settled on the western shore of Hudson
Bay lies Churchill Manitoba here where
temperatures can dip to 30 below
Fahrenheit this tiny outpost has the
distinction of no other place on earth
it's the polar bear capital of the world
join us as we venture onto Canada's
frozen tundra to find the polar bears of
Churchill in this episode we'll look at
the polar bears unique characteristics
and see what makes them so special the
polar bear a scientific name is Ursus
Mary Thomas which means maritime bear
polar bears spend so much time out on
the sea ice their scientific name
literally translates to sea bear polar
bears go where their food is but if
there's no ice they can't hunt seals so
they follow their noses to the nearest
food source which can sometimes lead
them into town and the ice provides much
more than just a hunting territory for
polar bears Jeff York explains most
polar bears unlike where we are here in
Hudson Bay spend most of their time on
the sea ice these bears would if they
had ice here to go out - and that's why
they're here waiting and I think it's
important to understand sea ice is like
soil for the Arctic marine environment
it is not just a floating platform we
often get questions from people saying
well couldn't we just put in styrofoam
and polar bears and seals would have a
place to hang out well war is going on
there than that on the bottom of the sea
ice we have algae growing that algae
feeds plankton that plankton feeds polar
cod polar cod feeds the seals and the
seals feed the Bears that's sort of the
short article web but that's the big
reason why as we lose this ice we're
actually losing more than a platform
we're losing that ice ecosystem that
results in polar bears being out here
polar bears unlike other bears don't
have to hibernate in the winter because
their prey doesn't either so they're
able to hunt off and on throughout the
year so unless you're a pregnant female
you're out on the ice ice eels have
their pups in the springtime and that's
when they're most vulnerable to
predation you have these very naive
young seals they're under the snow
they're easier to catch what we're
seeing now is that springtime season is
getting shorter that's when that melting
is happening and polar bears aren't
having a long enough time with those
young seals to put on the weight they
need to survive that summer ice-free
fast period so that spring period is the
shrinking that they can hunt and on the
other end of the spectrum sea ice is
freezing up much later in some parts of
the Arctic and so polar bears are being
stretched energetically over a longer
period of time they can fast for a good
while that they have their limits so
what are the polar bear is eating then
it depends on where in some parts of the
Arctic we're seeing the move and try to
follow that CI so they're moving further
distances they're moving further north
in some areas and in places to the south
like it's Hudson Bay southern Matt
someday they're on land for longer
periods of time and of course they're
not getting all the calories they need
them probably from trying to eat prey
and land right no polar bears just can't
find the food resources they need on
shore their lipid wars we like to call
them they're fat eaters they need that
marine mammal prey and rich fatty diet
so voles on shore sea bird eggs duck
eggs that's not gonna cut it in addition
to their long term fasting ability polar
bears possess an astounding list of
attributes they can run 40 miles per
hour and swim 60 miles without resting
their sense of smell is 100 times more
sensitive than a human and they can
sniff out dinner from over 40 miles away
they are so well insulated that in
arctic temperatures there in greater
danger of overheating than they are of
freezing to death I sat down with dr.
Steve Amstrup to learn more polar bear
foot is huge yeah and you know part of
the reason it's huge is because they
walk around out here on the ice they're
big animals but the ice is sometimes
thin and a big broad foot can give them
a chance of not poking through compared
to you and I I've had times when I've
seen a thousand pound bear walk across
ice that I got out of the helicopter and
started to walk across and started a
breakthrough so they're very much better
at walking on the ice than we are and of
course the claws are impressive and I
have a close-up so this is the claw of a
polar bear I mean they're just really
designed to catch a seal or to hook on
the ice and not let go people say well
how are the seals doing and that's a
hard question for us to answer because
unlike the polar bears which live on top
of the ice the seals spend most of their
time under the ice but what we do know
is if we have healthy polar bear
populations we have healthy seal
populations if we have healthy seal
populations everything else is probably
doing okay because everything's
connected everything everything is
connected and they all depend on each
other and it took a very very long time
thousands sometimes millions of years
for all these animals to have the
adaptations that they do for this food
web to work like all top predators polar
bears ensure the health of the food web
without them the entire ecosystem would
be impacted for this and many reasons
these wonderful creatures are deserving
of our very best efforts to save them
you