Maggie's Farm

My husband-the-nature-writer and polar bear expert assures me that polar bears, tagged by experts, have been recorded as swimming more than 500 miles without getting on-shore. Mr. Monnett is toying with the truth, to say the least. Creating a tissue of lies, I'm afraid.

Far from diminishing, the world population of polar bears is growing, not shrinking. Downs, my husband, has studied the bears closely, even visiting Wrangle Island in Russia to see their birthing dens, and written some books about them. How about Mr. Monnett? Has he written anything? Or merely pontificated, as Al Bore is wont to do. I'll bet it's the latter.

Marianne

Geoff... Polar bears are defined as "the largest land-based marine mammal" so don't think of them as you do other bears. They resemble seals and walruses in their marine habits, even though they derive from the bear genus. Walruses and seals haul up on land to bear and raise their young, but they are fully capable of crossing the Atlantic or Pacific without making landfall. If this "scientist" saw them from a helicopter and not at close range, as my husband has, for weeks at a time, I can't credit Minnott's observational abilities. Downs has watched bears, in company with well-known accredited polar bear scientists for days at distances of less than fifty yards, photographing and taking notes. He has explored the birthing dens on Wrangel Island, again photographing and taking notes.

You might enjoy his book Polar Bear. It's interesting and well documented and there are some fascinating facts in it. For instance, a female polar bear can be inseminated when she is in estrus by more than one male. And then she stores away the fertilized ovum/ova while she builds up her body fat to a point where she and the cub/cubs can live off it until the cubs are able to emerge from the den. [How much human females would love to be able to postpone implantation of the ova until it was convenient.]

At any rate, when she has completed her fat build-up and her den to her satisfaction, then she lets her fertilized ova implant in her womb and the process begins. Once it begins, she stays in the den for about six months, not emerging to hunt or to eat until the cubs can walk and follow her on their own.

Isn't that neat? I love it...

Marianne

Oh, and one other fascinating thing, Geoff. Polar bears have black skin, under their white fur. The white hairs are hollow, not solid, and they conduct heat down to the black skin. Keeps the bears warm [to a certain extent].

It wouldn't be enough for me, that's for sure.

Marianne