WEBVTT - How Polar Bears Work 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:04.480 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:13.760 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:19.280 There's Charles W. Chuck Chuck Bryant scratching out a significant 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:24.080 amount of this article. Like literally as we started recording. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.640 That's important stuff. There's like numbers and dates and weights, 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:32.680 anders and that that's that's important stuff you to scratched out. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:34.559 I feel like it's all covered in the body of 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:38.040 the text of the article, though, well, I mean that's 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:40.760 one way to do an intro. Is anybody in journalism 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.840 can tell you you can write the article and then 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.280 go back and summarize that it's an intro. I've never 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.080 been partial of that. The intro to me is just 0:00:51.159 --> 0:00:56.320 like this stream of consciousness. It tells you where the 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:58.200 rest of the article is going to go because you 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:05.319 don't know, man, because it's all jazz baby. Uh yeah. 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:10.479 Polar bears polar bears another polar bear club. Although they 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.440 may have clubs, they're one of the least studied mammal 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:16.640 populations on the planet. Because it's cold, no one wants 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:18.600 to go hang out and watch them, yeah, pretty much, 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:22.959 and because it's also extremely dangerous to to study polar 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.319 bears up close and personal. Yeah, they look cuddly, um, 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:30.480 but they will, especially New they will. Yeah remember New. Yeah, 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.560 I got a little bit about New. Very sad. But 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.280 you're gonna say they look cute and cuddly, but don't 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.480 leave us hanging. Well, you go up to hug one 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.280 like you want to, and you get your face eating. 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:45.520 Oh yeah, if you're lucky, that's all that happens. You know. 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:48.800 I saw pictures of a guy who um survived a 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:53.880 polar bear attack. Oh my goodness. Yeah, he was messed up, 0:01:54.440 --> 0:02:00.760 like I guess. It was still attach, but three orders 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:04.480 of his scalp was now flipped back able like there's 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:08.639 a whole clear through his achilles tendon and his ankle 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:11.480 so like as a chillers tendon was intact, and then 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:13.960 the front at the top of his the front of 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:18.200 his ankle was intact, but in between the two was gone. 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.680 That could have been a claw, poke or a fang. Yeah, 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.360 it could have been like flicking it with its thumb 0:02:24.400 --> 0:02:27.919 and middle finger. Very strong. It's one of nature's cruelest 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.640 things to make an animal so huggable, so deadly. So yeah, 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.400 you know, if you're if you hug up polar bears 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:38.160 bad news. It's like one of those black widows that 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:44.799 marry and kill. Right, Well, that's just my interpretation of 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:49.560 polar bears. And you mean the ursus maritimus. Yeah, and 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.960 maritimes is uh, it's a legitimate thing to call it 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.959 because technically a polar bear is a sea animal, a 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.200 sea mammal, because they spend most of their time actually 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.000 on the sea, that's right, and in the sea sometimes, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.560 as we'll find out. Um, well, I guess we're knee 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:13.080 deep in this thing. Huh yeah, because you skip the intro. 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.080 Uh So the polar bear what they think? Um? And 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.120 I enjoy our animal casts a lot. And there's some 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:22.760 of my favorite ones. I just wanted to say that 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:25.919 although the polar bear doesn't despite its hug ability, doesn't 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:30.639 compete with the jellyfish or the octopus. Um, but it's 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.840 up there. Sure it is because you can hug at jellyfish, 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.240 you know, I than an octopus. That's a great hug. Yeah, 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.960 eight times as good, I guess four times is good. Yeah, alright, 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.760 so the polar bear two times is good? Polar bear 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:50.360 has four? No, I'm as a human hug uh So 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.760 Jerry even like that one. Um, So the polar bear evolved, 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.320 as best as we know, a couple of hundred thousand 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:02.040 years ago from the brown bear. Actually, I saw the 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:06.120 scientific consensus between five million and six hundred thousand years 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:08.600 really because I saw the two all over the place. 