Churchill Manitoba Polar Bear Tours Include A Day Of Sightseeing

By Rosella Campbell


The adventurous tour is held in October and November each year. This is prime season for polar bears and they gather on the coast of Hudson Bay. These churchill manitoba polar bear tours take tourists to view them in large numbers. They are waiting for the water to freeze.

After the freeze, they are ready to set out on their yearly hunt. The travel package includes four days at a wilderness lodge. There they can photograph the white giants as they wait.

One day of the tour is spent in Churchill. There, they explore different parts of the town. They are also treated to a buggy tour through the area.

This enormous animal is a carnivore that lives in the Arctic Circle. It is large, with the adult male weighing 350-700 kg., 770-1,540 lbs. The male is called a boar.

The adult female, called a sow, is only half that size. These creatures are related to the brown bear. Evolution left them with characteristics that make living in frigid temperatures possible.

They are the biggest terrestrial predators on earth. No other, except for the Kodiak bear, comes close to its size. It also has the shortest tail among all the species of bears.

Seals are the main item on their menu. They catch them as they swim in the water on the edge of the ice. Hunters have caused the population to decline. They are now designated as a vulnerable, but not endangered species.

Forty two sharp teeth serve them well as carnivores. Their canine teeth are large and jagged. This indicates that they are meat eaters.

Biologists attempt to track the white giants. It is done by flying over the land in a helicopter to locate them. It is an expensive method due to the vast areas of the Arctic Circle.

Although it is a difficult task the size of the total population has been estimated. Biologists most recently posit twenty to twenty-five thousand polar bears exist in the entire world. They inhabit Denmark, Greenland, Norway, Svalbard, Russia, the United States, Alaska and Canada.

After sighting them, they tranquilize them by shooting a dart gun at them. Then they land the helicopter and tag them. Native people think the numbers are increasing because they are seen closer and closer to human settlements.

This seems to indicate they are growing in number. However, scientists claim they are approaching towns out of hunger. The inhabitants of the towns feel they need protection. They hire individuals to keep watch and alert them whenever a group of bears is sighted.

It is the tourists who want to get close to these white giants. It is the townspeople who want to avoid them. They have been sighted near towns and as far as two hundred miles off the shore swimming through the icy water.

Their four inches of blubber and heavy fur keep them warm as they swim in a dog-paddle way. On the land they can only run at a speed of 3.5 miles per hour. They can certainly be considered more adept at hunting their prey in the water than on the icy land.




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