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Post by brobear on May 17, 2017 2:51:59 GMT -5
animals.mom.me/kind-special-skills-polar-bear-have-3286.html Polar bears don't have many predators, but their numbers are still declining due to melting ice caps and humans interfering by killing the bears' main food source: seals. Polar bears are uniquely adapted to life on the ice, having developed the hunting skills and stamina needed to survive the Arctic tundra. Still Hunting According to Polar Bears International, walking uses 13 percent more of a bear's energy than sitting still. With every calorie important to survival, polar bears have developed the ability of "still hunting" -- lying patiently for hours as they wait for their prey. They sniff out holes in the ice dug by seals, then sit beside the hole until a seal pokes its head up to breathe. The bear grabs the seal quickly and pulls it out of the water. Swimming Even though the water is icy, polar bears are skilled swimmers. Healthy adult polar bears can swim for several days without stopping. They swim from the mainland to large, floating ice islands that have broken away. Seals often rest on these islands, and the polar bears can swim up quietly and pounce fiercely up on the ice before the seal can react. Fast Attack Although polar bears are masters of still hunting, they can reach speeds of 25 mph for short bursts. A polar bear approaches a seal quietly, then charges when he's within 50 to 100 feet of the seal. For this short distance, he can move so fast the seal doesn't have much time to react and reach the safety of the water. Traveling Over Ice Moving around on the ice can be treacherous, but polar bears have perfected the skill of ice travel. The bottoms of their paws are covered in hair to keep them warm and provide extra traction. A polar bear might travel more than 1,800 miles during a year, migrating to follow the food supply. Their thick, muscular legs help them climb snow-covered banks, and they are excellent jumpers. Polar bears must jump over large cracks that develop in the ice, especially in the warmer months, and they can leap over cracks as wide as 19 feet.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2018 3:11:58 GMT -5
I disagree with that underlined sentence as the polar bear generally has no natural enemies. They get killed by orca's but that rarely happens.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 10, 2019 9:29:09 GMT -5
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Post by King Kodiak on Aug 14, 2019 4:34:00 GMT -5
Longest Polar Bear Swim Recorded—426 Miles Straight A polar bear has swam a record nine days straight, covering the distance between Washington, D.C., and Boston, a new study says. A female polar bear swam for a record-breaking nine days straight, traversing 426 miles (687 kilometers) of water—equivalent to the distance between Washington, D.C., and Boston, a new study says. The predator made her epic journey in the Beaufort Sea (see map), where sea ice is shrinking due to global warming, forcing mother bears to swim greater and greater distances to reach land—to the peril of their cubs. The cub of the record-setting bear, for instance, died at some point between starting the swim and when the researchers next observed the mother on land. She also lost 22 percent of her body weight. "We're pretty sure that these animals didn't have to do these long swims before, because 687-kilometer stretches of open water didn't occur very often in the evolutionary history of the polar bear," said study co-author Steven Amstrup, chief scientist for the conservation group Polar Bears International. Amstrup is also the former project leader of polar bear research for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which led the new study. Another female bear in the study swam for more than 12 days, but appears to have found places to rest during her journey. (Related "Polar Bears Turning to Goose Eggs to Survive Warming?") Long Swims Deadly for Polar Bear Cubs Biologists collared 68 female polar bears between 2004 and 2009 to study their movements. Thanks to what study co-author and WWF polar bear biologist Geoff Yorkcalls an "accident of technology and design," the researchers noticed data gaps in the bears' whereabouts. The researchers were later able to link the gaps to periods when the bears were at sea. (See polar bear pictures.) The scientists examined GPS data for more than 50 female polar bears' long-distance swimming events, defined as swims longer than 30 miles (50 kilometers). This data was then correlated to rates of cub survival. "Bears that engaged in long-distance swimming were more likely to experience cub loss," said study co-author George Durner, a USGS research zoologist in Anchorage, Alaska. Five of the 11 mothers that had cubs before they began their lengthy swims lost their young by the time the researchers observed them again on land, according to the research, presented July 19 at the International Bear Association Conference in Ottawa, Canada. The study is not yet published in a journal. Sea Ice Loss to Continue Until 1995, summer sea ice usually remained over along the continental shelf of the Beaufort Sea, a critical habitat for polar bears due to its rich seal population. Now the sea ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas is retreating from the coast by hundreds of kilometers, Durner said. (Read "The Big Thaw" in National Geographic magazine.) In 2010, Arctic sea ice extent was the third lowest on record, part of a long-term trend of ice loss that will continue for decades to come, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. "So the sort of conditions that contribute to long-distance swimming are likely going to persist in the future, and if cub mortality is directly related to this, then it would have a negative impact on the population," Durner said. It's unknown whether the cubs are drowning at sea or whether the metabolically costly act of swimming long distances in nearly freezing water kills them after they reach land. relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/news/2011/7/110720-polar-bears-global-warming-sea-ice-science-environment
