Ursus Maritimus: The Sea Bear

Churchill, Manitoba bills itself as the “Polar Bear Capital of the World,” a claim it well deserves. During late fall anywhere from 600 to 1000 polar bears congregate along the western shoreline of Hudson Bay near this small Canadian sub-arctic town on the tundra, awaiting ice to form in order to begin their winter seal hunt.

At the opposite end of the seasonal spectrum, summer in Churchill brings viewing of beluga whales by the thousands, abundant nesting migratory birds and tundra wildflowers. Souls brave or foolhardy enough to endure the summertime onslaught of voraciously hungry mosquitos emerging in seemingly limitless numbers from tundra kettle ponds are treated to a spectacular display of nature’s bounty. In addition to all this summertime activity on land, after months spent hunting on sea ice polar bears come ashore to rest when warm weather breaks up ice, many of the white bruins retreating to summer dens dug into permafrost in the cool of the boreal forest miles south of Churchill. In the warm months, if one is fortunate polar bears can sometimes be found wandering boulder-strewn Hudson Bay beaches or on the tundra in the vicinity of Churchill.

“Polar bear in the water, eleven o’clock!” rang out when I spotted a polar bear in icy Hudson Bay during a July visit to sub-arctic Churchill.

My quest on a summer journey to Churchill was to view and photograph the abundant Hudson Bay population of beluga whales. Yet unexpected polar bear sightings made an already memorable expedition even more remarkable. The first bear I saw was lurking about Fort Prince of Wales, a nearly-three-hundred-year-old fort situated on the Churchill River near the town of Churchill. Originally constructed to protect Hudson’s Bay Company fur and trading interests, the fort is currently in the midst of a 10-year restoration project. Guards armed with rifles patrol the fort and the area around it to prevent polar bear attacks on laborers or visitors to the historic site. Nervous about the strange black zodiac that cruised by at a fair distance, the first polar bear I saw quickly ducked behind a boulder, becoming invisible to our small group within a second. In and around Churchill, the tundra is full of dips and potholes plus glacial boulders that can conceal an immense white bear very easily. This is why one does not go for a stroll along the unpopulated shore of Hudson Bay nor on the tundra without carrying a firearm!

Resuming our course in the zodiac toward where belugas were feasting on capelin--an oily baitfish belugas favor for food—we zigzagged to avoid ice floes on Hudson Bay. Suddenly a young polar bear was unexpectedly discovered swimming near ice floes. Fortunately for our little group, this bear was very close to our boat to give us a good look. Despite the thrill we experienced from our encounter, this particular polar bear was none too happy to see our little zodiac approaching. Using its powerful, muscular forearms to paddle to a small ice floe the bear clung onto it, warning us away with aggressive hissing. All bears demonstrate agitation by smacking their lips together while making a chuffing sound; this polar bear was no exception.

Making one wide pass around this bear for some photographs our zodiac quickly left this bear swimming peacefully toward uninhabited shoreline. It was with some relief that we watched the bear paddle in a path away from the general direction of the small town of Churchill. While Churchill may be the Polar Bear Capital of the World, welcome mats are not exactly rolled out for big white bears in town. One must be careful of polar bears in Churchill; each year some of them wend their way into the streets of this town in their search for food during lean summer and early fall months. When bears cannot be deterred from coming into town, offending polar bears are humanely trapped and placed into the local polar bear jail to await formation of sea ice in late October or early November. Churchill’s polar bear jail holds up to about 40 bears. The jail even sports larger cells that accommodate mama bears with cubs. Normally very solitary animals, polar bears are incarcerated in this unpleasant jail in individual cells adjacent to other polar bears; this is not something the bears enjoy. Loud bangs and generally unpleasant conditions are used to discourage bears from returning to such an univiting area after they are released. When ice forms in late fall, tranquilized bears are flown in nets via helicopter to points north where bay ice is firm enough to support their great weight. In the early days of this one-way-ticket-out-of-town program dosages of tranquilizers were not all that uniform, causing some bears to awaken a little too early during their evacuation flight. Cubs were placed in the seat next to helicopter pilots while mama hung from a net below the chopper. Pilots would sometimes feel a warm, wet tongue licking their arm when cubs woke up a bit too early inside the chopper!

Here’s some good news…polar bear are doing well along the western shore of Hudson Bay where Churchill is situated.

Ursus maritimus, the polar bear. Or, if you prefer, the sea bear. At home on both land and ice, polar bears are primarily maritime creatures, spending much of their lives on the ice and sea near land. Stare into the eyes of the ‘King of the Arctic’ and you will be introduced to the unrelenting gaze of a supreme predator. This is the only bear species known to actively stalk humans although reports of this occurring are thankfully relatively rare. Fortunately for humans, these solitary hunters spend much of their wintertime lives on sea ice hunting their favorite food, primarily ringed and bearded seals or occasionally walrus, beluga whales and narwhals. Hunting techniques range from laying in wait on the edge of a seal breathing hole in order to pounce upon a seal as it rises from the water for a breath to stalking, wherein the bear will slowly manuever and crawl across the ice toward its prey. Polar bear have even been observed using blocks of ice to smash into seal pupping lairs.

