together to write reports that are specific to each nation but with a common way of counting and monitoring bear populations -- to counter the "naysayers" who use conflicting reports to push their views.
And certainly, some of that $100,000 is likely to help that cause.
But the unique thing about this award is that there are no strings attached.
Amstrup could buy himself a new car if he wants.
Oh, wait . . .
"We will certainly be donating some of the money to causes we think are important, but we also desperately need a more economical car," said Amstrup, who lives in the town of 1,600 with his wife, Virginia.
"When we lived in Anchorage, we had a pickup truck, but we mostly rode our bike to work because we lived downtown. But here in this rural area, in order to get to any place, we have to drive. It's 10 miles to the grocery store.
"I guess you can say we plan to make our own personal statement with that smaller car. So we can do our part."
Steven C. Amstrup
Age: 62.
Residence: Kettle Falls, Wash.
Occupation: Chief scientist, Polar Bears International.
Key accomplishment: Led the research that led to polar bears being listed as a threatened species in 2008 because of global warming.
Born: Fargo, N.D.
Education: Bachelor's in forestry from the University of Washington (1972), a master's in wildlife management from the University of Idaho (1975) and a doctorate in wildlife management from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (1995).
Background: Worked for 30 years as project leader for polar bear research at the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska.
Sources: Polar Bears International, staff research
Residence: Kettle Falls, Wash.
Occupation: Chief scientist, Polar Bears International.
Key accomplishment: Led the research that led to polar bears being listed as a threatened species in 2008 because of global warming.
Born: Fargo, N.D.
Education: Bachelor's in forestry from the University of Washington (1972), a master's in wildlife management from the University of Idaho (1975) and a doctorate in wildlife management from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (1995).
Background: Worked for 30 years as project leader for polar bear research at the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska.
Sources: Polar Bears International, staff research
About the Prize
Background: Established in 2004 with a $1 million gift from the Lilly Foundation. Initiated by the Indianapolis Zoo as part of its conservation efforts.
Process: A jury of leading scientists and conservationists nominate and name finalists and then choose a winner.
Prize: The Lilly Medal and $100,000. The prize is awarded every two years.
Source: www.indianapolisprize.org
Process: A jury of leading scientists and conservationists nominate and name finalists and then choose a winner.
Prize: The Lilly Medal and $100,000. The prize is awarded every two years.
Source: www.indianapolisprize.org
Call Star reporter Dan McFeely at (317) 444-6253.
Warning: The Next Article is Horrifichttp://www.treehugger.com/endangered-species/chinese-tourists-paying-80000-hunt-polar-bears-canada.html
Chinese Businessmen Paying $80,000 to Hunt Polar Bears in Canada
Polar bears are among the world's most iconic animals, a noble species whose very existence hangs in precarious balance due to melting arctic ice associated with global warming -- but while conservationists work to preserve their kind, others are paying a hefty price for the chance to kill them.
According to the Daily Mail, one Chinese company called the 'I Love Hunting Club' is drawing criticism for selling travel packages to adventure-seeking tourists offering the chance to kill polar bears in Canada. Reports indicate that nearly a hundred people, mostly Chinese businessmen, have shelled out $80,000 for the trip which includes: airfare, accommodations, foreign hunting permits, tracking guides to help find a bear, a bow and arrow or rifle to kill it with, taxidermy services to mount the animal or to make it into a rug, and finally a souvenir DVD documenting the entire sickening affair.
From one of the I Love Hunting Club's brochures:
"The polar bear is the most extreme of natural enemies in North America. Their weight can reach one ton, and they can grow to more than three meters in length. The huge male bear specimens are the most majestic, most beautiful of hunting prizes!"
The club's owner, American hunting specialist Scott Lupien, says there's a high demand for polar bear skins among Chinese elites, and his Beijing-based company's travel package to hunt the animals is only slightly more expensive than importing the product, making his offer all the more lucrative. While clearly a profitable venture for Lupien, the sportsman attempts to skirt criticism by claiming that the hunts are actually good for polar bears.
"If a male runs into a female with cubs, it attacks the cubs. Hunting males actually helps the young population survive," Lupien tells the Daily Mail. "The animal rights guys know this but they don’t want to admit it. And if you believe the ice caps are melting as some claim, these bears are going to die anyway, so you may as well hunt them."
What may be more surprising than the fact that there are people willing to spend significant amounts of money to hunt polar bears is the fact that, in Canada, it is somehow still legal. Despite being classified as a threatened species on the U.S. Endangered Species list, a drop in their numbers due to melting arctic ice, and a grim outlook in light of the ongoing effects of global warming, Canada remains the only up to 500 polar bears to be killed each year by trophy hunters from abroad.
One can only wonder how aware the public was of this policy which allows for the imperiled species to be hunted for $80,000 -- particularly considering a recent survey which revealed that Canadians were willing to pay $420,000 per polar bear to save them.
Just Push Play
...this is brendasue signing off from Rainbow Creek.
Of Course, One more Great Performance
O+O
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