Bucket List Biggie – Fjortende Julibukta Surprise

Polar Bear!

I was sitting in the Zodiac, facing the cliff at Fjortende Julibukta, trying to photograph a flying Atlantic Puffin. And, I was pretty excited that Puffins were indeed flying to and from the nesting area.

Part of my initial series of shots

Suddenly, Kim, a woman I had made friends with on the trip and who was sitting right next to me, yelled, “Bear!"

"Bear!"

"Bear!”

Did I hear that right?

It is funny how many things can go through your head in a split second.

First, this isn’t where we are supposed to see bears. Polar Bears should be on the pack ice way up north behind us. We already missed our chance.

Second, Kim’s probably mistaken. That's easy to do when you really want to see something. Kim is probably just seeing one of the shaggy white Svalbard Reindeer, which we had just noticed moving up the cliff behind where the Puffins and Murres were nesting.

Third, there’s an armed guard up on the cliff who would have alerted us if there were a Polar Bear and we had heard nothing.

But, Kim was right.

I had my camera up and focused on the cliff, so I just shifted my eyes a fraction of an inch up.

Whoa! 

A Polar Bear about 20 feet above us, looking at us. 

Right above us!

Looking at us!

Right there!

Fortunately, I never missed a beat. I started taking photos without even thinking about it. I fired off a series of shots as the bear contemplated us and then turned and slowly sauntered out of sight. I was in the perfect position with the perfect camera at the perfect time.

Then, in the midst of all this excitement, Gerard swings around and announces, “I am sorry folks, but we have to go.”

What?

He then went on to explain that he needed to take us back to the ship and get us off the Zodiac so that he could rush back to the shore to evacuate all the people who were walking around the beach, dangerously close to a Polar Bear.

But, that wasn’t quite right.

There wasn't just a Polar Bear. There were two Polar Bears. As we sped away, we saw “our” Bear  coming around the top of the cliff with his mother.  

Mama and baby

That was the first view many got of the Bears.

This is one of Scott's first shots of the Bears,

As it turns out, no one else got the shots I got of that Bear. No one. Later Tom, our onboard Polar Bear expert asked to see my shots to see if the Bears were tagged. 

Look at the tags in its ears

I didn't get any close shots of the mother, but I did of the cub. 

Tom said that, if the cub were tagged, it was almost certain the mother was, too. 

Otherwise, the people who tagged the Bear would not still be among the living. Makes sense.

The tags were quite small, looking more like earbuds than the big wildlife tags or collars we are used to seeing on Moose and Elk. The tags were most likely placed by the Norwegian Polar Institute, which has been conducting Polar Bear research since the 1960s, when animals were tagged and samples were taken from many Bears killed by hunters. 

Today, research is done exclusively on live animals. Much of the field work is performed using helicopters, enabling researchers to access large numbers of animals over broad geographic areas. In an average year, approximately 100 bears are captured and measured.

The G Adventures crew did  stick around to get a few photos

More than 1,000 Bears have been marked since 1990, including 100 females fitted with satellite radio telemetry transmitters. When the Bears are first captured, they are tranquilized and blood and tissue samples are taken, along with a rudimentary tooth from any animal over one year old that is used to estimate age. Most of the tags do not contain telemetry equipment and are used just to ID bears upon subsequent captures.

Walking in tandem

The evacuation was amazingly fast and well-managed. And, it was a good thing they did it, it didn’t take long for those two Bears to walk right across the area where people had been standing before.

Right where we had just been

The G Adventures team was flabbergasted that the bears materialized out of seemingly nowhere.

The Bears took a very leisurely stroll, often stopping to survey the landscape

But, they did tell us when explaining their scouting process, that Bears can hide is depressions, low-lying areas or snow banks and, even though large, escape detection.

Bear guards at Bamsebu; Photo: Scott Stevens

Once everyone was off the beach, we re-loaded Zodiacs and took off to watch the Bears from the water. 