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.760 Did you really Yeah, but it might be one of 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.440 those you know how the internet is, like I think 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:19.120 Science Magazine used the term scientific consensus. Oh wow, so 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:25.960 I was like, there down the gauntlet. Uh, well let's 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:30.200 just say let's go with a scientific consensus, um, and 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.200 not our own article on our own website. But they 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.080 did evolve from the brown bear, uh, they think, and um, 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.200 one of the ways that they backed this up is 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.120 by saying, polar bear can go have sex with a 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.599 brown bear and they can make a baby bear, and 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:52.080 that bear can actually have babies, which means everything jibs. 0:04:52.480 --> 0:04:54.599 Do you remember? I think it was our evolution in 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.080 Isolation episode that was a good one where we talked 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:01.360 about speciation events and we talked about this how the 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.320 how the brown bear just kept ranging further and further north, 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.880 and as as they're kind of habitat changed, they actually 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.680 evolved too into a different species. The polar bear yeah, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.840 I remember that now, but I remember a species or 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:22.040 a speciation event taking place when the two groups could 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:26.359 no longer reproduce. That was my memory of it, But 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.200 I guess not because I went back in double check. 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.080 Memberies like, polar bears are different species, but it can. 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.040 It can reproduce with brown bears. And it does make 0:05:34.080 --> 0:05:38.599 sense because humans and Neanderthals or neanderthals if you're a 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:43.839 pet ant um could could reproduce and have fertile offspring, 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:48.520 and they are definitely two different species of humans, right, Yeah, 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.240 they were. Well, you know, occasionally people get together and 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:58.480 have a few drinks and science is created, you know. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:03.680 uh so there are way more um brown bears, everyone knows. 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:05.240 And we're gonna talk a lot about this. That the 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:09.280 polar bear. I'm not sure the official designation. I don't 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:13.800 think it's officially listed. Well, it depends on where you are, yeah, 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.880 as the official listings is threatened or you know, the like, 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.480 it depends on the country it's in. Yeah, but they are, 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.800 they're not doing great. There's only about twenty five polar 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:28.400 bears and uh their habitat is shrinking, literally physically shrinking. Yeah, 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.599 that's the big problem is that the the melting of 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.520 Arctic sea ice, as we'll see as the Arctic sea 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:39.599 ice is where they live. They live on ice floating 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.919 out in the Arctic ocean, um, and they don't like 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.120 to be on land. When they are on land, it's 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:49.800 a problem for them. So the decrease in Arctic sea 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:53.520 ice that's going on because the climate change um is 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:58.440 affecting them tremendously and affecting the rest of the ecosystem. 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:02.039 But yeah, definitely because um say, like if they get 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:06.480 stranded on land, they start hunting on like for land mammals, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:10.200 which affects the ecosystem, and that now their competition that's 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.160 not normally there for for prey exactly. You know, there's 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.400 all sorts of ripple effects that are coming out of it. 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:20.000 But one thing I did see is that the the 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.880 polar bears that are really really far north are actually 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:29.440 benefiting from the melting um ice because it's easier for 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.440 them to hunt now, oh, because there is just less 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.640 area to cover. Um it's the ice is thinner. Oh, 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:40.880 so they can hunt more easily on interesting Yeah, uh, 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.840 well it's a good thing you said north, because you're 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.480 not gonna find polar bears, but the South Pole where 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.000 Santa lives and penguins. Santa lives at the north North 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:53.880 Pole with the polar bears. That's right. We've all seen 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:58.000 the Coca Cola commercials. Yeah, but that has penguins in it. Yeah, 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.840 the penguins and polar bears would never meet. Yeah, that's true. 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:04.040 Is that maybe at a zoo? Yeah, that is true. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.120 They had polar bears at the San Diego Zoo. There's 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.480 a polar bear in China in a mall in China 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:14.600 that has a zoo, and it is one of the 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:16.880 saddest things I've ever heard of. I signed a petition 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:20.520 last night to free it. His name is Pizza and 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.840 it is It's the pizza the polar bear. It's the 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.080 it's the saddest. I think it's build as the saddest 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:30.960 polar bear on the planet. Man, it's so sad. Look 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:34.280 into it. Chuck outside. Yeah, I guarantee you will. And 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.280 you know what, I bet we could get a lot 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.880 of people to sign that petition. We'll see if it matters. 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:44.880 The petitions matter. Do they make a difference. Ah. I 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:49.280 think if they're accompanied with the right like press, like 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:54.400 media pressure, right or like a mafia thug right to 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:58.240 deliver the papers. I got a petition for you. I 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:03.120 highly recommend you read it. Uh. So, polar bears do 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.080 live only in the northern Hemisphere. Those twenty five thousand 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:12.000 are in nineteen distinct populations, uh, in five just five countries, 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.199 including the United States. Yeah. It's funny because their habitat 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.240 is at the top of the world where five countries 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:23.280 basically come together. Well, Alaska, yeah, that's the U. S Part. 