Polar bear
From Conservapedia
| Polar bear | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order | Carnivora |
| Family | Ursidae |
| Genus | Ursus |
| Species | U. maritimus |
| Binomial name | Ursus maritimus |
| Synonyms | U. eogroenlandicus U.groenlandicus U. jenaensis U. labradorensis U. marinus U. polaris U. spitzbergensis U. ungavensis Thalarctos maritimus |
The polar bear (Ursus Maritimus) is a species of large mostly carnivorous animals native to the Arctic which are noted for their white fur. They have thick blubber to keep warm and are capable of surviving extreme cold, as well as sea ice, snow and frozen land.
Polar bears hibernate through much of the winter, usually in an excavated snow den. Their normal diet consists mainly of seals, though in Canada they have been observed to take prey as small as lemmings.
The New World Encyclopedia says:
- In areas where the ice melts in summer they eat some berries and other plant foods during this time. They also eat other sea mammals, fish, and carrion. [1]
A large polar bear can stand 11 feet tall and weigh over 2,000 pounds.
Polar bears have been known to interbreed with grizzly bears in the wild, producing a polar-grizzly hybrid.[1]
- The young Horatio Nelson was almost killed by a polar bear. [2]
Contents |
Population and Protection
In the 1960s and 1970s, polar population fell to levels that prompted the five nations with polar bear populations to create and sign the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears in 1973.[2] The population drop was due to hunting.
Since these conservation efforts had been made, the world population rose to an estimated 22-27,000,[3] even though there is no adequte census.[2]
Activism
The polar bear has become a "symbol of global warming caused by humans" in the eyes of environmentalists. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) classified the polar bear as a "vulnerable species" on the "Red List of Threatened Species".[4] The given reason was not hunting, but rather the assumed impact of global warming on their habitat.[5][6][7] Some groups even went as far as suing the Interior Department with the aim of adding polar bears to the list of threatened species.[8]
These activists try "to use the Endangered Species Act to force the U.S. government to take action on global warming". Critics have pointed out that global warming activists should address climate change directly.[9]
Patrick Michaels wrote:
- ... grandstanding political stunts, like calling polar bears an "endangered species" even when they are at near record-high population levels, are based upon projections of rapid and persistent global warming. [10]
See also
References
- ↑ MSNBC: "Wild find: Half grizzly, half polar bear"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Polar Bears International: Bear Facts
- ↑ Nature Canada: Climate Change and Polar Bears
- ↑ 2007 IUCN Red List: "Ursus maritimus"
- ↑ Global climate change posses a substantial threat to the habitat of polar bears. - 2007 IUCN Red List: "Ursus maritimus" (Justification section)
- ↑ "I don't think there is any question polar bears are in danger from global warming," said Andrew Derocher of the World Conservation Union, and a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. "People who deny that have a clear interest in hunting bears." - Telegraph.co.uk: " Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up' "
- ↑ Climate change is the main threat to polar bears today. A diminishing ice pack directly affects polar bears, as sea ice is the platform from which they hunt seals. Although the Arctic has experienced warm periods before, the present shrinking of the Arctic's sea ice is rapid and unprecedented.- Polar Bears International: Bear Facts
- ↑ International Herald Tribune: "Melting arctic ice pushes polar bear population closer to the edge"
- ↑ USA Today: "Polar bears caught in a heated eco-debate"
- ↑ Global-warming myth