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Post by tom on Aug 14, 2019 16:17:17 GMT -5
Yeah it's amazing how well and how long they can swim. They don't call them marine mammals for nothing. The sad part as is the case with some Grizzly mothers as well is when momma Bear leads her cubs out for a long swim and they parish because they aren't strong enough. I believe I read a 40 something percent mortality rate for young cubs.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Nov 29, 2019 6:45:27 GMT -5
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Nov 30, 2019 6:57:00 GMT -5
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Nov 30, 2019 7:07:15 GMT -5
WHAT KIND OF SPECIAL SKILLS DOES THE POLAR BEAR HAVE? Polar bears don't have many predators, but their numbers are still declining due to melting ice caps and humans interfering by killing the bears' main food source: seals. Polar bears are uniquely adapted to life on the ice, having developed the hunting skills and stamina needed to survive the Arctic tundra. Still HuntingAccording to Polar Bears International, walking uses 13 percent more of a bear's energy than sitting still. With every calorie important to survival, polar bears have developed the ability of "still hunting" -- lying patiently for hours as they wait for their prey. They sniff out holes in the ice dug by seals, then sit beside the hole until a seal pokes its head up to breathe. The bear grabs the seal quickly and pulls it out of the water. Swimming
Even though the water is icy, polar bears are skilled swimmers. Healthy adult polar bears can swim for several days without stopping. They swim from the mainland to large, floating ice islands that have broken away. Seals often rest on these islands, and the polar bears can swim up quietly and pounce fiercely up on the ice before the seal can react. Fast Attack
Although polar bears are masters of still hunting, they can reach speeds of 25 mph for short bursts. A polar bear approaches a seal quietly, then charges when he's within 50 to 100 feet of the seal. For this short distance, he can move so fast the seal doesn't have much time to react and reach the safety of the water. Traveling Over Ice .Moving around on the ice can be treacherous, but polar bears have perfected the skill of ice travel. The bottoms of their paws are covered in hair to keep them warm and provide extra traction. A polar bear might travel more than 1,800 miles during a year, migrating to follow the food supply. Their thick, muscular legs help them climb snow-covered banks, and they are excellent jumpers. Polar bears must jump over large cracks that develop in the ice, especially in the warmer months, and they can leap over cracks as wide as 19 feet. animals.mom.me/kind-special-skills-polar-bear-have-3286.htmlThis is the second source which suggest the polar bear can leap 19 ft (horizontally of course) .
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Post by King Kodiak on Nov 30, 2019 9:44:12 GMT -5
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Dec 1, 2019 1:04:30 GMT -5
Nice account there, King Kodiak. The polar bear like the brown bear can jump 2 times its stride. A male polar bear could jump further than a female despite being slower due to its greater bulk.
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Post by brobear on Dec 1, 2019 2:48:05 GMT -5
Nice account there, King Kodiak. The polar bear like the brown bear can jump 2 times its stride. A male polar bear could jump further than a female despite being slower due to its greater bulk. Churchill, Manitoba = polar bears.
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Post by King Kodiak on Jan 6, 2020 20:32:24 GMT -5
Longest recorded underwater dive by a polar bear The maximum dive duration for a wild polar bear (Ursus maritimus) of any age is unknown, and opportunities to document long dives by undisturbed bears are rare. We describe the longest dive reported to date, by a wild undisturbed adult male polar bear. This dive was made during an aquatic stalk of three bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) lying several meters from each other at the edge of an annual ice floe. The bear dove for a total duration of 3 min 10 s and swam 45–50 m without surfacing to breathe or to reorient itself to the locations of the seals. The duration of this dive may be approaching its maximum capability. Polar bears diverged from brown bears (Ursus arctos) about 4–500,000 years ago, which is recent in evolutionary terms. Thus, it is possible that the ability to hold its breath for so long may indicate the initial development of a significant adaptation for living and hunting in its marine environment. However, increased diving ability cannot evolve rapidly enough to compensate for the increasing difficulty of hunting seals because of the rapidly declining availability of sea ice during the open-water period resulting from climate warming. www.researchgate.net/publication/277573604_Longest_recorded_underwater_dive_by_a_polar_bear
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Oct 21, 2020 8:32:45 GMT -5
Unusual hunting and feeding behaviour of polar bears on Spitsbergen.
