Polar Bears By: Loriann Malcom
There is a long list of endangered animals. On that list is the animal I am currently researching, and that is the polar bear. Polar bears are animals that mostly lives in the North Pole and other ice covered oceans. The mass of an adult female polar bear is 330-350 pounds and an adult male is 990 pounds. Their speed is twenty-five miles per hour and the height of an adult female is 6.6 feet (on hind legs) and an adult male is 4.4 feet at shoulder (or all four legs). Also, polar bears can weigh as much as a grand piano. Their life span is about 20-30 years.
Polar bears adaptation is thick fur (thicker than any other bears’), they have a thick layer of blubber beneath their fur that provides insulation, and their long neck and narrow skull aids the animal in the water while warming the air that they breath. Also, their front feet are large, flat, and oar like, making them excellent swimmers. They feed primarily on the fat of ice-dependent seals. They also eat walrus, beluga, fish, birds, and many other small animals. Two percent of their hunts for seals are actually successful. Another interesting fact is
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They are born November through January. Mothers emerge out of the den in late March or April. At birth, the cubs are only around thirty centimeters long and weigh around half a kilogram that’s about the same as a guinea pig. The polar family emerge from the den four to five months later. The cubs will stay with their mother for about two years, during which time they learn the skills needed to survive in the Arctic. At birth the cubs weigh about 454 to 680 g (16-24 oz.) and are about 30 cm (12 in.) long. Males are born slightly larger than females. Cubs are born small and helpless, with their eyes closed. Finally, the fur of a cub is fine at birth, making the cubs look
The habitat is also made up of trees with nuts and bushes with berries. Black Bears are omnivores so they eat these along with other small animals. They are opportunist when it comes to food. Mostly bears eat vegetation during the spring but they will eat mainly anything they encounter. During the summer the bears eat salmon out of the rivers if they can catch it. If they can’t catch any they mainly survive off of berries, mainly blueberries, ants, grubs, and other insects. In the fall their diet starts to shift and they start to save up food for winter. They are also known to eat newborn moose calves during the winter when food is scarce.
Bears can live anywhere but Grizzly bears live in subalpine meadows and dense forests. When grizzly bears hibernate they usually live in caves. A sloth of bears is usually a mom and the cubs. The mom bear is called a sow, the dad bear doesn't have a name because they are never with the family and the babies are called cubs. There is usually a dearth amount of cubs in a family. The families are always together and not with a different family. All bear look different but I'm not talking about the other bears I am talking about grizzly bears. Grizzly bears are usually just the color brown and not really anything different. Grizzlys need big paws to get around and travel. Bears have small black eyes. Their eyes are small because they don't need very good eyesight because they have such good sniffers. Usually the weight of a cub is about 4- 10 pounds when they are born but when they are adults they weigh 175- 500 pounds.
The Arctic region is home to a variety of valuable animals and plants, including polar bear, seal, and so on. The ecosystem of the Arctic region is fragile because these animals are evolved to live in extreme conditions. With the climate change, many animals are endangered. Ice is the habitat of polar animals because they have to rely on sea ices for resting, food, and reproduction. With the climate change and the decrease of sea ice, the number of polar animals is decreasing and their health is threatened. For example, the average weight of female polar bears in 1980 was about 650 pounds, but the number reduced to about 500 pounds in 2004 (Djoghlaf 15). The earlier breakup and later condensation of sea ice shortens the hunting season of polar bears. Polar bears mainly feed on seals that indwell icy land. The melting ice reduces the number of seals and food intake of polar bears. In addition, polar bears are used to living in ice caves. The rising temperature causes the collapse of ice caves, which can kill baby bears. The climate change is negatively affecting the biodiversity in the region and will definitely harm the ecosystem
Josh Boylan, Crawford County Coon Club President states, “Raccoons are one of the smartest animals”. As a veteran coon hunter, he has encountered numerous amounts of raccoon. Not only does he say that raccoons are one of the smartest, he also states they are one of the meanest animals that he has encountered in close quarters, “They will attack anything, they may get there ass kicked in some of the battles, but they will give it hell.”
Grizzly bears are enormous bears; that, tend to be misunderstood by others. Many times, they are portrayed wrongly in movies and tv shows. People may go off by things they see; in the movies and immediately suggest that’s the way the grizzly bear is. If others took the time to find information on the grizzly they would see how wrong the movies are about them. For many people grizzly bears can be a mystery such as where they live, what they eat, and whether they hibernate or not. However, with a bit of research answers can be found.
