News tagged with polar bear
New study suggests polar bears evolved earlier than previously thought
(Phys.org) -- A new genetic analysis carried out by and international team of scientists has revealed that polar bears and brown bears may have diverged around 600,000 years ago, which is much earlier than ...
Apr 20, 2012 |
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Fur loss, lesions reported in Beaufort Sea polar bears
Research scientists working for the U.S. Geological Survey report that some Alaska polar bears are losing their fur.
Apr 10, 2012 |
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PCBs levels down in Norwegian polar bears
It's never been easy to be a polar bear. They may have to go months without eating. Their preferred food, seal, requires enormous luck and patience to catch. Add to that the melting of Arctic sea ice due to climate change, ...
Mar 29, 2012 |
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Study: Demise of large animals caused by both man and climate change
Past waves of extinctions which removed some of the world's largest animals were caused by both people and climate change, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. Their findings were reported today, 05 ...
Mar 05, 2012 |
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Webcam tracks 3-month-old polar bear's development
(AP) -- Advocacy groups have set up a webcam to let viewers worldwide follow the development of a three-month-old polar bear cub in a Danish wildlife park.
Feb 27, 2012 |
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Putin receives 'prehistoric' water from Antarctic lake
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was given a water sample Friday taken from a pristine lake hidden under Antarctic ice for over a million years, after Russian scientists drilled down to its surface.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 10, 2012 |
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Super Bowl advertisers go after 'second screens'
(AP) -- Call it the "second-screen" Super Bowl. About two-thirds of smartphone and tablet owners use their gadgets to do things like text or post on Twitter while watching TV, according to research firm Nielsen. ...
Feb 01, 2012 |
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Is cannibalism in polar bears on the rise?
(PhysOrg.com) -- A series of photographs of cannibalism in polar bears have been released, and the researchers who witnessed the act think the rate of cannibalism may be increasing. They observed three instances ...
Dec 09, 2011 |
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Study of wolves will help scientists predict climate effects on endangered animals
Scientists studying populations of gray wolves in the USA's Yellowstone National Park have developed a way to predict how changes in the environment will impact on the animals' number, body size and genetics, amongst other ...
Dec 01, 2011 |
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Cameras stream Canadian polar bear migration
(AP) -- In the harsh, remote wilds of the Canadian tundra, a wolverine scampers up to a polar bear snoozing near the shore of the Hudson Bay. The bear rises and makes a half-hearted charge, driving away the fierce, badger-like ...
Oct 27, 2011 |
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Polar bear habitats expected to shrink dramatically
Habitats of polar bears are expected to shrink dramatically over the coming decades, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned Thursday, urging immediate action to save the Arctic animals.
Oct 20, 2011 |
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Polar bears ill from accumulated environmental toxins
New doctoral thesis documents that industrial chemicals are transported from the industrialized world to the Arctic via air and sea currents. Here, the cocktail of environmental toxins is absorbed by the sea's food chains ...
Oct 13, 2011 |
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Heidi, Germany's cross-eyed opossum star, dead
Heidi, a cross-eyed opossum who became an Internet sensation in Germany, winning three times more Facebook admirers than Chancellor Angela Merkel, died on Wednesday, her zoo said.
Sep 28, 2011 |
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Preserving four percent of the ocean could protect most marine mammal species, study finds
Preserving just 4 percent of the ocean could protect crucial habitat for the vast majority of marine mammal species, from sea otters to blue whales, according to researchers at Stanford University and the ...
Aug 29, 2011 |
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In warmer Greenland, shoot the dogs, drill for oil
(AP) -- The old hunter was troubled by the foreigners encroaching on his Inuit people's frozen lands.
Aug 21, 2011 |
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Polar bear
Ursus eogroenlandicus Ursus groenlandicus Ursus jenaensis Ursus labradorensis Ursus marinus Ursus polaris Ursus spitzbergensis Ursus ungavensis Thalarctos maritimus
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native to the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas. It is the world's largest carnivore species found on land. It's also the largest bear, together with the omnivore Kodiak bear which is approximately the same size. An adult male weighs around 400–680 kg (880–1,500 lb), while an adult female is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrow 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, it spends most of its time at sea, hence its name meaning "maritime bear", and can hunt consistently only from sea ice, spending much of the year on the frozen sea.
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with 5 of the 19 polar bear subpopulations in decline. For decades, unrestricted hunting raised international concern for the future of the species; populations have rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and the hunting of polar bears remains important in their cultures.
The IUCN now lists global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear, primarily because the melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food. The IUCN states, "If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years." On May 14, 2008, the United States Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
For more information about Polar bear, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
