Polar Bears aren’t Cuddly.
The probability of us coming up against a bear is high. Here’s why we’re learning to respect them.
Ahhhh isn’t he sweet!!!
In short, he might look like it, but you’d be a fool to try and cuddle him! The Polar Bear is widely described as the deadliest of all types of bear. More dangerous than the brown & grizzly bear. While its food in the wild is normally the seal, they have been known for centuries to attack humans. Until the introduction of firearms, the native communities in the North lived in fear of the Polar bear and many early explorers have told of horrific attacks on uneducated visitors. Another not-so-good fact is that Polar bears are known to stalk and hunt humans.
No adequate number of polar bears exists, but estimates are that there are around 25,000. They are a threatened species, with around 60% of the total population living in the Canadian northern region - right where we will be walking! No wonder we walk straight through Polar Bear Pass!
We’ve heard many myths about the Polar bear whilst we’ve been preparing to do our trip, so, we’ve decided to do some research, and alas, we’ve got to answer many of them with the response that they are just that - myths!
Polar bears DON’T cover their nose when they are hunting seals to hide themselves. Canadian scientist Ian Stirling watched polar bears for years and never saw one cover his nose....apparently!
The other myth is that polar bears are left-pawed. Apparently NOT. Scientists who have studied polar bears have noted that there is no preference, apparently they use both paws equally...but would you trust a guy who watched you using you hand to do certain things!?!?
The annals of the north are filled with accounts of the most perilous and fatal conflicts of the polar bear. 'The first, and one of the most tragical, was sustained by Barantz and Heemskerke, in 1596, during their voyage for the discovery of the north-east passage. Having anchored at an island near the strait of Waygatz, two of the sailors landed, and were walking on shore, when one of them felt himself closely hugged from behind. Thinking this a frolic of one of his companions, he called out in a corresponding tone, ‘Who’s there? Pray stand off.’ His comrade looked, and screamed out, ‘A bear! A bear!’ then running to the ship, alarmed the crew with loud cries. The sailors ran to the spot armed with pikes and muskets. On their approach the bear very coolly quitted and mangled corpse, sprang upon another sailor, carried him off, and, plunging his teeth into his body, began drinking his blood in long draughts. Hereupon the whole of that stout crew, struck with terror, turned their backs and fled precipitately to the ship. On arriving there they began to look at each other, unable to feel much satisfaction with their own prowess. Three then stood forth, undertaking to avenge the fate of their countrymen, and to secure for them the rites of burial. They advanced, and fired at first from so respectful a distance that they all missed. The purser then courageously proceeded in front of his companions, and taking a close aim, pierced the monster's skull immediately below the eye. The bear, however, merely lifted his head and advanced upon them, holding still in his mouth the victim whom he was devouring; but seeing him soon stagger, the three rushed on with sabre and bayonet, and soon despatched him. They collected and bestowed decent sepulture on the mangled limbs of their comrades, while the skin of the animal, thirteen feet long, became the prize of the sailor who had fired the successful shot.....mmmmmm
The photo from the left is a shot of a polar bear attacking a United States Nuclear sub. For about 40 minutes, the bear loitered around the subs rear rudder. It took a bite out of the rudder and, finding it inedible, stayed around the area of broken ice around the rudder for a while, apparently thinking a seal (the bears favorite food) might use it as an air hole. The bear finally left when he heard the noise of an approaching helicopter. When an officer first looked around outside via the periscope, he noted that his sub was being stalked by a hostile polar bear. The periscope cam was turned on, and these photos of a polar bear chewing on the subs rear rudder resulted. The damage was said to be minor. The SSN 22 is a Seawolf class boat, one of the navy's newest submarines. It wasn't designed as a polar bear snack, but that's how life is sometimes. If a polar bear isn’t concerned about a nuclear sub, 3 guys walking to the pole are going to be like fish in a goldfish bowl!
Though these stories sound amazing and quite scary, we are of course, highlighting the extremes. The last death from a polar bear took place in 1999, but before that, there had been no fatal attacks from a polar bear for 25 years. Though there are also many stories of teams coming across polar bears, we will have extensive training on how to deal with a bear encounter, and how to scare them off without causing any harm to both the bear and the team.
No need to worry about us, we’ve got John!
Want to read more of the team’s articles on what there going to go through? look below!
Click here to read about the Physical impacts of the trip! >>
667 Pints of Guinness!!
That’s roughly how much “fuel” we could well require if we are walking for 14 days. Some polar explorers have found that they have burnt as much as 10,000 calories a day.....
Recent “confrontations” with bears have been documented in main stream papers, such as the Daily Mail. Click on the link to the right to read about a BBC camera crew who were on the menu for one hungry polar bear recently!
The moment a polar bear fancied a BBC film crew for lunch
By DAVID WILKES Last updated at 19:45pm on 30th October 2006
Click here to read the full article >>
The latest series of the BBC's 'Planet Earth' features extraordinary footage of polar bears struggling to survive in a habitat severely threatened by global warming. The producer Vanessa Berlowitz describes the hazardous and heartrending experiences the filming involved. Click on the link above to read the article.
The Polar Bear Diaries
Last updated on 23rd December 2006
Click here to read the full article >>
