Welcome to my blog.
For this winter season, I think it’s best for me to cover the Flora and Fauna segment to wildlife from the extreme condition of the North Pole. Feast your eyes to the biggest bear of the bear family, The Polar Bear. This special white bear can only live in the Artic circle. It is also the biggest carnivore ever to find on land.
There are about 20 000 – 25 000 number of Polar Bear around the world. The biggest threat to Polar Bear is indeed Global Warming. If nothing is made to the global warming effect or at least reducing it, two-third of the current polar bear population will be disappear by 2050.
BIOLOGY
Polar Bear is the biggest carnivore in the world, with male adults can weight almost 350 – 680 kg and female is about 150 – 249 kg (499 kg when pregnant). The white polar bear fur consists of a layer of a layer of dense underfur and an outer layer of guard hairs. The sense of smell is extremely well-developed sense of smell; ranging about 1.6km and can smell underneath the snow about 3 ft. It is also an excellent swimmer.
Most of polar Bear diet consists of Ringed and Bearded Seals.
The average age for Polar Bear is about 25 years old and rarely lives beyond that. The oldest wild bear died at 32 years old, while a record of captives bear is a female died at 41 years old in 1991. Polar Bear becomes sexually actives at 4 years old for female and 6 years old for male.
The mating seasons for the Polar Bear started in April and May, and the partners will stay together and mate repeatedly for an entire week. In August and September, a pregnant female will eats an amount of food and gaining weight at least 200 kg. Later, each pregnant female will digs a maternity den. Cubs are born between November and January. The cubs are born blind, weighting about 0.9 kg. Average, each mom has two cubs.
The maternity den of Polar Bear
The family will stay in the den until mid-February to mid-April, and the mother is in its fasting period and will feed its cubs by rich fat milk. The cubs will weigh about 10-15 kg when the mother breaks open the entrance. For 12 to 15 days, the family will stay outside where the mother will fed on vegetation and the young will get used to walking and playing.
Later, they will begin the long walk to the sea where the mother can catch seals once again. According to circumstances, the mother probably can fast about 8 months. The cubs will stay with their mother until they are two and the half years old.
After the mother leaves, sibling cubs sometimes travel and share food together for weeks or months.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Even though the population of Polar Bear is relatively stable in recent years, but the threat from global warming makes the conservation status changed from least concern to vulnerable in 2006.
Norway is the only country has banded all kind of Polar Bear hunting.
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