Polar Bear Mothers

The polar bear mother has radar-like senses especially 

with her sense of smell in detecting the approaching 

of dangerous male polar bear predators. 

The Polar Bear mother is both protector and provider 

for cubs daily needs.  As the Protector, she is especially 

alert of male polar bears roaming into her den area(s).

They are the biggest predator risk to her cubs and herself.

As the Provider, she nurses them wherever she is

whether in the birthing den or even on an ice floe while 

hunting her favorite ringed seals.  As an opportunistic hunter,

she will find food for the cubs in the tundra and along the shoreline.  For instance, a whale carcass washing up on the shore in a nearby den area could be a bonus scavenger gift for a hungry polar bear mother and her cubs. Yet it could also attract male polar bear predators that could harm her cubs.

Some Canadian Manitoba wildlife includes: -Polar Bears, Arctic and Grey Wolves, Wolverines,Arctic and Red Fox, Lynx, American Beaver, OtterGrizzly Bears(low population-camera trap evidence)

-Some Arctic Birds of Prey- 

(Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Gyrfalcon, Peregrine Falcon,Great Grey Owl, Snowy Owl, etc.)

-Moose, Barren-ground Caribou, Woodland Caribou,

White-tailed Deer, Mule Deer, Migratory birds and other animals.

From this arctic tundra (willow trees, birch trees, short shrubs) to the boreal forest (northern evergreens), there are more than 38 mammal species and about 200 bird species.

A noted Polar Bear sighting paradise can be at Wapusk National Park 

(Wapusk means white bear spirit) located in the Hudson-James Bay Lowlands on the western shores of the Hudson Bay which is prime polar bear denning habitat and offers a wide range of arctic wildlife. 

POLAR BEAR MOTHER PROVIDER-FAVORITE PREY- The Arctic Sea Ice Hunt

A Vital Life-Giving Food Source

RINGED SEALS (Pusa hispida)

For ringed seals, the sea ice is the only place they can breed and rest.  They are a small, earless seal with an average length of 4 to 4.5 ft., weighs about 110 to 150 pounds and has a distinctive skin pattern of dark spots surrounded by light gray rings.

As a dominant seal species, they have the largest distribution in the Arctic Ocean which includes a population of several million.

Ringed seals give birth in early spring.  A female ringed seal may weigh about 220 pounds.  Solid ice surfaces along with stable snow cover is best for their daily resting and long nursing times to increase the growth of their seal pups.  They make convenient snow caves for warm shelter from the fierce arctic winds to care for their pups and remove them from the polar bears' hunting line of sight.

Polar Bear will arrive extremely hungry for seal winter hunting from October-February each year while on the ice floes.  

Polar Bear mothers may not have eaten for over five months while still nursing their cubs.  They are desperate for the seals to eat and recharge themselves for the winter hunting and continued nursing on the unpredictable sea ice.  The Arctic sea ice and weather patterns determine the polar bear's success to find seal winter dens with open water holes for breathing and accessing the ice floe platform to rest.

Ringed seals in the northern polar sea ice actively keep their breathing holes open using their powerful claws on the end of their fore flippers.  They dive in the arctic water to eat fish and invertebrates throughout the year.  Polar bears wait near these breathing holes in hopes of hunting ringed seals and their growing pups.

Polar Bear mothers especially depend on the ringed seals to feed themselves and their growing cub(s).  If there is a lack of snow on the ice, or high spring temperatures and even spring rains, it can significantly reduce the seal population and impact the success of the polar bear mother's opportunity to feed her cubs as well as herself.