Dog Body Language

: s Bear lar Po N O I C IFE E A L by Hannah Schardt For most animals, living in the frigid Arctic would be too much to “bear.” But for polar bears, all that ice is very nice! T hese two roly-poly polar bear cubs follow their mom from one chunk of ice to another, nearly splashing into the slushy seawater. Wouldn’t a leap like this make you freeze with fear? Not so for these little cubs. Just like their mom, they’re built for a life surrounded by chilly water, snow—and especially ice. To get the cold, hard facts on FLORIAN SCHULZ/VISIONSOFTHEWILD.COM (6-7); polar bears, jump on over to the next page. 6 PATRICK KIENTZ/BIOSPHOTO/MINDEN PICTURES (6 INSET) 7

o pack on the fat they need, T these nursing cubs drink lots of ! rich milk. The milk is almost as e fatty as butter! c Thick fur and a layer i eep polar n of fat k s bears so warm that i i ce they may actually get too hot! This bear sprawls on the ice to cool down and chill out. Splash! Polar bears spend most of their time on land or ice. But they are also super swimmers. Their big feet move Of course, a person could them quickly through the never spend so much time in water—faster than an Olympic such cold water. But a polar champion swimmer! And they’re bear has a special layer of fat not just sprinters. Polar bears as thick as your leg. It keeps the have been spotted swimming bear warm even underwater— more than 50 miles from land. sort of like a built-in wetsuit! On the Hunt The seals they eat hang out her snowy den to give birth— Polar bears are the largest mostly in icy Arctic waters. usually to two cubs. She won’t P eople have bears in the world. A male may But like all marine mammals, eat again for four months or weigh as much as seven grown the seals must come up for longer! And she uses up a lot spotted polar bears air. So polar bears prowl the of stored fat to make milk for men! So it’s no surprise that swimming more these bears need a whole lot of edges of the ice that forms on her cubs. food to keep their big bodies the Arctic sea each fall. When Once the babies are old than 50 miles going. And they get most of that a seal pops up to breathe, a enough, they follow Mom from land. food by hunting their favorite waiting bear may grab it and out into the big, icy world. It’s prey: ringed seals. drag it onto the ice for a meal. spring, which means the sea ice will soon be melting. And once where polar the ice melts, seals become bears live Family Time much harder to catch. So while PACIFIC OCEAN ASIA All polar bears need to the sea is still frozen, Mom must eat a lot. But a mom-to-be snag as many seals as she can ARCTIC really needs to chow down for herself and her babies. Her OCEAN EUROPE and fatten up before winter. hungry cubs trail along, learn- NORTh Winter is when she settles into ing how to hunt. AMERICA ATLANTIC OCEAN STEVEN KAZLOWSKI/NATUREPL.COM (8T, 9B); 8 FLORIAN SCHULZ/VISIONSOFTHEWILD.COM (9T) 9

FLORIAN SCHULZ/VISIONSOFTHEWILD.COM (10-11, 10T) ” ES Trouble in “ParaIe“ R SE S The Arctic sea where polar bears A F NTIAL live should freeze over in early autumn— E  S WATCH IT! T ­ wo layers of thick fur k and not melt until late spring. But human- IN made gases are making the Earth B polar bears warm. The fur “ may look white eep warmer. This causes the sea ice hair is actually see-through. , but each to freeze later in the fall and The skin beneath is black, When sea ice which absorbs warmth melt much earlier in spring. NOSE , some from the sun. Without their sea-ice hunting is scarce This sensitive sniffer can polar bears may smell a seal on the ice from ground, the bears go hungry. . more than a mile away Scientists have recently seen hunt seabirds The nostrils close tightly eeps a instead of their . That k polar bears hunting seabirds and underwater - even dolphins—not prey they usual seals. swimming bear from get normally eat. That may sound as ting a noseful of icy water! if the polar bears are learning how to survive in a warming world. But scientists say the bears can’t get enough fatty meat from those animals to survive. Many people are trying to figure out ways to stop the planet from heating up even more. That would be good news for Earth— and great news for the polar bear. = TH EE T Sharp teeth are great for catching food and tearing PA€S off hunks of fat and These dinner plate- flesh. But these teeth ’t need to chew; sized paws are slightly don webbed to help with most hunks are . swimming. Bumpy swallowed whole footpads help them grip slippery ice . 10 11