Scientists have captured a rare new footage of polar bear cubs emerging from their dens for the first time. The footage shows a mother polar bear venturing out of her den in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard with her three clubs following her — slipping and sliding around in the frozen terrain.
To capture the footage, researchers from Polar Bears International, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the Norwegian Polar Institute, and the University of Toronto Scarborough deployed remote cameras in the Arctic mountains for nearly a decade. This research, published on International Polar Bear Day (Feb 27) in the Journal of Wildlife Management, shines light on the lives of young polar bears.
As per the study, cubs rely heavily on their mothers and rarely venture outside the den alone. They were seen without their moms only five per cent of the time. In Svalbard, cubs depend on their mom for up to 2.5 years.
“In Svalbard, polar bears build their dens on the slopes of steep mountainous areas, and it’s hard to imagine how cubs could find their feet in this severe terrain,” study lead author Louise Archer, an ecologist with the University of Toronto Scarborough told LiveScience.
“Watching them sliding, tumbling and even climbing up on their mother was truly remarkable. The snow-covered den is almost like an extension of the womb-it provides a warm and stable environment, allowing cubs to continue to grow and develop,” Ms Archer added.
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Female polar bears build their dens in snow drifts on land or sea ice around October or November. They give birth in December or early January when the cubs are blind, hairless and weigh just 0.5 kg. They grow quickly, nursing on their mom’s milk which is 31 per cent fat, reaching around 10 kg – up to 20 times their birth weight – by the time they leave the den in spring.
The findings also suggest that polar bear families might be leaving their Svalbard dens earlier in the spring than they have in years past. While climate change might be the probable cause of the change in behaviour, the teachers said further monitoring was required to fully understand the trend.