In the wintry Tundra a tired polar bear has inserted (Ursus maritimus) a rest. In the icy environment, he sleeps peacefully next to a stone. (00090133)

Description: The Polar Bear, scientifically known as Ursus maritimus, is native to all Arctic coast regions. The Inuit call it “Nanook” and attribute supernatural powers to it. With a weight of 300 to 600 kilograms and a total length of up to 3.5 meters, it is a large, muscular bear. The largest known Polar Bear weighed 1,002 kilograms and was 3.65 meters long. The Polar Bear's fur is white to yellowish and has the property of converting 95 percent of ultraviolet radiation into heat. Each individual hair of the fur - transparent and hollow - captures light from any direction. The Polar Bear's fur insulates optimally and gives off almost no heat to the outside. The Polar Bear's diet consists mainly of meat, but also seaweed, crabs, seabirds, bird eggs, berries, carrion, and sometimes they even carry off some flat fish. The Ursus maritimus is an excellent swimmer and has been seen several hundred kilometers into the open sea. It is also a good diver and can stay underwater for up to two minutes. High up in the north, west of Hudson Bay, lies Churchill, the city with Canada's most northern deep-sea harbor. Every year from the end of September until mid-November, when the Hudson Bay freezes - often the temperatures fall below -50° Celsius -, the Polar Bears disappear abruptly from the coastal stretches. At this time, they stay up to 300 kilometers away from the land on the frozen bay. Here at the open water channels, they hunt for seals. They sneak up to the seals lying on the ice, which sometimes can take hours, or they ambush them at the holes in the ice crust. Sometimes they also hunt for seals in the open water channels by swimming. In July, when the ice starts to melt at the end of the Arctic spring, the Polar Bears often let themselves be carried ashore on ice floes. Their destination is the mainland or the endless tundra along the coast. In late summer, they head north again. In this season, the Polar Bears search for carrion of marine creatures. Their diet also consists of land mammals and plants. In the northwest of Hudson Bay, they wait for frost and ice. Then the time of hunger is over, the cycle closes as soon as they have reached the open water channels with the seals.

Location: Manitoba, , Kanada

Date of Capture: 25.10.1992