Dining on the fat and skin of seals, when food is plentiful polar bear tend to leave the meat and bones for scavengers to consume. Primarily eating fat is an effective way of obtaining necessary calories without requiring liquid in a frozen arctic desert. Able to slow their metabolism to conserve energy allows polar bears to remain alive in times of little food. Coming ashore at the beginning of warm weather months bears are hungry and about to endure a lean summer of privation in the food department. Virtual “walking hibernators,” polar bear metabolism slows when prey is scarce. Scavenging on beached whale carcasses or fish and crabs washed ashore, berries, birds and eggs, the occasional arctic hare, and lemmings, polar bear use up their fat reserves, becoming thin.

The polar bear guarding a sealskin above was photographed in the arctic Button Islands immediately south of Canada’s Baffin Island.

Their life spans ranging into their mid-twenties, mature male polar bears can attain weights from about 1100 to 1320 pounds (400 to 599 kg)—although one specimen weighed in at a massive 1760 pounds (800 kg)!—while generally measuring from 8.25 to 11 feet (2.5 to 3.35 m) in length. Much smaller female bears tend to top off in weight up to 550 pounds (250 kg) yet bulk up to 880 to 1100 pounds (400 to 500 kg) before entering maternity dens to give birth. Female bears live on average into their late twenties.

Designed for survival in the harsh arctic climate, polar bears abound across coastal polar regions of the northern hemisphere from Alaska and Canada to Greenland, Russia and Norway’s Svalbard (Spitsbergen). Supremely built for arctic conditions due to selective evolutionary adaptations, these bears are uniquely suited to life on and at the edge of the ice. Polar bear fur appears a creamy white although often their fur is tinged yellow which may be a result of oxidation by the sun. Their fur is comprised of clear hollow hairs that trap light and resultant heat while black skin absorbs the sun’s energy to help keep them warm. Long air-filled guard hairs form a watertight overcoat that protects a dense undercoat from frigid seawater. Sporting a thick layer of insulating blubber, polar bears remain warm and toasty in the most severe of frigid arctic conditions. Even the soles of their feet sport dense coverings of fur that help insulate the bear as well as provide traction on sea ice. Possessing a keen sense of smell, polar bears can scent seal pups in dens several feet below the snow. Plus, polar bears are known to detect seals from a distance of over 20 miles (32 km)! Their smallish heads sit atop long necks that enable these bears to easily insert their heads into seal breathing holes while hunting.

Interestingly, in the past aerial counts of polar bears were impossible due to their white coats blending into their surroundings. Infrared photography, which easily detects warm-blooded animals, also failed to pick up polar bears since their dense pelage allows almost no heat to escape for detection. In fact, polar bears are so superbly insulated that snow does not even melt on their pelts. Finally the problem of detection was solved by employing ultraviolet photography. While snow reflects 90% of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, polar bear fur absorbs these same rays, making them visible to aerial surveyors.

King of the Arctic

Female polar bears generally reach sexual maturity around 5 to 6 years of age. Mating occurs on the pack ice most commonly during April and May. Interestingly, after fertilization a polar bear embryo will divide several times, free floating in the uterus before being implanted on the uterine wall in September to resume development. Excavating a den, females enter dens in October or November, giving birth to one to four cubs (twins are most common) in December or January. At birth cubs weigh in at a mere 20 ounces (1.5 pounds or 680g), measuring a mere 10 iches (25cm) long. Rich milk comprised of approximately 30% butterfat sustains rapid growth in developing cubs. Emerging from their den in late March or April, the bear family will remain near the den for two weeks. Rapidly acclimatizing to the extreme cold and life in the wild, mothers soon lead their swiftly growing cubs to the ice to teach them essential hunting skills. Sorely in need of nutrition polar bear mothers, famished after living solely on their fat reserves for months, are ready for a seal dinner. By the time cubs leave their dens they have gained much weight, tipping the scales at about 25 pounds (11 kg). On average, polar bears produce litters every 3 to 4 years although around Hudson Bay’s west coast, about 40% of female bears breed every two years. Remaining with their mothers on average two years, cubs are then abandoned to fend for themselves.

The master of its realm, the white bear of northern latitudes fears predation only from other bears and humans. Male bears will kill cubs and females that defend their young. Humans have hunted bear for aeons, using their fur to create warm winter clothing, eating their meat to survive and using their claws as hunting talismans. While polar bears are protected from wholesale hunting today, native peoples from Alaska to Canada to Greenland still are allowed to hunt polar bear on a subsistence basis.

Today, polar bear are listed as threatened on the United States Endangered Species Act. Population decline has been noted in some areas but in other regions polar bear numbers are stable and even increasing.

An arctic sunset--complete with an inukshuk, the “likeness of people” in Inuktitut—in Churchill, Manitoba

A final thought…On our last night in Churchill my husband and I strolled to the shoreline of Hudson Bay to listen to and watch beluga whales as they gorged in a feeding frenzy on hordes of capelin close to the beach. Sea ice was thick in the water with fantastic sculpted spires reflecting lavender, mustard and pink in the setting arctic sunset. I’ll always recall that sublime moment at sunset sitting quietly on the beach, content to hear only the sounds of belugas splashing and breathing accompanied by seabirds’ raucous caws. Soon relentless mosquitos became too much for us forcing us to return to the sanctuary of our hotel. The next morning, mentioning this memorable moment from the prior evening to our naturalist guide she commented, “I’m glad you told me about this now for I would not have suggested doing that. Polar bear are known to be fond of lounging on those rocks!” That would have made for a good photo op.

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animal, arctic, canada, churchill, manitoba, polar bear, travel, tundra, water, white and writing