Researchers have found some polar bears are swimming more than 400 miles to find ice caps. Bears fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) were found to have swam non-stop for nearly 10 days while they searched for ice in the Artic. The research, collected by the US Geological Survey, was published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology. (Photo: Reuters)
Robert Kuptana, who lives in the Arctic hamlet said grizzly bears, which are a species not natural to the area, are increasing in numbers near Ulukhaktok.
He said ever since the caribou have been travelling a different route along the mainland, the grizzlies have been following the herds and mating with polar bears.
(Picture: This stuffed grizzly-polar bear hybrid was found near Sachs Harbour, N.W.T in 2006)
More bad news for polar bears. NASA released this photograph (April 19, 2012) showing that the ice breakup is well underway across Hudson Bay. The breakup is more than a month ahead of schedule, resulting in hunting season for polar bears to shortened. (http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2012-04-19)
A polar bear cub born in Lapland last November is increasingly eager to spend time outdoors in the snow. (Photo: Ranua Zoo)
(Source: yle.fi)
According to new research modern day polar bears may have evolved in to a separate species of bear as many as 600,000 years ago. The new German study contradicts data from a study published last July in the journal Current Biology that suggested polar bears separated from brown bears 150,000 years ago.
A German researcher said that if the polar bears were only 150,000 years old, as suggested by the previous study, they would have had to evolve many specialized traits in a curiously brief time.
This does raise (Photograph by Florian Schulz)
Read more at: http://news.discovery.com/animals/polar-bears-dna-120419.html
A mysterious disease that swept through populations of seals in the Canadian, Russian and American Arctic last year and was associated with high levels of mortality, may have spread to one of the seals’ principal predators. Scientists with the United States Geological Survey reported observing polar bears with hair loss and skin lesions in the Beaufort Sea, near Barrow. These symptoms are similar to those that affected ice seal populations in the same area last summer, although whether they are suffering from the same illness remains unknown. (Andrew Wetzler | NRDC)
The USGS Science Center in Anchorage, said that in the past two weeks, of 33 bears checked by by scientists, nine had alopecia — loss of fur — and other skin lesions in the southern Beaufort Sea region near Barrow. Three of four bears inspected near Kaktovik on Thursday showed the symptoms. (bostonherald)
Walker the polar bear has met his new playmate Arktos for the first time at the Highland Wildlife Park. (Photo by HWP)
A new Government of Nunavut survey of the polar bear population in western Hudson Bay shows a “viable” population. (Photo by Paul J. Richards)
Read more at http://www.canada.com/technology/Western+Hudson+polar+bear+numbers+stable/6412813/story.html
Toronto Zoo’s cub’s new name is Hudson ʕ ´ᴥ`ʔ (Toronto Zoo)
Learning about the world. Anori, Knut’s half-sister made her debut in Germany this week.
Residents of Goose Cove were startled this morning after a polar bear tore through the small fishing town on the Northern Peninsula, breaking into houses and killing at least four animals.
A Department of Natural Resources public relations official said via email that the department had planned on tranquilizing the bear and had requested a helicopter in the event that they could put it to sleep.
However, the weather was not suitable for flying and the bear was shot dead.
Playful cub plays with its mother after emerging from their den (Christine Haines)