Bears must think humans are crazy

Protocol requires that land be evacuated if Bears are spotted, but Bears can be watched from the water. However, Zodiacs are not allowed to approach a swimming Bear, because they can be more easily stressed in the water.

On the water, watching Bears

Once out on the water, we watched as the Bears strolled across the beach ...

Moving down toward the glacier

... and then swam about a mile across the face of the Fjortende Julibreen, emerging on the other side beneath the massive 3,500-foot mountain that dominates the landscape.

Huge Bears dwarfed by the spectacular scenery

After they crossed the spit ...

Emerging from the cold swim

... they briefly swam another short distance and emerged on the opposite shore ...

Shaking off the water

Then, we watched as they walked across the gray rock glacial moraine ...

On the moraine

... finally disappearing over the hill ...

Just before the Bears went over the hill

It was so much fun to sit in the water and watch them. 

Doesn't this ice bergie that we saw while watching the Polar Bears look like a Polar Bear?

Here's a video of us watching the Bears.

Later, Gerard told me that, even with all his arctic trips, that was as close as he had ever gotten to a Polar Bear.

Only 20 feet away!

While the cub looked reasonably healthy, the mother looked thin to me. I hope she survives until the sea ice sets up and she can hunt again. I suspect that fairly soon, she will send her cub, which is almost as big as she is, on its way.

Mother Bear

Bear photos I took in Kaktovik

These were not my first Polar Bears, but I doubt that you could ever get tired of Polar Bears. I saw 13 when I was in Kaktovik in 2008. Unfortunately, I was a novice photographer and I accidentally set my camera for “small,” thus taking scores of pictures that could not be enlarged. 

Good pictures, yes, as long as they were only postcard size. At least, this time I had a good camera set correctly.

What Else?
While we were photographing the bears, we floated past some Arctic Terns resting on icebergs. Our presence didn’t faze them. 

Arctic Tern

Plus, I even got a picture of one carrying a tiny fish in its beak.

See the tiny fish? 

Plus, there were a fairly large number of Common Eiders resting on the end of the moraine the bears traversed, as well as some in the water. 

Common Eider

It wasn’t until I processed the pictures that I notice a solitary male King Eider among them. I wish I had noticed it, I might have been able to get a better photo – although it was very far away.

See the King Eider?

Back to Polar Bears
So, how about a little information about Polar Bears?

A “hypercarnivore” that lives largely within the Arctic Circle around the Arctic Ocean and surrounding seas and land masses, the Polar Bear is among the most sexually dimorphic of mammals: an adult male (boar) weighs around between 775 and 1,500 lbs. and is 7 feet 10 inches to 9 feet 10 inches long and an adult female (sow) is about half that weight and ranges from 5 feet 11 inches to 7 feet 10 inches long.

Kaktovik Polar Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

The Polar Bear’s scientific name is Ursus Maritimus, Latin for “maritime bear.” 

The Inuit call it Nanook (Nanuq in Inupiat); the Yupik call it Nanuuk in Siberian Yupik; the Chukchi use the name Umka; Russians call it Bélyj Medvédj (“White Bear”); and in Svalbard, the Polar Bear is Isbjørn ("Ice Bear").

The oldest known Polar Bear fossil is a 130,000 to 110,000-year-old jaw bone, found in 2004 on Prince Charles Foreland, an island on Svalbard not far from where we were floating in our Zodiacs. So, this truly is the Realm of the Polar Bear.

The Polar Bear was previously considered its own genus, but it is now considered the same genus as a Brown Bear. The Polar Bear has evolved to occupy a much narrower ecological niche than its cousin, with its body adapted for cold; for traveling across snow, ice and open water; and for hunting seals. Although most Polar Bears are born on land, they are considered marine mammals because they spend most of their time on sea ice.