The characteristics of the grizzly bear as a top predator also make it highly vulnerable to threats. Although it is an omnivore, because it relies heavily on salmon to make it through the winter, it is vulnerable to anything that impacts on salmon runs. It needs wide-ranging habitat and is slow to reproduce. As such, grizzly bears are considered not just a key species but also an ‘umbrella species’ because the protection of their habitats will result in an ‘umbrella of protection’ for a wide range of other species. The protected areas that have been set aside in the Great Bear Rainforest are not enough to sustain healthy populations of grizzly bear so it requires additional habitat set aside from logging. Trophy hunting of grizzly bears also continues to place their population at
Out of an Ice Age emerged one of our most majestic creatures in the world the polar bear. From its brown bear ancestry, the predator evolved to be a master of a harsh and unwelcoming ice kingdom. Intelligent, adaptable and fierce, the polar bear learned how to survive in a place that offers few comforts to any creature. But now that very environment is in flux. And so is the polar bear’s fate (Nature). Polar Bears are very different from other bears. Polar bears are very large bears compared to Black bears. Polar bears weigh anywhere between 330-1700lbs and Black bears weigh anywhere between 150-600lbs. They have strong legs with large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes that help with walking on ice and swimming. The wide paws prevent sea ice from breaking by distributing weight while walking. Their paws allow them to pull a 600 pound seal out of its breathing hole (Rosing, 20). The webbed feet results in making polar bears, unlike other bear species to be considered as marine mammals along with seals, sea lions, walruses, whales and dolphins (Polar Bear). According to Rosing Polar bears are excellent swimmers and have been known to swim up to six miles an hour and as far as 60 miles at a stretch. The bears paddle with their front feet and steer with their back feet. They often overheat. Sometimes they venture into the waters just to cool off. When a bear climbs on an ice floe, it shakes itself off because it is trying to prevent ice from forming on its fur (22-23). Because of climate change and hunting of polar bears are now becoming an endangered species which is affecting the food chain. We can fix this by going green, banning polar bear hunting and keep creating these new hybrid bears that are mixed with griz...
animals such as the polar bear, to mate and to prepare for the once again
Giant panda bears are 99% vegetarians; this is because besides bamboo they only eat small rodents and birds. They’re on a diet called omnivore. They are also carnivoras, and are part of the ursidae family. Their scientific name is “Ailuropoda Melanoleuca”, ailuropoda means “cat-footed” and melanoleuca meaning “the large black and white kind.”
In recent decades, the global warming threat has captured the attention of the nation and the world. While the main focus began with concentrating on the effects this long-term natural crisis would have on the human population, select groups have worked to approach the topic in a manner that entails prevention in order to help other animal and plant species around the globe. One such organization is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has played a major role in the conservation of the polar bear species, one of the mammals most adversely affected by the recent climate changes. As more research has been conducted regarding the polar bears, scientific name Ursus Maritimus, the conclusions have been shocking. In 2008, the Department to the Interior listed the polar bear species as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 awarding it some protections mandated by the federal government (Wolfe). However, on January 5, 2011, Representative Donald Young proposed a bill in Congress in order to delist the polar bears as threatened, thus decreasing and even removing the conservation efforts that have been set in place over the past three years. The polar bear Species should remain listed under the Endangered Species Act because ice thickness has decreased 40 percent during the past 30 years thus reducing the polar bears’ critical environment, if current conditions continue the polar bear populations around the world may decrease by two thirds by mid century, and since the species has been protected under the Endangered Species Act the worldwide populations have experienced stabilization or growth in most circumstances.
Hey, I didn’t see you there, how are you?I'm just wondering whether or not a big ol' grizzly bear is going to come charging at me at any point in my life, but seeing as grizzly bears are endangered that probably won't happen. In the past, there were thought to be around 50,000 grizzly bears in North America, nowadays they are growing sparse there are estimated to be only around 1800, now not even a 20th of the population in the past. Most of these grizzlies are located in Yellowstone National Park and Alaska, but they can also be found in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Montana. Some are thought to be in Washington.
To begin with, the melting of polar ice caps has caused polar bears to swim long distances. According to Bryan Walsh of TIME Magazine the melting of the ice caps have caused polar bears especially the young cubs to swim longer distances which has caused a “ forty-five percent mortality rate” (Walsh). In the article Walsh, writes about a study that showed that younger cubs because of low fat and strength were more likely to die due to the long di...
MATING: Siberian tigers mate in winter months and following a 3-5 month gestation period, the female produces 3-4 cubs. Cubs weigh just over 2 pounds each and are born blind. The small litter of cubs stay close to their mother for the first 8 weeks of life. By 18 months, the young are capable of hunting on their own. Young stay with their mother for 2 years, at which time they leave the pact and travel solo. The life span of the Siberian tiger is 15 years in the wild, and significantly longer in captivity.
The polar bear has a long, narrower head and nose, and small ears. The polar bear has coat that appears white but, each individual hair is actually a clear and hollow. This helps the polar bear keep warm. The polar bear's coat helps it blend in with its snowy surroundings, this adaptation helps the Polar Bear hide while hunting. The polar bear's front legs are slightly pigeon-toed, and fur covers the bottoms of its paws. These adaptations help the polar bear keep them from slipping on ice.
Red Pandas are on the endangered list, they live in the Himalayas low elevation parts. Their main natural predator is the snow leopard. Mothers can only have up to one to four cubs a life time. Their mothers make nest for the cubs and the cubs are blind for the first three weeks after birth. Red Pandas have similar characteristics to the raccoon. The Red Panda is an omnivore and fills it stomach with two-thirds of bamboo. Red Pandas are an endangered species and slowly disappearing.