Page 32 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

He was a big fellow though quite far away. Now we understood
why we were instructed to look for yellowish fur balls when bear-

spotting. When the bears are wet, their black skin is seen clearly
through the fur and the bears look very dark against the ice. As he
dries, his color becomes less dark but not white--it’s more yellow-

ochre. The boat slid towards him but he was quite unimpressed
and unconcerned with us. He was hunting seals. There were two

Ring Seals lounging on the ice near a lead who seemed at first to
be unaware of his stalking them. We wondered if we were going

to see nature “red in tooth and claw” but the seals suddenly saw
him and plunged right into the open water.