Tag Archives: polar bears
Police steal polar bear family’s feast: Whale carcass removed from cabin area near Longyearbyen; outrage ensues
What might have been a feast for the ages (or at least some weeks) for a mother polar bear and her two cubs ended up being a fast food meal Monday after police towed a beached whale carcass out to sea because it was in an occupied cabin area near Svalbard Airport.
Access of evil: Polar bears in eastern Barents Sea have highest toxin levels on Earth; Russia, China, climate change blamed
Polar bears who spend most of their time on the sea ice east of Svalbard have one-third more toxic pollutants in their blood than bears elsewhere in the Arctic, according to a 15-year study.
Among the primary reasons are high levels of industrial pollution from China and Russia, plus the fact polar bears in the east Barents Sea are being forced to exert more energy hunting and swimming – and therefore eat more – due to the rapid loss of Arctic ice caused by climate change.
Shell game: Seabirds and scientists in Ny-Ålesund sent scrambling as polar bears increasingly raiding nests for eggs
Polar bears losing their traditional hunting areas on the sea ice due to climate change are increasingly seeking out seabird nests for their eggs, in turn disrupting the peak season for birds who are breeding and researchers who are studying the animals.
A nest raid by a female polar bear and her cub last Sunday near Ny-Ålesund forced researchers to temporarily abandon their annual population count of common eiders and barnacle geese in Kongsfjorden. This summer’s intrusion comes after the same bear raided 80 eider birds’ nests holding about 300 eggs in three to four days.
Hopen to get lucky: Polar bear couple ‘delight’ voyeuristic meteorological station staff as well as each other
“This was not ordinary bunny rabbit sex. Here they kept going for a good hour, to the delight of the Hopen residents’ Peeping Tom mentality.”
Not much more needs to be said. But of course we will because, well, sex.
Some locals are thinking about offering Canadian polar beat meat on menus. It isn’t going over well among residents here
It’s much fattier than beef and the liver is fatal (years ago the Radisson Blu Polar Hotel used to issue certificates to guests who had “eaten a polar bear entirely at their own risk”). But a cluster of Longyearbyen residents are feeling serious indigestion without taking a bite of it in reaction to a suggestion the meat could again appear on local menus.
Behaving badly near bears: Governor considers access restrictions due to high snowmobile traffic disrupting wildlife
Imposing access restrictions on popular fjords where numerous polar bears have been observed is being considered by The Governor of Svalbard due to high numbers of snowmobilers, some of whom are violating rules prohibiting disturbing the animals.
SPECIAL REPORT: Polarizing polar bears – unmasking a proxy war strategy by online climate change denialists
By Paul Rosenberg
Senior Editor, Random Lengths News
In early December, a video of a dying, emaciated polar bear, foraging for food on an iceless land, went viral on social media. The video garnered millions of views on Facebook and YouTube. For most, it was a vivid signal of the future in store for us all due to human-caused (anthropogenic) global warming ― rising temperatures due to increased carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. For those who deny or minimize the existence of anthropogenic global warming it wasn’t a polar bear, but a red herring (“Propaganda,” one YouTube viewer called it) — no one knows why it was dying, much less if it can be connected to global warming.
That’s true, but also a bit beside the point.
Fake fur: Course simulating polar bear attacks and proper responses tests induces fear and chills
Feel like you’re fine going out in the winter wilderness because you’re a decent shot at the target range? How about when you’re panicked and winded, and have to turn quickly to shoot an attacking moving target with just your mounted flashlight as a visual aid in pitch blackness?
Fright night frights: Persistent polar bear family makes another visit near Longyearbyen, governor issues travel warning
A mother polar bear and two cubs who have visited the vicinity of Longyearbyen repeatedly during the past month was sighted in Hiorthhamn moving toward Adventdalen late Friday afternoon, according to The Governor of Svalbard.
“The governor encourages everyone to exercise caution when entering the terrain and to take precautionary measures with regard to polar bears,” a prepared statement notes.
Persistent summer visitors: Mother polar bear and cubs spotted in Adventdalen, governor closes area to traffic
A mother polar bear and her two cubs – and there’s no official word on if they’re the same visitors spotted near Longyearbyen a few days ago – wandered into Adventdalen on Sunday afternoon, prompting The Governor of Svalbard to close a portion of the area to public traffic.