Kaktovik Polar Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

Brown and Polar Bears occasionally interbreed, especially during warming periods, when Polar Bears are driven onto land and Brown Bears migrate north. 

Grolar Bear; Photo: Wikipedia

The resulting offspring is usually called Grolar Bear.

Because neither species can survive long in the other's ecological niche, and because they have different morphology, metabolism and social and feeding behaviors, the two types of Bears are generally classified as separate species.

Because there are few humans in most Polar Bear habitat, they retain more of their original range than any other carnivore. Rare north of 88°, they can range all across the arctic as far as the boundary between the subarctic and humid continental climate zones. 

They can drift widely with the sea ice, sometimes ending up much farther south. And, even though they are marine mammals, the sometimes stray inland. 

In 2018, a sow showed up at a research station at 10,500 feet elevation in the middle of the Greenland Ice Sheet more than 200 miles from the nearest coast. I overheard one of the researchers talking about it in an airport in Fairbanks when I was on my way to Bettles last summer and later read news articles about it.

The five nations with active Polar Bear populations – Denmark (Greenland), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Canada and Norway (Svalbard) – are signatories of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which mandates cooperation on research and conservation.

On the moraine

Biologists estimate there are 20,000 to 31,000 Polar Bears worldwide. Because of expense, they have been actively tracked only since the mid-1980s. The most accurate counts require searching by helicopter (in a tricky climate) and then tranquilizing and tagging the Bear.

Polar Bears prefer areas where sea ice meets water where seal density is high. As seals migrate in response to changes in sea ice patterns, Polar Bears follow them. When the ice melts, the Polar Bears go onto land wait until the next freeze-up.

Kaktovik Polar Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

Unlike any other marine mammal, Polar Bears have powerful limbs and large feet that allow them to walk long distances on land. 

Their 12-inch-wide feet distribute load on snow or thin ice and provide propulsion when the Bear swims. The pads of the paws are covered with small, soft bumps that provide traction on the ice. Their deeply scooped claws are short and stocky compared to those of the Brown Bear, to provide a tool for gripping the ice, digging in the snow and ice and for snagging slippery prey. 

Polar Bears are insulated with up to 4 inches of fat, thick hides and dense fur that consists of underfur and an outer layer of 2-to-6-inch-long guard hairs, which appear white to tan but are actually transparent. 

Their skin is black to absorb and hold heat. Polar Bears overheat at temperatures above 50°F and, because they are so well-insulated, they are nearly invisible to infrared photography. 

They molt from May to August, but, unlike other Arctic mammals, do not shed their coat for a darker shade to provide camouflage in summer conditions. After all, what do they have to fear (besides man)?

The Polar Bear’s white coat usually yellows with age. Boars have significantly longer hairs on their forelegs, which increase in length until the Bear reaches 14 years old. The ornamental foreleg hair is thought to attract sows, serving a similar function as the Lion's mane.

Male Kaktovik Polar Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

The Polar Bear has a well-developed sense of smell and can detect seals nearly a mile away and buried under 3 feet of snow. Its hearing is about as acute as that of a human and its vision is good at long distances.

The Polar Bear is an excellent swimmer, often swimming for days. With its body fat providing buoyancy, it swims in dog-paddle fashion at about 6 mph. When walking, the Polar Bear has a rolling gait and maintains an average speed of around 3.5 mph. When sprinting, it can reach up to 25 mph for short distances.

Bear cub

Unlike Brown Bears, Polar Bears are not territorial. Although stereotyped as being very aggressive, they are normally cautious and often choose to escape rather than fight. They lead very tough lives and don't need to make things harder for themselves. Polar Bears rarely attack humans unless severely provoked. However, due to their lack of human interaction, they don't really differentiate between humans and other potential prey. Hungry Polar Bears are unpredictable, fearless towards people and are known to kill and sometimes eat humans. 

Polar Bears are stealth hunters, and the victim is often unaware of the bear's presence until attacked. Attacks are generally predatory and are almost always fatal.

