WEBVTT - Selects: How Polar Bears Work 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:03.920 Good morning everybody. It's Saturday and it's Chuck, and that 0:00:03.960 --> 0:00:07.880 means it's time for a select episode where we hand 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.200 pick and curate some of our favorite episode of the 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:13.800 years to be rereleased on Saturdays. In case you don't 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.280 have anything going on. This one goes all the way 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.759 back to September. It's about polar Bears. They are super 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.079 fascinating and cool and you will walk away with more 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.880 than one dinner party fact that you can throw with 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:33.680 your friends how polar Bears work. Right now, welcome to 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:42.800 Stuff you Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.239 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:53.320 Chuck Chuck Bryant scratching out a significant amount of this article, 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.000 like literally as we started recording. That's important stuff. There's 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:02.000 like numbers and dates and way eats and temperatures and 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:04.360 that that's it's important stuff you just scratched out. I 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.840 feel like it's all covered in the body of the 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.840 text of the article, though, well, I mean that's one 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.520 way to do an intro. Is anybody in journalism can 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.560 tell you you can write the article and then go 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.319 back and summarize. If you're an intro. I've never been 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.120 partial that the intro to me is just like this 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.240 stream of consciousness. It tells you where the rest of 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.559 the article is going to go because you don't know, man, 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:38.440 because it's all jazz baby. Uh yeah. Polar bears. Polar 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:42.880 bears another polar bear club. Although they may have clubs, 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.520 they're one of the least studied mammal populations on the planet. 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:48.840 Because it's cold, no one wants to go hang out 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.400 and watch them, yeah, pretty much, and because it's also 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:56.000 extremely dangerous to to study polar bears up close and personal. 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.720 Yeah they look cuddly, um, but they will, especially New 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.840 well yeah remember New. Yeah, I got a little bit 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:07.280 about New very sad. But you're gonna say they look 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:09.919 cute and cuddly, but don't leave his hanging. Well, you 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:12.840 go up to hug one like you want to, and 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.000 you get your face eating. Oh yeah, if you're lucky, 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.440 that's all that happens, you know. I saw pictures of 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:22.800 a guy who um survived a polar bear attack. Oh 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:28.720 my goodness. Yeah, he was messed up like I guess 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:33.000 it was still attach, but three quarters of his scalp 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.720 was now flipped back double like there's a whole clear 0:02:36.800 --> 0:02:41.120 through his achilles tendon and his ankle, so like as 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.120 achilles tendon was intact, and then the front of the 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.400 top of his the front of his ankle was intact, 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.440 but in between the two was gone. That could have 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:53.600 been a claw, poke or a fang. Yeah, it could 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.320 have been like flicking it with its thumb and middle finger. 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.519 Very strong. It's one of nature's cruelest things to an animal. 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:05.360 So huggable, uh and deadly. So yeah, you know if 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.720 you're if you hug up polar bear, it's bad news. Yeah, 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:14.959 it's like one of those black widows that marry and kill. Right. Well, 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:17.880 that's just my interpretation of polar bears. You know, you 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:24.640 mean the ursus maritimus. Yeah, and maritimes is Uh, it's 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.880 a legitimate thing to call it because technically a polar 0:03:27.880 --> 0:03:32.200 bear is a sea animal, a sea mammal. Yeah, because 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.120 they spend most of their time actually on the sea, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:40.280 that's right, and in the sea sometimes, as we'll find out. Um, well, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.560 I guess we're knee deep in this thing. Huh. Yeah, 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.680 because you skip the intro. Uh. So the polar bear 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.080 what they think? Um, and I enjoy our animal casts 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.560 a lot, and there's some of my favorite ones. I 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:55.800 just wanted to say that although the polar bear doesn't 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:01.800 despite its huggability, doesn't compete with the jellyfish with octopus. Um, 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:04.480 but it's up there. Sure it is because you can 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:07.000 hug a jellyfish, you know, I than an octopus. That's 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:10.160 a great hug. Yeah, eight times as good. They won't 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.520 let go. I guess four times is good. Yeah, alright, 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:17.119 so the polar bear two times is good because polar 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:19.480 bear has four. No, I mean as a human hug. 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.120 Uh so, Jerry even like that one. Um. So the 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:29.159 polar bear evolved, as best as we know, a couple 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.480 of hundred thousand years ago from the brown bear. Actually, 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:36.640 I saw the scientific consensus between five million and six 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:39.599 hundred thousand years really because I saw the two thousand 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:41.760 all over the place, did you really? Yeah? But it 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.160 might be one of those you know how the internet is, 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:49.200 Like I think Science Magazine used the term scientific consensus. 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:55.000 Oh wow, so I was like through done the gauntlet. 0:04:55.920 --> 0:05:01.640 Uh well, let's just say let's go with a scientific consensus, okay, um, 0:05:01.680 --> 0:05:05.560 and not our own article on our own website. But 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.240 they did evolved from the brown bear. Uh, they think 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:13.320 and um. One of the ways that they back this 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.520 up is by saying, polar bear can go have sex 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:18.719 with a brown bear and they can make a baby 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:22.320 bear and that bear can actually have babies. Yeah, which 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.320 means everything jibs. Do you remember? I think it was 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:29.279 our evolution in Isolation episode that was a good one. 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.480 We talked about speciation events, and we talked about this 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.919 how the how the brown bear just kept ranging further 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:40.760 and further north, and as as they're kind of habitat changed, 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.359 they actually evolved to too, into a different species, the 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.720 polar bear. I remember that now, but I remember a 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.960 species or a speciation event taking place when the two 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:57.720 groups could no longer reproduce. That was my memory of it, 0:05:57.880 --> 0:05:59.760 but I guess not because I went back in double check. 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.680 It's like, polar bears are different species, but it can. 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.640 It can reproduce with brown bears. And it does make 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:10.200 sense because humans and Neanderthals or neanderthals if you're a 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:15.440 pet ant um could could reproduce and have fertile offspring, 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.960 and there are definitely two different species of humans. Yeah, 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:22.920 that's true, right, Yeah, they were, well, you know, occasionally 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:26.000 people get together and have a few drinks and science 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:32.360 is created, you know. Yeah. Yeah, uh so there are 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:35.760 way more um brown bears, everyone knows. And we're gonna 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.719 talk a lot about this. That the polar bear. I'm 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.440 not sure the official designation. I don't think it's officially listed. Well, 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.279 it depends on where you are, yeah, as the official 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.080 listings is threatened or you know, the like, it depends 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:51.800 on the country it's in. Yeah, but they are they're 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.279 not doing great. There's only about twenty five thousand polar bears, 0:06:55.400 --> 0:07:00.240 and their habitat is shrinking literally physically shrinking. Yeah, that's 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.680 the big problem is that the the melting of Arctic 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:07.320 sea ice as we'll see as the Arctic sea ice 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.400 is where they live. They live on ice floating out 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.640 in the Arctic ocean, um, and they don't like to 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:16.800 be on land. When they are on land, it's a 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:21.640 problem for them. So the decrease in Arctic sea ice 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:26.160 that's going on because the climate change UM is affecting 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:30.760 them tremendously and affecting the rest of the ecosystem. But yeah, 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.520 definitely because UM say, like if they get stranded on land, 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:39.360 they start hunting on like for land mammals, which affects 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.360 the ecosystem, and that now their competition that's not normally 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.280 there for for prey. You know, there's all sorts of 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.840 ripple effects that are coming out of it. But one 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.320 thing I did see is that the the polar bears 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.440 that are really really far north are actually benefiting from 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:01.040 the melting um ice. Oh really, because it's easier for 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.440 them to hunt now because there is just less area 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:08.400 to cover. Um it's the ice is thinner. Oh, so 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:12.440 they can hunt more easily on it. Interesting. Yeah, uh, 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:15.400 well it's a good thing you said north, because you're 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:19.040 not gonna find polar bears, but the South Pole where 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.240 Santa lives and penguins and Santa lives at the north 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.200 north Pole with the polar bears. That's right. We've all 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.400 seen the Coca Cola commercials. Yeah, but that has penguins 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.960 in it. Yeah, the penguins and polar bears would never meet. Yeah, 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.080 that's true, because that maybe at a zoo. Yeah, that 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.360 is true. They had polar bears at the San Diego Zoo. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.560 There's a polar bear in China in a mall in 0:08:42.679 --> 0:08:46.080 China that has a zoo, and it is one of 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.040 the saddest things I've ever heard of. I signed a 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:51.199 petition last night to free it. His name is Pizza 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:56.320 and it is It's the Pizza the polar Bear. It's 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.080 the it's the saddest. I think it's build as the 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:02.280 saddest pole. They're bear on the planet. Man, it's so sad. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.520 Look into it, chuck outside the Yeah, I guarantee you will. 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:07.719 And you know what, I bet we could get a 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:09.960 lot of people to sign that petition. We'll see if 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:14.959 it matters. The petitions matter. Do they make a difference? Uh? 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:20.719 I think if they're accompanied with the right like press, 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:25.600 like media pressure, right or like a mafia thug right 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:28.400 to deliver the papers. I got a petition for you. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:34.600 I highly recommend you read it. Uh So. Polar bears 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.240 do live only in the Northern Hemisphere. Those twenty five 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:43.600 thousand are in nineteen distinct populations in five just five countries, 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.560 including the United States. Yeah, it's funny because their habitat 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:49.800 is at the top of the world where five countries 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:54.839 basically come together. Well Alaska, yeah, that's the U. S part. 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.720 Canada obviously. I think two thirds of all polar bears 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.640 actually live in Canada. Even though they if you asked 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.840 him that, they wouldn't be able to tell you. Russia 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:10.320 is another big one, Norway in Greenland, that is correct, uh, 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.680 And it is tough living up there for humans, but 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:17.760 not for polar bears. They love it. They're well adapted 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:22.199 over the years. Just supposedly if they run for any 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:24.360 bit of time, they have to like stop and lay 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:29.880 down because they'll overheat and they will exhaust themselves. Yeah, 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.640 identified a lot when I was reading this with polar 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.199 bear like, I kind of like these guys. They are 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.880 incredibly well adapted. Um, which is another reason why I 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.720 think they don't think it's any less than six hundred 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:46.160 thousand years that they evolved from brown bears, because it 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.840 would take so long for these just they're really different 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:53.600 from brown bears. Like brown bears are basically herbivores, polar 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:57.840 bears are carnivores. They seal blubber like brown bears eat 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:02.760 berries in the occasional human on accident maybe, but polar 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:05.120 bears are like, give me some seals, I want them. 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:07.199 I bet they would eat some berries if someone offered 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.840 them up for dessert. Maybe, but there are no berries, right, 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:12.800 you know, But it would take a lot because they 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:14.440 get kind of big and they need a lot of 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:18.080 fat to ward off the cold. Well, yeah, and they 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:19.960 have a lot of it. They have two layers of 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:23.959 fur and then blubber, full blubber layer. That's about four 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.120 and a half inches thick of just blubber. Yes, supposedly, 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.600 like of their weight at any given time or when 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:36.160 they're fully um developed or nourished, is a blubber was 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.120 their own fat. Since you mentioned the weight, we'll go 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:44.079 ahead and throw some stats out. Adult males eight or 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:49.040 nine ft. Yeah, apparently that's the biggest bear. The polar 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.840 bear is the biggest of the bears from what I understand, 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:57.040 not the bear and Stein bears. Barren Stain. Adult females 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.839 six to eight feet and the male's way up to 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:06.680 thirt hundred pounds nine pounds. Yeah, that's that's intimidating. It 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:12.120 is you've seen lost. I haven't this article mentioned it though, 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.840 of course, because it was probably written. When these stats 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.680 are accurate. The females can get up to about seven 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:23.960 hundred pounds those claus I mentioned about two inches, and um, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:27.240 they live about twenty years. Um. Yeah, I was surprised 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:31.040 by that. That's really short twenty years. Sure, I didn't 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:32.760 think that was too bad for a bear. Oh, I 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.920 thought it was very short. What do you think it's 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:40.439 a good bear span for your lifespan, like fourty or 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:42.880 fifty years. Yeah, that's what I want to see for 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.080 a bear. Well, we all do. Let's be honest. Twenty years. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.480 It's just like live fast, die young type age, you know. 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.680 So there pause which we mentioned the clause. They have 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:58.880 these big, beautiful, fat round paws that act like snow shoes, 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:02.800 and they walk and they spread out when they walk 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:05.360 on the on the ice and sort of distribute their weight. 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:07.520 And in fact, when they're on thin ice they even 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.840 spread their arms out wider. It's very cute. Uh. And 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:16.360 they have these little uh papilla on their bottom paws 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:20.800 is old nubs because ice is slippery, and they the 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:26.080 front paws are actually slightly webbed for swimming. It's amazing. So, 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.640 like you said, it's it's a sea bear. It is 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:34.280 the Maritimus ursa maritimus. So let's let's talk about some 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.480 of its like actual habits and the things it does 0:13:38.080 --> 0:14:10.000 after a break. You want to, yes, Chuck, you mentioned 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:14.440 their fur, right, so you know their furs translucent. That's right, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:17.520 they're not. It's not another episode at some point, probably 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:22.840 the evolving isolation one, or maybe it's translucent or by 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:28.480 or maybe the butterflies wings one. What is I can't 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:31.360 remember what it's called iridescence. Iridescence. That was a really 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:36.040 interesting episode two. Um, but yeah, they're there there. Um. 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.360 Fur is actually it's translucent because it's hollow, and it's 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.480 hollow because it traps air and then their body heat 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.040 can warm the air. It's kind of like, um, have 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.800 you ever camped when it was cold and all you 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.440 need is one of those little thin blow up mats 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.720 because your body heat warms the air underneath it. Thermarrest, 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:57.240 it's a brand name, but sure, right, okay, so it's 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:00.680 the same thing. But this is their fur that's doing that. Um. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.760 And since it's hollow and translucent, it actually scatters all 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.600 colors of light and creates this white appearance like a 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.520 quartzid or something like that. It's amazing. So they're not 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:15.640 actually white coated in white fur. It's all an illusion. Yeah. 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:19.400 So if you saw a polar bear in New York City, 0:15:20.120 --> 0:15:23.760 it would be the color of street garbage, right, like 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:29.080 a chamelelee it's not true. Street garbage color color is 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:34.360 that well, you mustard, it's like a pizza box, and 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:38.880 they'll be some recycling and then just some just New 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.280 York apartment to trit us, it's like the colors of 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.560 the rainbow. Alright, So the fur is um not all 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:49.120 over their body. The parts of their body that don't 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.160 have this thick insulation and this blubber, the tail and 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:56.640 the muzzle and the ears are adapted to be small 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:01.000 because it's not as insulated with that blubber. So um, 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.520 it requires less energy to heat and it has less 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:07.760 surface to to lose heat from. Right, That's right. So yeah, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:11.280 these guys are like incredibly well adapted for their environment, 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:14.600 which is really saying something because their environment is about 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:20.240 is inhospitable the mammal is you can imagine. Um. They 0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:25.160 are routinely comfortable and apparently have no heat loss whatsoever 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.600 at temperatures of like negative what was it, like like 0:16:29.880 --> 0:16:34.520 fifty fahrenheit negative fifty that's the like, that's the temperature 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.960 they're they're comfortable in um and they actually, yeah, they 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:41.080 experienced no change in body temperature a temperature of negative 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.320 thirty four degrees fahrenheit which is negative thirty seven celsius. Amazing. Yeah, 0:16:45.360 --> 0:16:49.360 they're just like it's unaffected by it. They're that well 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.960 suited to the environment. So we mentioned them walking. They 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:55.800 can walk a great distances up to thirty I'm sorry, 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.720 twenty miles KOs a day for days and days in 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.440 a row. And uh, they have been tracked swimming up 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.200 to sixty miles, which is amazing. Okay. One other thing 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:13.720 I saw um a Canadian geographic article, which is a 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:18.160 thing okay, uh, and they get this was a two 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.679 thou twelve article and they mentioned a recent study so 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.680 probably two thousand, two thousand and eleven maybe two twelve. 