Page 73 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

second sprang forward, crashing into the lead with all four legs

stretched out and came up with a seal! No one had anticipated
this activity but one lucky passenger was videotaping when it

happened. The sow had given no warning that she was doing
anything purposeful when she rose to walk and struck so suddenly

that everyone was awestruck.

She pulled the hapless creature (probably a ring seal) up on a little

ice hill where she and the cub immediately fell to eating--at
opposite ends of creature since they stood a little apart from one

another. Stefan told us later that the seal was probably instantly
killed since the bears bite through their relatively thin-boned

skulls. As magically as we had been told to expect, the ivory gulls
began to gather almost at once but waited respectfully as the

polar bears dined. And they dined and they dined--their faces,
chests and legs becoming more and bloodier as the 1 hr. 5 min.
feeding went on. Meanwhile, some skuas arrived and they

became testy with one another as they waited for their turn at the
feast.

The nasty tempered skuas would fly at one another and jockey for

a space closer to the kill site. They would huffily fluff their feathers
and flap their wings at each other. The ivory gulls did not quarrel

among themselves: they just waited.

Still another amazing thing happened. About ¾ of the way

through his feast, the cub stopped eating and headed towards one
of the melt water ponds and began drinking. All the experienced

bear watchers among the naturalists were also surprised at this
behavior since polar bears so rarely drink. He then licked his paws

a bit and went to a second pond and drank some more. After that,
he walked back to the kill site and began to eat again. The mother

became restless at the site and kept looking to the left as if she