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The Polar Bear and its Protection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2009

Alan G. Loughrey
Alan G. Loughrey
Affiliation:
Canadian Wildlife Service
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The polar bear, Thalarctos maritimus, (Phipps) enjoys such colloquial names as: “ice-bear,” “sea-bear,” “ice-tiger” and “ice-king.” In view of its large size and its supremacy over the other beasts of the ice-floes it well deserves these epithets. Primarily the polar bear is an animal of the broken arctic pack ice and is found in greatest numbers along the southern edge of the pack. It avoids large expanses of open water or frozen sea ice. The movements of the pack ice to a large degree determine its distribution and movements. Polar bears are carried southward with the pack ice in the spring and summer. In August and September when the ice begins to break up they generally come ashore and make their way north. At this time of year they may be found in considerable numbers along certain coasts where the sea ice has been brought by the winds, tides and currents. An Eskimo from Southampton Island, in northern Hudson Bay, informed me that in August, 1948, he and a companion counted over 180 of these bears along the east coast of that island.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 3 , Issue 5 , August 1956 , pp. 233 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1956

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