The Largest land Carnivore

Finding the perfect spot for her den in the fall, pregnant females will give birth to their newborn cubs around late December and the New Year. Weighing it at a tiny 600g at birth, they will grow quickly before exiting the den for the first time in April. On average, females will give birth to two cubs, however, single cubs or triplets are not unheard of. For the first two and a half years of their lives, the cubs will never get too far from their mother’s line of site. Along the way, cubs will learn how to use their amazing sense of smell to locate their main prey, the ringed seal.

With her cub of the year, this relatively thin mother wanders off to find a quite place to nurse. Feeding on milk with an approximate fat content of thirty-five per cent, this cub will rely on its mother’s ability to find food so that it will be large enough to survive its first winter. Although they live relatively solitary lives, there is a highly social side of these intriguing polar bears. Unable to leave her cub alone to feed, the female must wait to gather scraps when she has a chance. She will need to gather the equivalent of an average of one seal per week in order to keep herself going and ready for the harshness of the Arctic winter. These photos were taken at the end of June; only the beginning of the tough times that will follow during a summer that is free of ice.

Did you know?

The most southerly population of polar bears in the world is in Canada.

Churchill, Manitoba is known as the polar bear capital of the world.

Is considered to be a marine mammal.

Under a microscope, a polar bear’s fur is hollow.

Polar Bear ABCs:

Some 250–350,000 years ago, polar bears evolved from a group of brown bears that lived on a small group of islands in southeast Alaska, part of the Alexander Archipelago. These islands are known as the ABC islands; Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof.

by Chris Srigley