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.000 Study found polar bears swimming as a result of climate 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:31.840 change um up to six d eighty seven kilometers. That's 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:34.760 four six miles. That's to get from ice to ice. 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.880 Y man, that's sad, four hundred and twenty six miles. 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.399 These things are just swimming like well, I don't think 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.320 they're supposed to swim that far. No, definitely not, you know, no, 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:47.480 but they can. They'll do it. It's amazing. And they're 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.680 doing that to eat that sweet sweet seal blubber. Yeah. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.000 And plus I mean the sea ice is their habitat. 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.000 This is where they live, it's where they sleep, it's 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.879 and it's where they hunt most most importantly. Yeah, so, um, 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:00.960 they don't. Another big differ prints with the brown bears. 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.560 They don't hibernate like uh, the your average bear. Uh 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.080 you like that. Uh, female sort of semi hibernate when 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:12.399 they're kind of pre and post pregnancy, but it's not 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:16.440 true hibernation. And like the biological sense you want to 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:26.240 talk about mating, Oh sure, specifically polar bear mating. So again, 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:33.720 they they are a fairly not closely studied um mammal population. Right, 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:38.840 So scientists actually aren't entirely sure how females signal to 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:44.160 males that they're um ready to reproduce. And the reason 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:49.720 why is, um, the females don't appear to actually go 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:54.160 into any kind of heat. They have something called induced ovulation, right, 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:58.000 which is once they're mating, they start to ovulate. It. 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.720 Actually the intercourse is what causes the ovulation, right, and 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.360 not always sometimes it takes several times. Yeah, you've gotta 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:08.480 be good, you gotta know what you're doing, right, um, 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:15.399 and once the once they actually do um, I guess sure, 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:20.359 once the once the egg is fertilized. The embryo doesn't 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.000 actually start developing right away either. Yeah, that's super interesting. 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.439 It's an eight month gestation. But the first four months 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:29.919 it's just sitting there. Yeah, just the fetus is just 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:33.760 like waiting while the mom eats and eats and eats 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:37.600 and prepares for that long uh, that long period as 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:39.840 we'll see where where you know, she has a little 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:43.600 cub and uh yeah, a couple of couple of times, 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:47.320 usually twins, thank you. You know all you've seen polar 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:52.080 bear cubs, right, it's pretty adorable twins. They're born blind, 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:59.480 without teeth. They probably make cute little noises. They're not insulated, 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.159 so they need mom. Like if polar bear mom dies 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:05.640 right away, polar bear cubs will not survive. Oh yeah, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:08.640 there's their toasts. Zero chance. Yeah, like you said, they're 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.960 born blind and without teeth. They've really thin for no insulation. 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:15.960 They weigh about a pound in her a foot long, 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:18.840 which is really tiny for a bear that's going to 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:24.679 grow into pounds. Um And yeah, that mom makes a 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:30.119 den when she's um carrying her her embryos and starts 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:32.400 to fatten up. She goes and makes a little winter 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.240 den sometimes it's snow den, which, by the way, you 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:42.520 should see that movie snowdon It's good. Yeah, the documentary 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:46.680 of the movie. Well both yeah, yeah, okay. Um, and 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:49.320 so she'll make a little snow cave, snow den that 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.320 kind of thing, um, or use an actual cave. But 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:54.919 for the most part, she's usually just digging out a 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:59.159 little space for herself. And then um, she'll give birth 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:02.600 and then nurse the cubs for at least their first 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:05.399 twenty months. Yeah, they have to hang out with mama 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:08.480 for a while and drink that milk. Yeah, I think maybe, um, 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:10.640 a couple of years, maybe up to four years they 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.040 spend with mom, like learning to hunt and all that 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:18.720 kind of stuff. Um. But yes, she doesn't leave the 0:21:18.760 --> 0:21:23.080 snow den for like the first um several months. Yeah, 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.080 dad splits after a week, He's like, my work here 0:21:26.160 --> 0:21:28.920 is done. I might even go get someone else pregnant. 