Polar Bears: Rulers of the Artic

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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Empenny Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Welcome to Amazing Wildlife, where we explore unique stories of wildlife from around the world and uncover fascinating animal facts. This podcast is a production of I Heart Radio and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international nonprofit conservation organization which oversees the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We've got a really fun conversation for you today. We are going to be discussing the King and Queen of the Arctic, the polar bears. We will be diving in not only to their natural history, but we're also going to discover what the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is doing to help them. So we've been talking about the world's largest bears, polar bears, and a recent study published showed that on rare occasions, these marine mammals may actually use tools like rocks or blocks of ice to help them catch their dinner. Rick. If this is the case, then what does that tell us about the polar bear? Well, I think it's an official document and study that is published that shows us what a lot of people kind of already knew, who worked with polar bears. They're incredibly smart. They are problem solvers. They are I mean, I don't want to necessarily use the term critical thinker, but when you observe the behavior of a polar bear hunting and when they see the potential meal and that's going to be either a seal or in the case of the tool you study, uh, they were using large blocks of ice or rocks to hit walrus is on the head and allow them to catch that walrus. So there's planning involved, there's understanding where the prey is going to be, how the tool use is going to work, the element of surprise, and things of that nature. And there's been studies to where where I've had the opportunity to see these documents, if you will, how polar bears will calculate when the seal is going to come up for air when they're hunting seals instead of walruses, and being able to time where they are going to be in proximity to that seal so they can make the move then to be able to grab it for that meal. For those who don't know, polar bears rely pretty much their diet on seals and the rest. It's usually made up of than other marine mammals they might be able to catch like the walrus. So if this is behavior that's been observed by people working closely with polar bears, um, what's the benefit of having a documented in in a study form. Well, just to be clear, you know people who work with them. When I use that term, I mean more in the zoological environment. So our wildlife care specialists who work with polar bears now we are we obviously don't see them hunting seals and walrus at the San Diego Zoo. But those who have researched this and looked at this, then in the wild, they aren't working closely. Working with polar bears and setting polar bears in the wild is very very challenging and does need to be done at a distance for obvious reasons. They're very powerful and big bears. But the importance of having what has been referred to as antecdotal evidence, in other words, stories being told, people sharing what they saw when they are out there with no photo or video evidence, it is not It's really hard for the scientific community be able to go yes, this is a fact. But now that it has been documented, these stories that have transcended for years from Inuit hunters and and those that live in the region to those who study the bears. Now having that documentation really gives those stories a foundation to allow us to better understand the polar bear and how they move and live within their environment. And speaking of the environment, that environment, the Arctic Circle is so harsh, um, most wildlife can't survive there. Um, you talked about the polar bear going to grant links to be able to hunt and and in survive. How does the environment impact the polar bears behavior? Well, yes, of course the Arctic Circle is is incredibly harsh. You know, it's it's one of those areas where as humans trying to even go up there and study these animals, the conditions are so rough. These are are usually trips that don't last in incredible long amount of time because it's so hard to get up there and stay up there and get food and resources up there for ourselves. So now you're talking about a bear species who's managed to figure out how to utilize sea ice that forms seasonally to go out and hunt these seals, has figured out how to use tools to get themselves. Some walrus every now and then, Uh, to utilize snow dens to survive these the storms that occur up there, and of course it's it's very, very cold. You know. They have this incredibly thick, dense coat, uh, these huge feet to give them the ability to walk on ice without breaking through it, and the ability to swim in these frigid, frigid waters. It's just really all these adaptations add up to this amazing animal who is well suited for carving out survival and an existence in the Arctic. So, rick, how far can polar bear swim? Well, there's there have been a lot of studies on this and unfortunately the knowledge of how far polar bear can swim has been well studied. And I say unfortunately because it's been it's it's very hard for us to understand what the bears need if we don't understand what they're doing. And as we noticed that sea ice is taking longer to form and melting sooner, we are really interested in how the bears are adapting to this and their availability to survive in this changing environment. So we do know that they can swim for several hours. Uh. They use their very broad front feet sort of in a doggy paddle formation. And keep their nose above water, and the back feet then kind of tuck up underneath and they'll use that more as a rudder to help steer. And so in those several hours of swimming, they can usually cover about a hundred kilometers or just over sixty miles, and that's on average. These bears are being tested though, as that ice sticks longer to form, so sometimes they're being forced to swim longer, and it can be very challenging form as it does burn a lot of calories. You mentioned that they swim and that you see ice for for hunting. Is this something that they're doing alone or in impacts? Polar bears in general are solitary, but there's plenty of evidence that we see some of them together sometimes, and so you'll see them collecting on the shoreline together as they're waiting for the ice to form, but that's not really a community or a herd or a group or anything like that. Now, other times you might see some polar bears together out on the ice. It's mom with her kids that have grown. The kids will stay with mom for a couple of years, and so as they grow, it's harder to tell maybe which ones are the youngsters versus