Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 27, 2022

Brown bear wakes up from hibernation and kills 38 reindeer calves

A highly predatory brown bear woke up from hibernation and killed 38 reindeer calves in a single month, then 18 young moose the next month, according to a new study. The unnamed 13-year-old female was one of 15 brown bears researchers tracked in northern Sweden to understand how the bears...

Mar 20, 2022

Why aren't there polar bears in Antarctica?

The Arctic and Antarctica, while similar habitats in some ways, are home to very different creatures. Both poles host a variety of seal and whale species, but only the Arctic is home to Earth's largest bear, the polar bear. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and their tumbly cubs can be found...

Mar 28, 2022

Grizzly bears: North America's brown bear

Grizzly bears are a type of brown bear that live in North America. The name grizzly bear is typically given to members of the subspecies Ursus arctos horribilis, but the scientific classification of American brown bears is not settled, and some people use grizzly bear and brown bear interchangeably. Grizzly...

Apr 29, 2022

Family of 5 bears found hibernating under Lake Tahoe home

A California family unexpectedly discovered that they had been sharing their home with a family of five bears — an adult female and four cubs. The bears recently emerged from underneath a home in Lake Tahoe, where they had been hibernating for the winter. The BEAR League — a volunteer-led...

Jun 16, 2022

Secret population of polar bears found living in seemingly impossible habitat

A secret population of polar bears in Greenland has been discovered in a seemingly impossible habitat — one that, for most of the year, lacks the floating platforms of sea ice the beasts use to hunt. The unusual group, which scientists previously thought was part of another nearby population, has...

Jul 27, 2022

Polar bears forced to dine on 'batteries and dirty nappies' as climate change pushes them inland

As climate change diminishes Arctic sea ice, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are being forced to ransack towns and garbage dumps in ever greater numbers, a new study in the journal Oryx finds. While bears eating human garbage is not a new phenomenon, the frequency and severity of human-bear interactions in...

Oct 14, 2022

Everybody Freeze! The Science of the Polar Bear Club

Just after midnight on Jan. 1, people around the world will ring in the New Year to the sound of noisemakers and popping corks. But on New Year's Day on Brooklyn, New York's Coney Island beach, the sound of chattering teeth will fill the air, as thousands of people gather...

Dec 16, 2022

American black bears are evolving to have cinnamon-colored coats, study finds

Some American black bears in the western United States have evolved to have cinnamon-colored fur. The new hue is likely due to a genetic variant similar to one that causes albinism in humans, a new study finds. Researchers from the United States and Japan analyzed DNA samples from 151 American...

Jan 13, 2023

Move over polar bears, there's another top predator along the Arctic coast

In coastal ecosystems around the Arctic peninsula, polar bears have long been considered the top predators. But a new study suggests that sea stars could be surprising contenders to rival the famous white bears at the summit of the local food web. A food web is a sprawling map of...

Feb 14, 2023

In 'extremely rare' attack, polar bear killed mother and child in Alaska. Now we know why.

Last month, a polar bear killed a woman and her 1-year-old child in Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack recorded in the U.S. in more than 30 years. Now, a new report sheds light on what may have caused the tragic event. Experts analyzed the animal's tissues,...

Mar 3, 2023

'Prehistoric' mummified bear discovered in Siberian permafrost isn't what we thought

A perfectly preserved, mummified bear found entombed in the Siberian permafrost in 2020 isn't what scientists thought it was, a new analysis reveals. It turns out that the eerily intact carcass is much younger than first assumed and belongs to an entirely different species. Reindeer herders unearthed the remains, which...

Apr 25, 2023

Twin polar bear sisters reunited years after mother rejected one of them

Polar bear twins have been reunited in a zoo after more than two years apart. The siblings were separated shortly after birth when one of them developed severe health problems and was later rejected by their mother. The female polar bears (Ursus maritimus), named Astra and Laerke, were born at...

Apr 28, 2023

Bear kills jogger in Italian Alps. What does this mean for the effort to bring bears back to the region?

Italian authorities are deciding what to do with a brown bear that mauled a jogger to death in the northeastern province of Trento. The case has shone a light on the country's successful — but problematic — rewilding program. On the evening of April 5, 26-year-old Andrea Papi was jogging...

May 12, 2023

Watch as 2 male Alaskan grizzly bears fight in an epic battle

A wildlife photographer in Alaska caught two massive male grizzly bears on video in what he said was the longest, most intense bear interaction I have ever witnessed. On May 8, Brad Josephs was visiting Lake Clark National Park and Preserve in southern Alaska when he caught the two grizzly...

Jul 24, 2023

Grizzly bear believed to have killed woman on Buttermilk Trail near Yellowstone National Park

A woman has died from a suspected grizzly bear attack near Yellowstone National Park, less than a week after officials warned that the animals had been spotted in areas they aren't normally found. The remains of the woman, who has not been named, were discovered on the morning of July...