Tag Archives: polar bear news

Polar Bear Blog – Spring Seals, Wolves and Rangers

Posted on April 10, 2013 by munck
Polar Bear Relaxing

Its hunting time in the arctic. Leads, temporary cracks in the ice, have opened up and there are some nice floe edges around – where the ice meets the open ocean. Bears, seals and everything gather around these areas, its a ‘busy’ place. And, of course, out here you find seals giving birth in snow dens and polar bears looking for seals giving birth in snow dens. It is a bit of a mixed bag … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Polar Bear Blog – Motherhood

Posted on March 24, 2013 by munck
Nursing polar bear in Wapusk National Park

For polar bears, motherhood actually starts in mid-September with pregnant females nestled into an earthen maternity den and the three month pregnancy just beginning. Near Churchill, cubs are born in early to mid-December once the den has become covered and insulated by a layer of snow. Less than one kilogram (2.2 lbs) at birth, they are blind, lightly furred and utterly helpless. There are usually two cubs born, sometimes just one if the mother is … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Polar Bear Blog – Ice Free Days

Posted on February 6, 2013 by munck
Swimming-bear

While all the polar bear scientists are chatting about solutions for the apocalypse, I stumbled across a neat little chart of Ice-Free Days in Hudson Bay (page 17). It was used by Martin Obbards, the Southern Hudson Bay polar bear guy, in a presentation so one would assume that the data is reasonably correct. One thing struck me, the ice in the 1970s kind of looks, um, really average. So with a ruler and some … Continue reading →

Posted in Bear Season, Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Polar Bear Blog – Let’s Feed The Bears (Some More)

Posted on February 5, 2013 by munck
Brian-bear-landscape

So, I have seen this idea come up here and there… most recently, it started with Robert Buchanan from Polar Bears International and now with one of his researchers, Andrew Derocher. The idea is to feed polar bears (specifically Churchill’s bears) while they are on land to help offset the decline in sea ice. Offhand it seems insane; after you have lived in the north for a while, insane seems intriguing. Incidentally, this idea first … Continue reading →

Posted in Bear Season, Canadian Arctic, Cape Churchill, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear Alert, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill, Tundra Buggy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Polar Bear Blog – Polar Bear Fasting and Feasting

Posted on January 29, 2013 by munck
Polar bear tests the fence.

A new study is out saying that polar bears can likely withstand a longer fasting period on land. An overview of the paper can be found at polarbearscience.com. I agree with this to an extent. Even though Churchill’s polar bears are out on the ice, they are in fact still losing weight right now. They will hit their lowest weights by spring, just in time to feast on seal pups and young seals that just … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Polar Bear Blog – Polar Bears, Northern Lights and the Usual

Posted on January 22, 2013 by munck
Polar Bear on Sea Ice

Temperatures have gone back to normal in Churchill, hovering between -25C and -30C, not too shabby especially if there is no wind. The Churchill Rangers headed out on their patrol exercise this past week in some pretty frigid temperatures – but that’s what being a ranger is all about when you come to think of it. Northern lights are not quite what everyone was hoping for this winter. We are supposed to be in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Bear Season, Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Polar Bear Blog – Winter, Freeze-up and Churchill’s Polar Bears

Posted on January 15, 2013 by munck

Well, it is around -50C with the windchill in Churchill today. The school bus is frozen up and being towed across town, the Canadian Rangers are heading out for an exercise out on the land and, most everyone else is staying inside and/or facebooking. That’s what Churchillians are up to so how about the bears… As I have said before, January is not a really big month for the polar bears of western Hudson Bay. … Continue reading →

Posted in Bear Season, Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Climate Change and Polar Bears, Polar Bear News, Polar Bears of Churchill | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Polar Bear Blog – Eskimo Dogs and Space Tomatoes

Posted on January 14, 2013 by munck

Sometimes, I am reminded how, aside from polar bear season and sometimes the Port, Churchill kind of remains off the arctic radar. There are two pretty good examples floating around the internet these days. The first is a story from Iqaluit where local mushers are concerned about their Canadian Eskimo Dog stock. Reading the CBC Article, it recounts how the Canadian Eskimo Dog is a disappearing breed and, given that it is one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Canadian Arctic, Churchill Manitoba News, Polar Bear News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments