Polar Bear Thursday

This is my first Polar Bear Thursday blog post! I started the idea to help raise awareness for polar bears' depleting numbers, and to provide facts and insights about the species. As you may have read in my first blog post, my love for animals, specifically polar bears, came about when I was 18 and received a stuffed fluffy polar bear from my Nan. I named him Neige (meaning snow in french), and he became my travel companion and good luck charm. Since then, my love for polar bears has grown, and I rarely escape a Christmas or birthday without something polar bear themed.

Last week began the first Polar Bear Thursday, kickstarted with a trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park to see the mighty bears. Sadly, these bears in the wild are under threat from climate change; the ice they rely on is melting. By 2050, it is predicated that polar bear numbers could decline by up to 30%. The ice the bears call home, is forming far later in the year due to a longer melting period caused by climate change. This also means the ice is breaking up earlier too. This all means a polar bear's area to feed is restricted, impacting in particular, pregnant females. Pregnant polar bears live off fat stores when giving birth and raising their cubs. These fat stores have to be built up, and this proves difficult with a more restricted feeding range.

A few quick facts, provided by the WWF, that you may not have known about polar bears:

1. A polar bear's sense of smell can reach up to a kilometre away. They use this to find seal breathing holes, where they wait for seals to come up for air.
2. There are around 19 subpopulations of polar bear, with approximately 26,000 wild bears divided across them.
3. Not only is climate change a threat, but the growing greed for oil and gas sees companies look to the arctic. This has potential to destroy habitats and poison polar bears through their prey.
4. Polar bears aren't actually white. Shocking right? Their fur is in-fact translucent, appearing white as it reflects light. Underneath the fur is black skin.
5. Males are often twice the size of females weighing some 800kg, roughly the weight of 10 men.

How can we help polar bears?

As Greta Thunberg said "No one is too small to make a difference", and no act is too small either.

-Cycling or using public transport to get to work goes a long way to helping promote a healthy environment. Transportation is a major producer of greenhouse gasses.

-Consider how your diet impacts the planet and buy locally where possible.

-Consider the recycling scheme Terracycle, and whether you are able to use them to recycle some of your waste that would ordinarily go in the bin.

For more Polar bear info and snaps, follow my instagram and Twitter accounts! See you at the next Polar Bear Thursday.

Thanks for reading!

Phoebs