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.160 Canada obviously. I think two thirds of all polar bears 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:29.319 actually live in Canada, even though if you asked him that, 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:32.840 they wouldn't be able to tell you. Russia is another 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:38.719 big one. Norway. Ye, in Greenland, that is correct. Uh. 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.120 And it is tough living up there for humans, but 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:46.200 not for polar bears. They love it. They're well adapted 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:50.600 over the years. Just supposedly, if they run for any 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:52.800 bit of time, they have to like stop and lay 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:58.280 down because they'll overheat and they will exhaust themselves. Yeah. 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.040 Identified a lot when I was reading this with polar 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.640 bear like, I kind of like these guys. They are 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.240 incredibly well adapted. Um, which is another reason why I 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.120 think they don't think it's any less than six hundred 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:14.040 thousand years that they evolved from brown bears, because it 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.439 would it would take so long for these just they're 0:10:17.520 --> 0:10:20.960 really different from brown bears. Like brown bears are basically herbivores, 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:25.679 polar bears are carnivores. They eat seal blubber like brown 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:30.240 bears eat berries in the occasional human on accident, maybe, 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:33.080 but polar bears are like, give me some steals, I 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.040 want them. I bet they would eat some berries if 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.280 someone offered them up for dessert maybe, but there are 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.600 no berries, you know. But it would take a lot 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.520 because they get kind of big, and they need a 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.280 lot of fat to ward off the cold. Well, yeah, 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:47.880 and they have a lot of it. They have two 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.920 layers of fur and then blubber, full blubber layer that's 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.560 about four and a half inches thick of just blubbery. Supposedly, 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:59.040 like of their weight at any given time or when 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:04.599 they're fully um developed or nourished, is a blubber was 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:08.559 their own fat. Since you mentioned the weight, we'll go 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.480 ahead and throw some stats out. Adult males eight or 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:17.480 nine feet Yeah, apparently that's the biggest bear. The polar 0:11:17.480 --> 0:11:20.280 bear is the biggest of the bears from what I understand, 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:25.480 not the Bear and Steain bears ben Stein. Adult females 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.280 six to eight feet and the males weigh up to 0:11:29.360 --> 0:11:35.120 thirteen hundred pounds nine pounds. Yeah, that's that's intimidating. It 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:40.520 is you've seen lost. I haven't this article mentioned it though, 0:11:40.679 --> 0:11:43.240 of course, because it was probably written. When these stats 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:47.080 are accurate, the females can get up to about seven 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:52.480 hundred pounds. Those claws I mentioned about two inches, and um, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.680 they live about twenty years. Um. Yeah, I was surprised 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:59.440 by that. That's really short. Twenty years. Sure, I didn't 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:01.480 think that was too for a bear. Oh, I thought 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.400 it was very short. What do you think it's a 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:09.880 good bear span for your lifespan, like forty or fifty years. Yeah, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.120 that's what I want to see for a bear. Yeah, 0:12:12.800 --> 0:12:15.720 well we all do. Let's be honest. Twenty years. It's 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.920 just like live fast, die young type age, you know. 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:23.079 So their paws, which we mentioned the claws, they have 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.319 these big, beautiful, fat, round paws that act like snowshoes, 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.200 and they walk and they spread out when they walk 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.520 on the on the ice and sort of distribute their 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.720 weight and in fact when they're on thin ice, they 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.120 even spread their arms out wider. It's very cute. Uh. 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:44.480 And they have these little uh papilla on their bottom 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:48.920 paws is old nubs because ice is slippery, and they 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:54.480 the front paws are actually slightly webbed for swimming. It's amazing. So, 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:57.079 like you said, it's it's a sea bear. It is 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:02.120 the Maritimus or some mary time is. So let's let's 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.080 talk about some of its, like actual habits and the 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:25.840 things it does after a break. You want to Yes, hey, 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:28.000 my friend, if you want a website these days, there 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.920 are some frustrating ways to go about it, but one 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.600 easy way is by using squares space. Yeah, square space 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.439 doesn't require you to hang out with coders, you know. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:40.200 All you have to do is figure out how to 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:42.880 drag and drop using a mouse, and all of a sudden, 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.520 you know how to build a website thanks to squar space. 