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Polar.Bear.Battlefield. by BBC – Full documentary movie – (49:08 minutes)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – “The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is a large bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi). A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–700 kg (770–1,500 lb), while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name means “maritime bear”, and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present.
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations in decline. For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species … For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures.”
Polar Bear – Short (05:57 minutes)
From Nature View Photography on WordPress – “Polar Bears have an extraordinary sense of smell. They can smell a seal pup under a layer of snow/ice from over one kilometre in distance. When a Polar Bear roams the ice in search of food, this sense of smell is their most important sense. If a bear has smelled something, you often see him raise his head to be able to sniff better.
When a person is on the ice, it sometimes happens that bears get interested . They smells a new and different smell than what they are used to.
From these meetings we’ve (Nature View Photography) had during one afternoon in the past season I’ve [http://natureviewphotography.wordpress.com/] also made a movie. You can view it here (watch in HD and full screen). OR on http://natureviewphotography.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/kingofthearctic/”
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