Although generally solitary, Polar Bears sometimes play together, especially cubs and young males that play-fight to practice for serious competition during mating seasons later in life.

Polar Bears eat primarily Ringed and Bearded Seals, but only big males can kill an adult male Bearded Seal. Mature Bears tend to eat only the calorie-rich skin and blubber of the seal, which are highly digestible, whereas younger bears consume the protein-rich red meat.

This little guy is probably just learning to hunt

Polar Bears are patient hunters. They wait in silence for hours waiting for a Seal. When the Seal exhales, the Bear smells its breath, reaches into its den with a forepaw and drags it out onto the ice. 

The Polar Bear stalks Seals resting on the ice, slowly creeping to within 30 feet and suddenly pouncing. 

Bears also raid seal dens and scavenge carcasses from other bears' kills if they can.

A snack?; Photo: Rosemarie Keough

Although seals are the primary prey, Polar Bears will scale cliffs to eat birds' chicks and eggs or to hunt Reindeer. They occasionally swim underwater to catch fish or crustaceans and, sometimes, other Polar Bears. Large males also occasionally hunt and kill Walruses and Beluga Whales. 

Bears also eat plants, including berries, roots and kelp but, because they require large amounts of fat from marine mammals, they cannot derive sufficient calories from terrestrial food. In Svalbard, Polar Bears have been observed killing White-beaked Dolphins in the spring when the dolphins were trapped in the sea ice and then caching the carcasses to eat in the ice-free summer and autumn.

After feeding, Polar Bears wash themselves with water or snow.

Unlike Brown and Black Bears, Polar Bears can fast for several months. This is important in  late summer and early fall, when there is no sea ice and they cannot hunt seals.

Kaktovik Polar Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

With the exception of pregnant females, Polar Bears are active year-round. Courtship and mating take place on the sea ice in April and May, when Polar Bears congregate in the best seal hunting areas. A boar may follow the tracks of a breeding sow for 60 miles or more, and after finding her, engage in intense fighting with other males over mating rights, fights that often result in scars and broken teeth.

After mating, the fertilized egg remains in a suspended state until August or September. During these four months, the pregnant female eats prodigious amounts of food, gaining at least 400 lbs.

When the ice floes are at their minimum in the fall, ending the possibility of hunting, each pregnant female digs a maternity den consisting of a narrow entrance tunnel leading to one to three chambers. Most maternity dens are in snowdrifts, but may also be made underground in permafrost or on sea ice. In the den, the sow enters a dormant state similar to hibernation in which her heart rate slows from 46 to 27 beats per minute but her body temperature does not decrease as it would for a typical mammal in hibernation.

Photo: Polar Bears International

Between November and February, cubs are born blind, covered with a light down fur and weighing less than 2 lbs. Most litters comprise two cubs, although three are possible. The family remains in the den until mid-February to mid-April, with the mother maintaining her fast while nursing her cubs on a fat-rich milk. By the time the mother breaks open the entrance to the den, her cubs weigh about 25 lbs. For about 12 to 15 days, the family spends time outside the den while remaining in its vicinity, the mother grazing on vegetation while the cubs become used to walking and playing. Then, they begin a long walk to the sea ice, where the mother can once again catch seals. Depending on the timing of ice-floe breakup in the fall, she may have fasted for up to eight months.

Kaktovik Polar Bear; Photo: Scott Stevens

Cubs are weaned when they are two and a half years old, when the mother chases them away or abandons them. After the mother leaves, sibling cubs sometimes travel and share food together for weeks or months.

Polar Bears rarely live beyond 25 years. The oldest wild bears on record died at 32, whereas the oldest captive Polar Bear died at 43. 

In the wild, old Polar Bears eventually become too weak to catch food and gradually starve to death. Bears injured in fights or accidents may either die from their injuries or become unable to hunt effectively, leading to starvation.