Prolonged chasing of an adult reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) by a polar bear (Ursus maritimus) was observed both on land and in the sea, in Magdalenefjorden, northwest Spitsbergen. Polar bears were also observed catching black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) in the sea in northwest Spitsbergen and feeding on chicks in the arctic tern (Sterna paradisea) colony in Hornsund, southwest Spitsbergen. While feeding on seabird species is unsurprising, the prolonged chasing of adult reindeer is unusual for polar bear hunting behaviour. The few documented cases of polar bear hunting reindeer consist of either surprising and killing resting/sleeping prey or stalking and a short rapid chase of the reindeer. Our observations describe new feeding habits of polar bears that may be in response to decreasing seal availability due to shrinking sea-ice cover in the Arctic. www.researchgate.net/publication/235984933_Unusual_hunting_and_feeding_behaviour_of_polar_bears_on_Spitsbergen
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Post by brobear on Sept 9, 2021 3:21:40 GMT -5
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/polar-bears-take-down-walruses-hurling-rocks-and-ice-study-says-180978392/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=socialmedia&fbclid=IwAR3H7Azd7ponX45dIaX0w91eRU3f61bqlz0CSmh8sPSlZ2gsH0fHMQHJ-Vw Polar Bears Take Down Walruses by Hurling Rocks and Ice New research corroborates Inuit knowledge of the animals cleverly using new tools. In 1865, Arctic explorer Charles Francis Hall published an Inuit account of a polar bear attacking a walrus with a rock on Baffin Island in Canada. He even included an engraving of the bludgeoning in his book Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux. “The bear mounts the cliff, and throws down upon the animal’s head a large rock, calculating the distance and the curve with astonishing accuracy, and thus crushing the thick bullet-proof skull,” Hall describes in his book. Scientists have long dismissed these centuries-old claims of polar bears smashing the skulls of walruses with rocks and chunks of ice as myth and legend. Now, Canadian researchers have found evidence to corroborate the Indigenous knowledge. Reviewing Inuit accounts over the past 200 years, lead author Ian Stirling, a biologist at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and his team report in a new study that while rare, these attacks likely do occur. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Arctic, the research concludes that “polar bears may occasionally use tools to hunt walruses in the wild.” “I have always been impressed with the accuracy and reliability of the observations of animals reported by experienced Inuit hunters, so I thought it was likely the accounts might not just be myths but the result of reporting of actual observations, even though the behavior itself is likely quite rare,” he tells Mindy Weisberger of Live Science. The Inuit accounts describe polar bears picking up rocks and chunks of ice to throw at the heads of unsuspecting walruses. The large marine mammals are occasional prey, though their size—male walruses can weigh in excess of 2,500 pounds—thick skulls and dangerous tusks make it difficult for unarmed bears to bring them down, reports Kristine De Abreu of ExplorersWeb. ( More info on site provided ).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2021 4:58:29 GMT -5
OldGreenGrolar A few words about jumping, I noticed in your postings claim, that Siberian tigers cold jump 12 ft high vertically and then it was mentioned, that polar bear can jump higher than 6 ft off the ground. Some random visitor, who doesn´t know about animals so much can get very wrong impression from these texts. When talking about jumping, it is important to separate it, that how high animal can reach with front limbs, when jumping vertically and then how high off the ground hind legs actually are at the highest point of the jump. So, Siberian tiger can´t jump 12 ft vertically so, that hind legs would be so high. Actually without any running speed to help the jump, they jump as high as some athletes with a good jump. When their body is around 7 ft long and standing height 8 ft, they need to jump 3-4 ft upwards to be able to hit something 11-12 ft high with their front paws. This is what is meant, when it´s said, that lions and tigers can jump 10-12 ft high. They can´t just jump over that high obstacle. They can jump/climb over that high obstacle making it look easy, when they jump and use movement and limbs to go over something. And if they bend their hind legs in the highest spot of vertical jump, it creates kind of optical illusion making it look like jump is higher than it is in reality. Then when talking about polar bears, they have longer body and need to jump only one feet of the ground to be able to reach similar heights as tigers and lions and biggest don´t need to jump at all, they can stand on hind legs and reach something 10-12 ft high off the ground. That 6 ft high, I wonder what it means, I guess that polar bear can jump over that kind of obstacle when running fast. I don´t believe, that it could jump vertically that high so, that hind legs straight down and off the ground over 6 ft, I guess that even one feet would be achievement if trying to jump like that while first standing still. In this big cats beat all bears. Biggest cats can sit or stand still and then suddenly jump straight up and their hind legs are at highest point 2-3 ft off the ground. If they run and then jump, they can most likely almost double it and that´s how they are able to climb on the back of the elephant or giraffe. Their front paws reach high enough and when they dig in claws, they can pull upwards while using hind legs to push on the flank of big animal and then they are up, when all goes good. A polar bear or any other bear could never do the same obviously. And all this can be seen in many videos, still for the reasons that beat me, some people think that tigers could jump over 12 ft obstacles without touching it with paws. I don´t think that you thought so, when posting but I thought to write about this to avoid misunderstandings if some random people with no idea about animals read such numbers.
