Page 76 - 2003 SVALBARD, NORWAY

creamy layer which protects the bears--and other sea mammals--

from snow blindness despite the intensity of light and reflection
here AND fat storage and retrievability which allows the bears in

times of hunger to recycle their nutrients, never having to urinate
or defecate AND it is this ability which also makes it unnecessary

for polar bears to find fresh water with any degree of regularity.
He illustrated his talk with some marvelous slides of his own
which showed his familiarity with the bears and his long years of

observing.

Reference to Polar Bear Birthing Video
However, the highlight of his talk was live film footage of a polar
bear birth for which he could not take credit. It was part of a

documentary on polar bears done on the BBC about three years
ago. Some polar bear researchers had taken a pregnant female to

an artificial snow den they had created in Germany so that they
were able to film the birth and subsequent behavior of the
mother and baby. The film was very moving because the newborn

bear is so tiny next to its enormous mother (like a panda baby in
relation to its mother) and yet she treated it with such tenderness

and care. She of course was not eating at this time but the tiny
baby fed voraciously and gained size and weight rapidly so that in

a couple of months after birth it was able to emerge from the den
at about 20-30 lbs. (it couldn’t have weighed even ½ a pound at

birth). During the film, the mother was seen licking, stroking, and
looking at her tiny blind helpless cub. She would emerge from her
somnolent state and begin interacting with the baby and then slip

back into her twilight realm of semi-sleep--meanwhile, baby
nursed on and on, getting bigger, fatter and stronger. What a harsh

life they would face when they emerged from the birthing
chamber: she to provide sufficient nourishment for herself and

the baby and the cub to learn survival and hunting skills from his
mother over the 2 ½ years he would live with her--all this despite