which one is the adult when it comes to size. If you watch long enough, you can definitely tell white behavior. So you might see a mom teaching her kids how to hunt, or out on the hunt with the kids to make sure they're doing it right. But in general, polar bears are solitary animals and they relye on their incredible eyes, sight, and even more incredible sense of smell. They can smell things on the wind for miles away, so they can smell you know, seals maybe out basking or uh perhaps a walrus, you know, family out basking. Because when they do bask on the ice, of course they they they do have certain odors to help them, and polar bears can pick up on those scents and they'll you know, definitely follow the odors and scents that they smell miles away. They'll swim to them, they'll walk to them, and then when it comes to the hunting behavior, you know, they can be very stealthy. You look at this giant, big bear, you know, the largest bear species alive on the planet. You like, how can that hide? Well, you know, they're on the sea ice and that white coat of there's pretty much if you don't see that little black dot of a nose. They blend in very very well, and they know how to be very stealthy. So where's dad and all of this? Is it Mom's jobs solely to teach the cub how to be a polar bear? Yes, with many bear species, uh, the male is not involved with raising the young. Across the whole animal kingdom, there's a wide variety of ways that the different parents will raise the young, or the male will even raise the young without the female present. But in the case of polar bears, after breeding, the males and females don't spend any time together, and so mom will create this amazing den under the snow that she'll utilize for upwards of six months to help raise the kids. And they'll use this den, they call it a maternal den. She will nurse the kids in there. She will eventually as there old enough, she'll go out hunting without them and come back and be able to nurse the more and eventually bring them food. And as they get older into their you know, first ten to twelve months, they start to venture out more and start following mom. And that den that isn't used as much, so how long about do they live in this fashion? How long do the cubs live with their moms? The cubs can stay with mom. It's been documented anywhere from two to three years, depending upon what's going on in the environment and resources available and things of that nature. The youngsters usually hit maturity though around two, so it's not before two years of age. Usually see them wandering off right the scene. Ago Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been involved in polar bear conservation research effort for many years, including studying polar bear energetics or how they use their energy, as well as the impact of human activity around key polar bear dinting sites, the area where mom raises her young. What polar bear research is happening now at the San Diego Zoo. We are working with our partner, Polar Bear International on the Burr on the Furs study. I know it sounds kind of funny, but think about it. When I get a burr stuck in your dog's for it, it sticks pretty well. So hang with me here. The traditional way that we track wildlife is by a satellite collar, but unfortunately these can't be used on male polar bears because their neck is too thick. It's as wide as their head, so the collar would just fall right off. Scientists at three M have found a way to temporarily attach a small tracking device on the polar bears fur kind of like a bird, if you will. This tracking device offers a minimally invasive way to study the movement of polar bears and their other activities. The polar bears at the San Diego Zoo, as well as other polar bears at seven other zoos, are current testing the device, which could help researchers learn more about the needs, health, and status of polar bears in the wild. This work could provide a real breakthrough and how we track wildlife around the world. It's an exciting innovation that could go well beyond polar bear research and help us study species from leopards to giraffe and so much more. All right, now, it's time for the San Diego Zoo Safari Park minute an opportunity for you to learn what's new at the zoo. San Diego Zoo recently opened a lummingbird habitat. With a cacophony of calls and a workling of wings, you can experience forty different species of birds, including the Anna's costas and emerald hummingbirds. Did you know that a hummingbird's name refers to the humming sound made by their tiny beating wings. Each species creates a different humming sound depending on the speed of its wing beats. You're listening to amazing wildlife. We'll be right back. Today we've talked about polar bears and their amazing array of behaviors. These kings of the Arctic our favorites among our young listeners. And today we have a question from Avery, why are polar bars white? I love this question because so many people look at the polar bear and think they're white, because that's what we see. But if you take an individual hair from the polar bear, and you have to do that carefully, of course, the hair is actually clear. Now what makes it look white is they have two coats and undercoat and an outer cope, and the density of the hairs together means that the light refracts around these clear hairs, making it look white, which of course is perfect camouflage for living in the Arctic. Now here's another fun fact to add onto the question. Though. If you were to be able to kind of part that hair and look down at the polar bear skin? Would you believe that skin is actually black? Now? There used to be theory out there that somehow, you've late uvy light could get down through these clear hairs to the skin to help warm the bear, but it has since been proven that that is not the case, but still very fascinating, how interesting. We have an email address for our young listeners to send their animal questions. If you have a question for the Amazing Wildlife team, please send an audio recording of your question to Wildlife at I heart media dot com and you might hear it on the show. Thanks for listening. That's all the time we have. We hope you learned a lot about the enchanting world of our polar bear friends. Be sure to subscribe and tune into next week's episode, in which will bring you the heartwarming story of the people who saved the koalas during Australia's ravenous brushfire of I'm Eppie Money and I'm Rick Schwartz. Thanks for listening. For more information about the San Diego Zoo in San Diego Zoo Safari Park, go to sdz w A dot org. Amazing Wildlife is a production of I Heart Radio, our producer is Nikia Swinton, and our executive producer is Marcy the Pena. Our sound designer and editor is Cody Scully, with assistance from Matt Stillo. For more shows from My Heart Radio, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.