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:36.479 They're not monogamous. The women, the women, the females, um, 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:41.600 their lady lady bears. They they made successfully usually between 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.240 the age of six and eight years old, and they 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.840 only for mammal don't reproduce a lot, which is one 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.520 of the reasons there's only two of them. They only 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:53.800 have about five litters over their lifespan, whereas some mammals, 0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:55.760 you know, I mean they just have litter upon litter 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:59.399 every year of multiple, multiple little cubs. Yeah, which is 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.680 another reason and why you know, a loss of the 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.880 to the polar bear population is it's a big deal. 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:09.280 They don't replace. Their replacement rate is kind of low, 0:22:09.440 --> 0:22:12.800 that's right. Uh. And there could be you know, a 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:17.280 battle over mating with a female because um, it's you know, 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:21.560 it's sparks out there. It's not the most happening scene 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:25.199 for picking up. It's not a firm bar, it's not 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.680 a ferm bar. Uh. So if that happens, they will fight. 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:31.320 They won't kill each other. Yeah, I thought that was 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:33.520 kind of me. Yeah, of course the human to me 0:22:33.680 --> 0:22:35.720 is like, they know that they're dwindling, so they won't 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:38.040 kill each other. Of course it's not true at all. 0:22:38.119 --> 0:22:40.160 That's funny because the human and me was like they 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:42.679 they're like, it's really tough out here, so we all 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:46.560 got to stick together. Yeah, you'd like to think that. Um, 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:49.000 but what they do is they will they will lower 0:22:49.040 --> 0:22:51.800 their head but pin their ears back and roar. It's 0:22:51.840 --> 0:22:54.480 kind of a lot of posturing um. But there could 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.600 be like an injury that occurs fighting over who to 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:01.040 mate with, right, but not to the death. Yeah, I'm 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:03.879 sure it happens occasionally. There's probably a jerk bear every 0:23:03.880 --> 0:23:07.680 now and then. You know, this feels threatened Todd, Yeah 0:23:07.760 --> 0:23:13.080 he's all on steroids. But when a death will happen 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.120 is if anyone messes with those cubs, because Mama bear 0:23:16.480 --> 0:23:20.200 will take you down, like without thinking twice. Right, It's 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:25.720 very sweet. So the little bears have been brought up 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:31.320 by their mom. The twins Chuck and Buck, they are 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.120 they have been brought up by their mom and raised 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:38.600 to hunt, hunt, hunt, and uh now they know what 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.680 they're doing. So if you could drop in on either 0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:45.600 one of those guys and actually there, I was really 0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:48.640 surprised to hear this. The males will like hang out 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:52.840 with one another. Yeah, they're not necessarily territorial. Yeah, they'll 0:23:52.840 --> 0:23:55.680 even share a meal occasionally. Yeah, they have enough. Again, 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:58.560 that's because they're like, it's tough out here, man. Come on, 0:23:59.560 --> 0:24:01.880 They're like, brother, can you spare a dime. I've had 0:24:01.920 --> 0:24:04.919 my hundred pounds of blubber today, which is literally how 0:24:05.000 --> 0:24:08.360 much they can eat. So um. When they hunt. They 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:13.199 prefer ice, like a bit of ice, sea ice that 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:15.359 they can sit on. And actually what they'll do is 0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:20.400 they look for holes in the ice. The main prey 0:24:20.440 --> 0:24:24.440 of the polar bear is the ringed seal. Yes, their favorite. 0:24:24.680 --> 0:24:27.000 They'll they'll eat other stuff. They'll eat just about anything, 0:24:27.000 --> 0:24:30.880 a whale, carcass, alive, beluga whale that they can catch, um, 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:36.840 walrus is whatever, but they really go nuts for ringed seals. Okay, 0:24:36.920 --> 0:24:40.640 so um. Ringed seals have a thing where whenever it's um, 0:24:41.280 --> 0:24:44.000 the ice is thin enough for them to dig through. 0:24:44.200 --> 0:24:47.520 And by thin enough, we're talking like six feet right. 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:52.560 The seal has these um basically appendages on its flippers 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:55.280 that are sharp and they use it to carve holes 0:24:55.560 --> 0:24:58.679 through the sea ice. And these are the seals breathing holes. 0:24:59.560 --> 0:25:03.440 And they make about ten to fifteen of them every season, 0:25:03.680 --> 0:25:06.040 and then they'll keep them like open throughout the season. 0:25:06.080 --> 0:25:08.600 They maintain them. So they're hunting down there, they're eating 0:25:08.640 --> 0:25:11.640 their own stuff. They need to come up for air sometimes, well, 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.240 polar bears stake these things out because they know that 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:17.600 a steal has to come up forever very like five 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:20.760 to ten minutes. Yeah, it's like whack a mole almost exactly, 0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:25.040 and they it's well, it's sad in a way, but 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:27.960 it's also, uh it's sad for the seal, but it's 0:25:28.000 --> 0:25:31.160 necessary and it's pretty sharp too, but it's it's an 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:34.679