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Picture of the day - October 24, 2005
Two Polar Bears Sparring
The artic region is home to one of the world's most beautiful and interesting
animals - the polar bear. Polar bears are the largest bears living on the
earth today. In fact, bears weighing as much as 1,700 pounds have been spotted!
The typical polar bear spends the vast majority of its time on sea ice where it
can easily catch seals - its preferred meal. While polar bears will eat most
anything they can get their paws on when food is scarce, by-and-large they live
on seals. And although they prefer staying on sea ice, they do occasionally get
"land-locked" when the ice melts.
Since these amazing animals prefer to travel on sea ice, their normal range is
limited to the frozen areas around the arctic circle. They can and do travel
farther south during colder winters due to the expanded shelves of sea ice, but
the farthest south they live year-round is James Bay, Canada.
Up until the 1970's polar bears had been heavily hunted, and as a result their
population had dwindled to the point where they were in danger of becoming
extinct. In 1973, the five nations inhabited by polar bears (Canada, Greenland, Norway, the United States, and the former U.S.S.R.) signed the
International Agreement On Conservation Of Polar Bears And Their Habitat.
In doing so, they agreed upon a workable plan to conserve polar bear habitat and severely restrict hunting. This landmark agreement has helped the polar bear make a spectacular comeback, and today they once again roam the arctic in sustainable numbers.
This means that if you take an arctic vacation you can easily see polar bears frolicking
around in their native habitat!
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