Kaktovik Polar Bear

Brown Bears tend to dominate Polar Bears in disputes over carcasses, and dead Polar Bear cubs have been found in Brown Bear dens.

Our Bear

Polar Bears have long provided important raw materials for Arctic peoples. The fur was used for clothes and footwear; the meat provided food; the fat was used for both food and fuel for lighting homes; the sinews made good thread; the gallbladder and sometimes heart were dried and powdered as medicine; and the canine teeth were valued as talismans. 

Only the liver was not used because its high concentration of vitamin A is poisonous. Hunters either throw the liver into the ocean or bury it to protect their dogs from being poisoned. 

Traditional subsistence hunting by indigenous peoples was on a small enough scale to not significantly affect Polar Bear populations, mostly because of the sparseness of the human population in Polar Bear habitat. 

However, as hunters took to the seas, that changed.

In Russia, Polar Bear furs were already being commercially traded in the 14th century, although it was of low value compared to Arctic Fox or Reindeer fur. The growth of the human population in the Arctic in the 16th and 17th century, together with the advent of firearms and increasing trade, dramatically increased the harvest of Polar Bears. In the early 20th century, Norwegian hunters were harvesting 300 bears per year in Svalbard.

In the first half of the 20th century, hunting changed: Bears were chased from snowmobiles, icebreakers and airplanes; and guns and traps became more sophisticated. The numbers taken grew rapidly in the 1960s, peaking in 1968 with a global total of 1,250 bears that year.

Concerns over species survival led to regulations on Polar Bear hunting beginning in the mid-1950s. 

Photo from a previous expedition, G Adventures

In 1973, the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears bound member countries to restrict recreational and commercial hunting, including banning hunting from aircraft and icebreakers. 

The treaty allows hunting "by local people using traditional methods." 

Norway is the only country of the five in which all harvest of Polar Bears is banned (I think they figured out that live Polar Bears are better for tourism, plus they don’t have any indigenous peoples). Now, Norway needs to get onboard with whaling!

Still, the bears face challenges from climate change, primarily malnutrition or starvation. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier, driving the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves. Reduction in sea-ice cover also forces bears to swim longer distances, further depleting their energy stores and occasionally leading to drowning.

Problematic interactions between Polar Bears and humans, such as foraging by bears in garbage dumps, have historically been more prevalent in years when ice-floe breakup occurred early and local Polar Bears were relatively thin. Increased human-bear interactions, including fatal attacks on humans, are likely to increase as the sea ice shrinks and hungry bears try to find food on land.

Photo from a previous expedition, G Adventures

Polar bears are the iconic symbol of Svalbard, and one of the main tourist attractions. Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land share a common population of 3,000 Polar Bears. The animals are protected and people moving outside towns are required to have appropriate scare devices to ward off attacks and are advised to carry a firearm for use as a last resort. Polar Bears are dangerous: There have been two Polar Bear attacks in Svalbard in the past 10 years. In 2011, a British student was killed and four others were injured; in 2018 a cruise ship bear guard was attacked.

That was a bit long, but ... Polar Bears!!!!

My photo in the paper!

When I got home, I sent one of my pictures to the Colorado Springs Gazette, which publishes a "Photo of the Day." The photo does not have to have anything to do with Colorado Springs. I had long thought about submitting a photo, but just never get around to it. I wasn't surprised that they published the picture. 

I was surprised that they published it the next day!

A Great Morning
I had to stop for a minute to remember that the morning outing was more than just Bears, it was also Reindeer ...

Svalbard Reindeer

Puffins ...

Nesting Puffins

Seabirds ...

Arctic Tern

And, glorious scenery ...

Fjortende Julibukta

And, that was just our morning adventure.

But, I won't spoil the suspense: we saw a lot more amazing things, but this was our only Polar Bear sighting.

Looking at us!

Bye bye!

Looking at them

Trip date: June 15-July 4, 2019