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.040 That's right. They have beautiful pre made templates for you. 0:13:48.080 --> 0:13:50.720 They're gonna look great if you want to sell something, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.480 you want to howk your wares. They have seamless commerce tools. 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.880 They have great customer support, even though it's really easy 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:58.880 to figure out on your own. If you can't work 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.400 something out, they have to seven real human customer support, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.280 and every member of that team is an actual user. Yeah, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.600 that's right, and right now. You can start a free 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:11.000 trial today at squarespace dot com and enter our offer 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:14.120 code stuff whenever you make your first purchase and they'll 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:16.800 give you ten percent off. Plus when you sign up 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:19.440 for a year, squarespace will give you a free custom 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.680 domain name. That's right. Just visit squarespace dot com and 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:38.840 enter our offer code stuff. Squarespace set your website apart. Chuck, 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:43.000 you mentioned their fur, right, so you know their furs translucent. 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.160 That's right, they're not. It's not about that. Another episode 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.560 at some point, probably the Evolving Isolation one or maybe 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:57.400 Translucent or by or the butterflies wings one. What is 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.320 I can't remember what it's called iridescent iridescent. That was 0:15:00.360 --> 0:15:04.880 a really interesting episode two. Um, but yeah, they're there there. 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:09.480 Um fur is Actually it's translucent because it's hollow, and 0:15:09.520 --> 0:15:11.680 it's hollow because it traps air and then their body 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:14.200 heat can warm the air. It's kind of like, um, 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.000 have you ever camped when it was cold and all 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:19.400 you need is one of those little thin blow up 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.160 mats because your body, heat warms the air underneath it. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.680 It's a brand name, but right, okay, so it's the 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:30.000 same thing. But this is their fur that's doing that um, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:34.080 And since it's hollow and translucent, it actually scatters all 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.960 colors of light and creates this white appearance like a 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:41.440 coartzid or something like that. So they're not actually white 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.240 coated in white fur. It's all an illusion. So if 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:49.520 you saw a polar bear in New York City, it 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:54.320 would be the color of street garbage, right, like a commute. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:59.440 It's not true street garbage color color is that well, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:03.120 you know, it's rays mustard. It's like a pizza box. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.720 And they'll be some recycling and then just some just 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.560 New York apartment to trit us. It's like the colors 0:16:11.560 --> 0:16:15.640 of the rainbow. Alright. So the fur is um not 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.040 all over their body. The parts of their body that 0:16:18.200 --> 0:16:22.400 don't have this thick insulation and this blubber, the tail 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.400 and the muzzle and the ears are adapted to be 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:30.320 small because it's not as insulated with that blubber. So um, 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:33.880 it requires less energy to heat and it has less 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.080 surface to to lose heat from. Right, that's right. So yeah, 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:40.600 these guys are like incredibly well adapted for their environment, 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:43.920 which is really saying something because their environment is about 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:49.560 as inhospitable the mammal is. You can imagine, Um, they 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:54.480 are routinely comfortable and apparently have no heat loss whatsoever 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.880 at temperatures of like negative what was it, like like 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:03.280 a fifty fahrenhent negative fifty that's the like, that's the 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:07.120 temperature they're they're comfortable in um. And they actually, yeah, 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.960 they experienced no change in body temperature a temperature of 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:14.680 negative thirty four degrees Fahrheit, which is negative thirty seven celsius. Amazing. Yeah, 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.680 they're just like it's unaffected by it. They're that well 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.320 suited to the environment. So we mentioned them walking. They 0:17:22.359 --> 0:17:25.119 can walk a great distances up to thirty I'm sorry, 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:29.000 twenty miles thirty KOs a day for days and days 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:32.760 in a row. And uh, they've been tracked swimming up 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.520 to sixty miles, which is amazing. Okay. One other thing 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:43.040 I saw um a Canadian geographic article, which is a 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:47.520 thing okay, Uh, and they get this was a two 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:50.000 thousand twelve article and they mentioned a recent study, so 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.320 probably two thousand, two thousand and eleven maybe twelve study 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:56.680 found polar bears swimming as a result of climate change 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:02.600 um up to six eighty seven pometers. That's four miles. 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.080 That's to get from ice to ice. Man, that's sad. 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:10.320 Four d twenty six miles. These things are just swimming, Like, well, 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.359 I don't think they're supposed to swim that far. No, 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:15.239 definitely not, you know, no, but they can. They'll do it. 