View allAll Photos Tagged polar_bear
The ice off Kaktovik re-forms later and later each year. While they wait for the ice to freeze they bide their time on land picking up and playing with anything that floats into shore.
I remember as a child thinking how difficult it was to pull yourself out of a swimming pool without using the steps. Well it must take enormous strength for a Polar Bear with all that rear-end bulk soaked in weighty water. But they spend a lot of time in water, and that's why they were given the scientific name Ursus maritimus. This was taken north of Svalbard where the frozen sea starts to break up, known as pack ice.
A polar bear (Ursus maritimus) walks along the shoreline near Denmark Island in Scoresby Sund, Greenland. The red and gold colours come from arctic willows in their bright fall colours. A few bears were in the area waiting for freeze-up and in their white coats they really stood out against the background. This is a distant shot to put the bear in the context of its environment.
80/10/2018 www allenfotowild.com
Two guides with rifles by an old trappers cabin on remote Denmark Island, Scoresby Sund, East Greenland. One scans the distant terrain with binoculars to check for the presence of polar bears and other wildlife.
18/01/2019 www.allenfotowild.com
Charlie in a sea of paper stuffing that came with an online order of Vietnamese cinnamon. I was hoping for more eye contact, but he had just finished a big meal, and--as we know--that can make it hard to keep your eyes open.
I'm finishing up my polar bear series with an experimental composite of two consecutive photos, taken with a 500 mm lens, one with the bear in sharp focus and one focused on the sea ice forming on Hudson Bay in the background. Churchill, Manitoba. Ideally I would have liked to have had the near foreground in focus as well.
11/06/2024 www.allenfotowild.com
The only thing I miss about traveling to the Arctic for work is the wildlife. I was born in the midwest where wildlife was rare and predators were more or less non-existant. Never did I think I would ever see a Polar Bear, let alone be able to photograph one.
This is a sow Polar Bear, looking over the Arctic Ocean near Kaktovik. I only had a few minutes to photograph her so I did the best I could in the time I had.
Not sure why her face was so brown, but she definately was healthy. With the size of her belly, I am sure she was pregnant. Polar Bears give birth between September and Janurary having between 1 and 3 cubs. (Most being born in December and Janurary)
Taken on the ice floes just off the East coast of Greenland. This was just amazing to watch how easy it was for the bear to swim to an ice floe and just climb out and then just shake off all the water.
Taken on the ice floes just off the East coast of Greenland. This was just amazing to watch how easy it was for the bear to swim to an ice floe and just climb out and then just shake off all the water.
In Churchill and the surrounding tundra area, we were not allowed to walk outside or roam around.
We were only allowed to stand briefly and close to the outside of our shuttle or polar rover vehicles, because a polar bear could be lurking about. One minute you think you are safe....and then the next minute there is a polar bear.
The one time we were allowed a short walk, was to a lookout on the rocks overlooking the Hudson's Bay.
For that short walk, Nat Hab Adventures (the expedition operator) hired two polar bear guards. They had shot guns with either crackers (for noise to scare bears off) or whatever.
He was one of our polar bear guards. He was very serious about his duties and was surveying and looking over the area until all ambled down the path to the shuttle again.
Even in town, you could only walk across the street to the gift shop. We actually shuttled to the Tundra Pub around the corner from the accomodations, for a dinner.
Churchill, Manitoba Canada
22/31 October Photo A Day
As freeze-up of Hudson Bay was fast approaching, a polar bear has moved up from the inshore sea ice onto on a rocky spit of land and opened its mouth in a big yawn. Yawning is an early sign of stress or anticipating conflict, but they will yawn for other reasons, too. Churchill, MB.
27/02/2024 www.allenfotowild.com
From the Alaska trip this past October. Join me October 2019: www.studebakerstudio.com/alaskamammals
October 2016 Polar bear trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - early polar bear season. The polar bears haven't eaten for months and they gather in Churchill to wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze so they can go out and hunt seals.
Zoo Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
The first time I visited Polar Bear ANORI.
She is born 2012-01-04.
She ist a sister of Polar Bear FIETE and
a half sister of Polar Bear KNUT.
Using his paws and his head to crash through the ice on the surface, a large male Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) does his best “Superman” imitation. Incredibly powerful swimmers with plenty of blubber for insulation, the Polar Bears we saw in Kaktovik seemed to really enjoy swimming in the icy bay.
Ivory Gulls are dependent on Polar Bears and often follow them around waiting to pick up leftovers from their kills. Even during winter when there is 24 hour darkness Ivory Gulls will follow Polar Bears. This type of biological relationship is known as commensalism (which literally means dining at the same table), where one creature benefits from a relationship but the other derives neither benefit nor harm. I photographed this Polar Bear with its attendant Ivory Gull in the pack ice north of Svalbard. On very rare occasions Ivory Gulls wander from the arctic to Britain where they are usually associated with an animal carcass, such as a dead porpoise.
Polar bears are not usually seen on green grass but he's a happy plodding along to get to his nap space... at the Assiniboine Zoo's polar bear escape..