Page 72 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

clearly communicated at times. In one amusing segment, they got

behind a relatively short ice hillock and seemed to rest there, with
a head coming up occasionally to see if the ship was still there.

They would stretch their necks and peer towards us and then turn
away, pointing their black noses towards the very distant shore.

There was much stretching and leaning and playing peek-a-boo
going on. It appeared from the position of the mother at one time
that the cub may have been nursing, but it may also have been

that she was just cooling her back off against her “ice chair back.”
Later events strongly suggested the latter intention.

Finally, the female came from behind her little privacy screen and

began walking transversely again. All the time we had been
observing the bears we had also seen many seals up on the ice

beside their breathing holes. All seemed to be alert and watching
the bears’ behavior just as we were. Periodically, they would all
drop into their holes though heads would bob back up to

periscope around, locating the bears again. At last, the mother
bear signaled to the cub to drop onto the ice and she went a little

further away and began to “still hunt” at a breathing hole. They
sat that way for a while and then the cub appeared to lose

patience and got up to move around. Mother stood up and
seemed to signal him again with a motion of her back leg to sit

back down which he did immediately and did not move again.

Bear Hunt Successful – Seal not so Lucky
Then the ship’s captain and the naturalist made a big mistake--

they decided that we should not further disturb the bears and
began to back the ship away from the ice. While some folks

continued to look and others drifted away, the most amazing thing
happened which even many of the long time Arctic hands had

never seen. The mother bear got up from the hole, walked
apparently without purpose towards a tiny lead and within a split