Polar Bears In Canadian Culture

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Research Essay: Polar Bears
Generally speaking, the national animal is the symbol of a nation together with its people. Different countries use their own tokens. For instance, the bald eagle presents the United States, bulldog is for British, and dragon (though it is a legendary animal) stands for China. In terms of Canada, whether polar bears should replace beavers as Canada’s national animal is still a dispute. However, polar bears should stand for Canada’s national animal instead of beavers in terms of its value to the country, relationship with native people, as well as significant symbolic meanings. There are many reasons that polar bears are important to Canadian culture in terms of its value.
When it comes to polar bears, people should …show more content…

Polar bears (Ursusmaritimus) are classified as marine mammals because they spend most of their lives on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean. Polar bears are the only marine mammal with powerful, large limbs and feet, allowing them to cover miles on foot and run on land. Besides, they are quite huge in size. All of these make them stand at the top of food chain. Wiig, Ø. Aars, J. & Born, E. W. (2008) mentioned, “Polar bears play an important role in the marine environment.” As is known to the public, there would not be evolution and development if food chain did not exist at it is now. Thiemann, G. W., Derocher, A. E., & Stirling, I. (2008) pointed out, “Although polar bears are wide-ranging, they were already listed as an endangered species in the United State due to the climate change.” Polar bears are known as the umbrella species which means that it indirectly related to other species in the ecosystem. Therefore, once the polar bears are endangered, other species’ living conditions will also be influenced when the food chain is considered. For example, some animals depend on the polar bear’s leftovers for food such as Arctic Fox. Once polar bear is extinct, the Arctic Fox will be out of food to

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