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Post by brobear on Sept 9, 2021 5:12:25 GMT -5
Quote: And all this can be seen in many videos, still for the reasons that beat me, some people think that tigers could jump over 12 ft obstacles without touching it with paws. I don´t think that you thought so, when posting but I thought to write about this to avoid misunderstandings if some random people with no idea about animals read such numbers. *To be honest, I figured this means that a tiger can leap over a 12 ft. wall. However, whether he clears it without touching it never really occurred to me. But yes, I agree that he ( most likely ) jumps high enough to grab the top of the wall and then pulls himself up and over. Makes sense.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2021 5:16:28 GMT -5
Quote: And all this can be seen in many videos, still for the reasons that beat me, some people think that tigers could jump over 12 ft obstacles without touching it with paws. I don´t think that you thought so, when posting but I thought to write about this to avoid misunderstandings if some random people with no idea about animals read such numbers. *To be honest, I figured this means that a tiger can leap over a 12 ft. wall. However, whether he clears it without touching it never really occurred to me. But yes, I agree that he ( most likely ) jumps high enough to grab the top of the wall and then pulls himself up and over. Makes sense. Yes, it is how tiger does it, because it can´t leap that high. That famous elephant video shows it quite clearly. Tiger charges and it swipes with front paw, but at no point whole tiger isn´t there, it just is able to make one swipe high enough to hit the man. And that tiger had speed behind leap.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2021 5:23:28 GMT -5
One very good video showing what it means, when lion jumps 10-12 ft.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Sept 11, 2021 9:00:58 GMT -5
Longest recorded underwater dive by a polar bear.The maximum dive duration for a wild polar bear (Ursus maritimus) of any age is unknown, and opportunities to document long dives by undisturbed bears are rare. We describe the longest dive reported to date, by a wild undisturbed adult male polar bear. This dive was made during an aquatic stalk of three bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) lying several meters from each other at the edge of an annual ice floe. The bear dove for a total duration of 3 min 10 s and swam 45–50 m without surfacing to breathe or to reorient itself to the locations of the seals. The duration of this dive may be approaching its maximum capability. Polar bears diverged from brown bears (Ursus arctos) about 4–500,000 years ago, which is recent in evolutionary terms. Thus, it is possible that the ability to hold its breath for so long may indicate the initial development of a significant adaptation for living and hunting in its marine environment. However, increased diving ability cannot evolve rapidly enough to compensate for the increasing difficulty of hunting seals because of the rapidly declining availability of sea ice during the open-water period resulting from climate warming. www.researchgate.net/publication/277573604_Longest_recorded_underwater_dive_by_a_polar_bear
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Post by Montezuma on Feb 17, 2024 11:03:28 GMT -5
"The bear was fixated on something in the water, and when it leapt in and started swimming towards our ship I had just enough time to realise I was seeing a polar bear swim for the first time before it reached its target, and the full awesomeness of the moment was revealed."
"There was no struggle, suggesting the narwhal was already dead, but the polar bear still had its work cut out for it. After swimming the carcass back to shore, the bear struggled to pull more than 500kg of narwhal up onto a rock."
adventuresallaround.com/narwhals-and-polar-bears-on-an-arctic-expedition-cruise/
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