Tag archives for polar bears
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Every week, embark with host Boyd Matson on an exploration of the latest discoveries and interviews with some of the most fascinating people on the planet, on National Geographic Weekend. Please check listings near you to find the best way to listen to National Geographic Weekend, or pick your favorite segments and listen now below! Episode: 1317 – Air…
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Icon of the Arctic, the polar bear thrives in the remote Arctic landscape of ice and snow. World-renowned polar bear scientist Ian Stirling offers his thoughts on the state of polar bears in the wild, the threats they face today, and insights from his recent book, Polar Bears: A Natural History of a Threatened Species.
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Delegates at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 16th Conference of Parties held in Bangkok in March rejected a proposal to ban international trade in polar bears and their parts. The decision caused a stir because polar bears face a precarious future. While some non-governmental organizations were deeply disappointed by the failure to uplist polar bears from Appendix II to Appendix I, which would have banned all international trade in the species and their parts, Steven Amstrup—a renowned polar bear scientist—believes that limitations on trade don’t address the real challenge facing the iconic animals.
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Polar bears are not souvenirs. They are an iconic, beautiful species that is rapidly disappearing. Starting this week, countries from around the world will gather at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), where protection for polar bears will be an important topic of discussion.
Posted by Skating on thin ice. That could be the story line for polar bears this past summer in the Norwegian Arctic. When I was up there in the waters around Svalbard, Norway it seemed as if the ice was disappearing faster than in previous years. Without ice the polar bears, don’t have a platform from which…
Posted by By Jordan Schaul Today is the 50th anniversary of the largest, most remote and perhaps, most rustic protected wilderness area in the United States. Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the most well known refuge in the system, turns 50 on January 6 with celebrations throughout central and south central Alaska. A bull caribou in…
Steven C. Amstrup, a former chairman of the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group and a world authority on polar bears, has joined the conservation group Polar Bears International as senior scientist. A long time scientific advisor to PBI, Amstrup was previously wildlife biologist with the United States Geological Surveys’s Alaska Science Center in Anchorage. He…
By Jordan Schaul Polar Bears International is not just another conservation group trying to save another vanishing species. It’s an organization that questions how we choose to live on this planet. Will we continue to exploit natural resources and destroy the very environment that we rely on ourselves for survival? Or will we change our…
Nature photographer Florian Schulz says the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico must serve as a warning as the U.S. seeks oil in the Arctic. His stunning photographs show what’s at stake. By Florian Schulz As I type this, having just returned from a two-week photography trip to the Arctic, my fingertips tingle, possibly…
By Ford Cochran Award-winning author Gretel Ehrlich visited National Geographic headquarters last week to discuss her new book In the Empire of Ice: Encounters in a Changing Landscape. The volume chronicles her experiences among indigenous Arctic people living on the thawing edge of climate change. I spoke with her about what she’s witnessed over many…
Here’s why you really don’t want to encounter a polar bear in the wild. This bear statue is part of the “How You Measure Up” area of an exhibit at San Diego Zoo that will give guests the chance to see how they compare to a polar bear–in height, weight and food consumption. This lifesize…
Twin polar bears, Aurora and Anana, arrived today at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, in Ohio. The three-year-old females are the first residents of Polar Frontier, a U.S.$ 20 million exhibit opening at the zoo this spring. Photo by Paul Selvaggio of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium The bears were born at the Toledo…
Visitors to the WWF Arctic tent at the Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15), which started today, were greeted by an ice sculpture by artist Mark Coreth. made from a chunk of ice from the Arctic. Ice Bear has a very powerful message, he says. “This might be in the form of a polar bear, but actually…
This satellite image of Novaya Zemlya, an archipelago in Russia’s Arctic, launches a new ad hoc series on this blog I will call Earth from Space. Look out for regular updates for unusual, beautiful, educational, newsworthy images released by public and commercial space agencies. I will be looking particularly for images that highlight the special…
