Polar bear
The polar bear (Ursus Maritimus) is a species of large 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 bear | |
|---|---|
| 200px | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom Information | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum Information | |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class Information | |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Order Information | |
| Order | Carnivora |
| Family Information | |
| Family | Ursidae |
| Genus Information | |
| Genus | Ursus |
| Species Information | |
| 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 |
| Population statistics | |
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. A large polar bear can stand 11 feet tall and weigh more than 700 pounds.
Polar bears have been known to interbreed with grizzly bears in the wild, producing a polar-grizzly hybrid.[1]
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. Some groups even went as far as suing the Interior Department with the aim of adding polar bears to the list of threatened species.[4]
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.[5]
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. [6]
In popular culture
Digitally animated polar bears starred in a series of Coca-Cola advertisements that ran during the 1990s.
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
- ↑ 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