Land Mammals, features and articles | Educational Science

May 17, 2017

Sweating the Details: Polar Bear Hits the Treadmill for Science

A polar bear at the San Diego Zoo named Tatqiq recently went the extra mile to help scientific research by steadily plodding along on a treadmill at the zoo's Institute for Conservation Research. Five months of training prepared the 16-year-old bear for her 10-minute walk, zoo officials said in a...

Sep 29, 2017

Picnic Time! 230 Polar Bears Feast on Whale Carcass

Hundreds of hungry polar bears were treated to a whale of a buffet last week when the carnivores descended on a whale carcass on the coast of Russia's Wrangel Island. The incredible sight was photographed by tourists on a boating expedition that was traveling through the Northeast Passage. We were...

Dec 8, 2017

Starving Polar Bear's Last Hours Captured in Heartbreaking Video

A hard-to-watch video from Canada's Baffin Islands shows an emaciated polar bear in what were likely the last few hours of its life. National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen captured the sad sight on video and posted it online Dec. 5. The video shows the bear staggering toward a trash can...

Feb 1, 2018

Polar Bears Starving As Arctic Ice Vanishes

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Polar bears live in a remote and inhospitable environment far from most human settlements. For most biologists, opportunities to observe these animals are fleeting. In fact, scientists' main resources...

Feb 11, 2019

52 Polar Bears 'Invade' a Russian Town to Eat Garbage Instead of Starve to Death

Fifty-two hungry polar bears have occupied Guba, a work settlement in a remote Russian Arctic archipelago. The animals reportedly attacked locals, ransacked garbage dumps and barged into residential buildings, according to a government statement translated from Russian and released this weekend. The massive invasion of polar bears prompted regional officials...

Feb 26, 2020

Polar bear photos: Stunning shots capture Earth's icons of climate change

It's International Polar Bear Day! To celebrate the wonders of the largest of the bear species, one that has become an icon of global warming and polar ice melt, here are some stunning photos that reveal just how magnificent these creatures are. Big bears (Image credit: Kt Miller/Polar Bears International)Male...

Jul 29, 2021

Polar bears: The largest land carnivores

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are the largest bear species and the biggest land carnivores in the world. The enormous bears live in the Arctic, where they prowl the icy expanse searching for seals, their preferred prey. Polar bears likely evolved within the last 500,000 years when a population of brown...

Aug 4, 2021

Polar bears bash walrus skulls with boulders and ice blocks, study suggests

Picture a polar bear stalking an unsuspecting walrus in the frozen Arctic: The predator slowly inches closer, camouflaged by ice and snow, until it's close enough to pounce. And then it delivers the killing blow — by bopping the walrus on the head with a large rock. That might sound...

Oct 14, 2021

Polar bears could vanish by the end of the century, scientists predict

Arctic sea ice has been steadily decreasing since the beginning of satellite records in 1979, but a new study comes with a chilling (or perhaps, warming) prediction: By the end of this century, Arctic sea ice may disappear during the summer, which could drive polar bears and other ice-dependent species...

Nov 15, 2021

Polar bear parts are being smuggled around the world

People have smuggled hundreds of bear body parts — including polar bear parts — into Australia and New Zealand, a new study reveals. Enforcement agencies seized bear teeth, rugs, bile and embryos suspended in honey from passengers arriving in Australia and New Zealand from 2007 to 2018. Most of the...

Jan 28, 2022

See first-ever photos of polar bears playing house in the Russian Arctic

Dozens of polar bears have been making themselves at home in abandoned buildings on an Arctic island, and a Russian photographer recently captured remarkable photos of the bears peering through windows and standing on porches. When photographer Dmitry Kokh traveled to the remote Russian region of northern Chukotka in late...