- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- home style today articles
- home style today q&a
- traveling today articles
- traveling today q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
One Polar Bear for Every Five Citizens
These Dangerous Predators Are Now Permanent Guests in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada!
By Peter Baunmartner
"Ursus Maritimus – the marine bear" as they are called by the scientists or "lazy bears" by the natives. The bears have to take it easy at this time of year. Before they can head out to hunt seals, they lose up to 1 kilogram of weight a day. Lazily, they stretch out in the sun while we pull our warm woolen toques over our ears and flee back into the propane-heated buggy. A harsh north wind is blowing. The sparse flag trees indicate in which direction the wind is blowing. The northern side does not have a single branch due to the harsh exposure.
Feeding the bears is absolutely forbidden; getting out of the buggy is fatal. We are also warned not to hang our arms or cameras over the sides of the observation deck. The bears are much faster and stronger than we are, warns Debra. A polar bear can, even though his movement seems very slow, run up to 50 kilometers an hour. And with just one swipe of his mighty paw, he cn kill you immediately.
