WHERE DO POLAR BEARS LIVE?



The polar bear - Ursus maritimus, is a bear native mainly found within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, and adjacent land masses as far south as Newfoundland Island.
Polar bears spend most of their time along the southern edge of the Arctic pack ice – a combination of pack ice, open water and coastal land.

Thankfully, due to the absence of human development in its remote habitat, it is able to retain more of its original range than any other carnivore living today.

While polar bears are rare north of 88°, there is evidence that their habitat stretches all the way across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada. They can occasionally drift widely with the sea ice, and there have been anecdotal sightings as far south as Berlevåg on the Norwegian mainland and the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk.

The range includes the territory of five nations: Denmark (Greenland), Norway (Svalbard), Russia, the United States (Alaska) and Canada. These five nations are the signatories of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which mandates cooperation on research and conservations efforts throughout the polar Bear's range.

There are 19 generally recognised, discrete sub populations, and these sub populations display seasonal fidelity to particular areas. However, DNA studies show that they are not reproductively isolated.

The thirteen North American sub populations that range from the Beaufort Sea south to Hudson Bay and east to Baffin Bay in western Greenland account for about 70% of the global population. The Eurasian population is broken up into the eastern Greenland, Barents Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, and Chukchi Sea sub populations, though there is considerable uncertainty about the structure of these populations due to limited mark and recapture data.

Of the 19 recognised polar bear sub populations, eight are declining, three are stable, one is increasing, and seven have insufficient data, as of 2009.

It is difficult to estimate a global population of polar bears as much of the range has been poorly studied; however, biologists use a working estimate of about 20,000–25,000 polar bears worldwide.

Click here for related articles:
All about Polar Bears
Are Zebras Black with White Stripes or White with Black Stripes?
Can Flying Fish really Fly?
Cheetah Facts, Videos and Photographs
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee Facts
Do Fish Sleep?
Flying Fish
Gorilla
How Big is the Blue Whale?
How Fast is a Cheetah?
How fast is a Snail?
How Long can a Flying Fish Fly for?
Koala Facts
Kung Fu Panda
Lion
LIVING DINOSAURS - The Coelacanth
Panda Bear
Panda Facts
Poem about a little bear - copyright Eaden 2012
Polar Bear
Polar Bear Facts
Rango Facts and Movie Videos
The Blue Whale
The Coelacanth - a living, breathing fossil
The Differences Between Crocodiles and Alligators
What are the Nine Sub-Species of Tiger?
The Bengal Tiger
The Koala
The Snow Leopard
Tiger Facts
Ugly Animals
Venomous Snakes
What do Lions Eat?
What do Pandas eat?
What do Polar Bears Eat?
What do Snow Leopards Eat?
What do Tigers Eat?
What is a Snow Leopard?
What is the Biggest Dog in the World?
What is the Biggest Snake in the World?
What is the Difference between African and Indian Elephants?
What is the Difference Between Alligators and Crocodiles?
What is the Difference between a Frog and a Toad?
What is the Difference between a Millipede and a Centipede?
What is the Difference between a Moth and a Butterfly?
What is the Difference Between a Tortoise and a Turtle?
What is the Difference between a Zebra and a Horse?
What is the World's Biggest Cat?
What is the Biggest Fish in the World?
What is the Worlds Biggest Shark?
What is the Worlds Fastest Animal?
What is the Worlds Largest Amphibian?
What is the Worlds Largest Eagle?
What is the Worlds Largest Flower?
What is the World's Largest Species of Tiger?
What is the World's Largest Spider?
What is the Worlds Fastest Bird?
What is the Worlds Fastest Fish?
What is the Worlds most Poisonous Frog?
What is the World's most Poisonous Snake?
What is the Most Poisonous Spider?
Where are Clogs from?
Where can you Find a Polar Bear?
Where did the Saber-Toothed Tiger Live?
Where do Cheetahs Live?
What do Chimpanzees Eat?
Where do Giraffes Live?
Where do Gorillas Live?
Where do Lions Live?
Where do Polar Bears Live?
Where do Snow Leopards Live?
Where do Tigers Live?
Where do Zebras Live?
Why are Pandas Endangered?
Why did the Saber-Toothed Tiger become Extinct?
Why do Giraffes have Long Necks?
World's Largest Insect

Images care of http://www.uux.cn/batch.download.php?aid=31682 and http://www.bearsoftheworld.net/polar_bears.asp
Based on an article from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear
at
Labels: , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)