Polar Bear Mother Cub Communication

Polar Bear Mother-Cub Communication-

High Touch, Sight, Sound & Scents

A polar bear mother can combine her huffing, growling

and low frequency nudging sounds along with her 

massive body gestures.  Her large paws may redirect 

her cubs' movements around the den and/or on 

the open tundra travel to the shoreline where food 

for the polar bear mother might most likely be found.  

She may also gently open her mouth to connect 

with the cubs' extra fur around their neck and face.  

A short neck fur tug from mother delivers the message 

for the cub to behave.  Of course, polar bear cubs 

welcome their mother's affection by close nose to nose 

nuzzling along with her tender licking of the cubs 

with her long black tongue. The polar bear's skin is black.

Intense and focused eye contact from a polar bear mother 

gives the facial gesture for the cubs to pay attention to 

her commands to follow her.  For polar bear cubs' lives 

to be safe, listening to their mother's everyday non-verbal 

and sound cues can be a matter of life or death in the 

open arctic tundra and on the winter's sea ice.

The polar bear mother may also guide misbehaving cubs 

to nurse especially if they are overactive and may interfere 

with her ability to really rest.  She needs seven to eight hours 

of sleep.  If she is sleep deprived, she may focus more on 

holding the cubs close to her stomach areas "body heat" 

to stop them from climbing on her back and face.  

For young cubs to wander away while their mother 

is sleeping could cause them to be vulnerable prey 

to a male polar bear, male grizzly bears, arctic wolves, 

cougars or even a golden eagle.  Remember grizzly bears

and black bears(threats to polar bear cubs) are in the 

long-standing polar bear territory in the Churchill, Manitoba,

Hudson Bay area.  Grizzly and black bear cubs could 

also be prey for hungry polar bears.

The polar bear mother is constantly on guard through 

her senses to listen to her physical surroundings

even with high winds and can easily smell 

approaching predators. Her eyes may be closed resting 

yet all her senses are working like an advanced radar 

system ready to react at a moment's notice.  She knows 

her cub's alarm call sounds.

A polar bear mother is the best bodyguard for her cubs

while they rapidly grow over her two years of raising them

before they leave her protection.  In their future annual 

and vast open sea migration travels, a polar bear mother 

and their previous cubs could recognize, show affection

and engage one another.  Previous male cubs that 

are mature adults could be aggressive when 

experiencing their mother and other female polar bears.

Today's arctic and sub-arctic polar bear cubs will be 

part of a resilient next generation of polar bears 

adapting to current and unforeseen changes in their 

land, water and ice formation environments.  

Over the next few decades, they may be migrating 

further north to find colder weather and early season 

ice floes that increase their survival opportunities.

For polar bears, adapting to change is in their DNA 

as they have done for over 200,000 years.