Page 33 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

The bear was disappointed but Magnus told us that was not

unusual since polar bears are only successful in their hunting
about 2% of the time. Looking down at the ice, we decided it was

“rotten” because there were many holes in it where the sea water
boiled up and over the sheets. When the ship came through it

sent cracks along the ice and parts would turn over so that we
could see that it was about 4 inches thick. It would not have held
us up as it did the bear. We saw his tracks in the ice and his feet

are huge, like webbed feet, and he distributes his great weight
over 4 points rather than two. The ice looked rather like soapy

suds as we looked down on it.

Polar Bear Still-Hunting

Our bear continued hunting and demonstrated yet another

method he uses--still hunting. When he finds a breathing hole
used by seals (his favorite food by far), he sits next to it patiently
with his nose pointing towards the approach from under the

water and waits, sometimes up to 24 hours, for a seal to emerge
for a breath of air. Our fellow however must not have been that

hungry because he tired of the still hunting rather quickly and
went on walking across the ice. When he reached the lead in front

of him, he slid right in--nothing like how gingerly we get into the
much warmer water in our pool. He swam efficiently and it

seemed pretty fast to us as well, but Magnus told us that the seals
can easily out swim him.

We also learned that beluga whales sometimes tease the slower
polar bear in the water by getting underneath him and blowing

bubbles which really freaks him out. Walrus also sometimes
harass the bears while they swim because even those big fellows

can swim much faster than the bear. Our wonderful “gyro”
binoculars were perfect for the long viewing time we spent