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:18.359 That's amazing. And they're doing that to eat that sweet 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.080 sweet seal blubber. Yeah. And plus, I mean the sea 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.280 ice is their habitat. This is where they live, it's 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.800 where they sleep, it's and it's where they hunt most 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.560 most importantly. Yeah. So, um, they don't Another big difference 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:32.119 with the brown bears. They don't hibernate like uh, the 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:37.120 your average bear. Uh you like that. Uh, females sort 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.679 of semi hibernate when they're kind of pre and post pregnancy, 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.879 but it's not true hibernation. And like the biological sense, 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:51.159 you want to talk about mating, Oh sure, specifically polar 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:57.719 bear mating. Oh yeah, so again they are a fairly 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:04.399 not closely studied um mammal population, right, so scientists actually 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:09.280 aren't entirely sure. How females signal to males that they're 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:15.560 um ready to reproduce, and the reason why is um, 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:20.000 the females don't appear to actually go into any kind 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:24.200 of heat. They have something called induced ovulation, right, which 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.719 is once they're mating, they start to ovulate. It. Actually 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.159 the intercourse is what causes the ovulation, right, and not 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:34.040 always sometimes it takes several times. You gotta be good, 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.240 you gotta know what you're doing right. Um. And once 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:44.720 the once they actually do um. But I guess sure 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:49.360 once the once the egg is fertilized, the the embryo 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:53.280 doesn't actually start developing right away either. Yeah, that's super interesting. 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.720 It's an eight month gestation. But the first four months 0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:59.239 it's just sitting there. Yeah. Just the fetus is just 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.320 like waiting while the mom eats and eats and eats 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.959 and prepares for that long uh, that long period as 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.200 we'll see where where you know, she has a little 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:13.240 cub and uh yeah, a couple of couple of times usual, 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:17.399 thank cute. You know all you've seen polar bear cubs, right, 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:24.560 it's pretty adorable. Twins. They're born blind without teeth. They 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:29.120 probably make cute little noises. They're not insulated, so they 0:20:29.119 --> 0:20:32.200 need mom. Like, if polar bear mom dies right away, 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:36.080 polar bear cubs will not survive. Oh yeah, there's they're toasts, 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:38.800 zero chance. Yeah, like you said, they're born blind and 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:43.400 without teeth. They've really thin for no insulation. They weigh 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.760 about a pound in her foot long, which is really 0:20:46.800 --> 0:20:51.600 tiny for a bear that's gonna grow into pounds. Um. 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:56.320 And yeah, that mom makes it den when she's um 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:00.600 carrying her her embryos and starts to fatten up. She 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:04.040 goes and makes a little winter den, sometimes the snow den, which, 0:21:04.080 --> 0:21:10.560 by the way, you should see that movie snowdon It's good. Yeah, 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:15.800 the documentary of the movie. Well both yeah, yeah, okay, Um, 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.480 and so she'll make a little snow cave, snow den, 0:21:18.560 --> 0:21:21.480 that kind of thing, um, or use an actual cave. 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.160 But for the most part, she's usually just digging out 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:28.120 a little space for herself. And then um, she'll give 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.640 birth and then nurse the cubs for at least their 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:34.399 first twenty months. Yeah, they have to hang out with 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:36.600 mama for a while and drink that milk. Yeah. I 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.000 think maybe, um, a couple of years, maybe up to 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:41.800 four years. They spend with mom, like learning to hunt 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.080 and all that kind of stuff. Um, but yes, she 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:51.159 doesn't leave the snow den for like the first um, 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.800 several months. Yeah, dad splits after a week. He's like, 0:21:54.920 --> 0:21:57.320 my work here is done. I might even go get 0:21:57.359 --> 0:22:01.800 someone else pregnant. They're not um and agamus. The women, 0:22:02.440 --> 0:22:08.240 the women, the females, um their lady lady bears. They 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:11.639 they made successfully usually between the age of six and 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.520 eight years old. And they only for mammal don't reproduce 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:17.520 a lot, which is one of the reasons there's only 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.520 twenty five thousand of them. They only have about five 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.840 litters over their lifespan, whereas some mammals you know, I 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:27.040 mean they just have litter upon litter every year of multiple, 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.240 multiple little cubs. Yeah, which is another reason why you know, 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:33.879 a loss of the to the polar bear population is 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.920 it's a big deal. They don't replace. Their replacement rate 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.400 is kind of low, that's right. Uh. And there could 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:44.520 be you know, a battle over mating with a female 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:49.560 because um, it's you know, it's sparks out there. It's 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:53.119 not the most happening scene for picking up not a 0:22:53.160 --> 0:22:56.640 firm bar, it's not a firm bar uh. So if 0:22:56.680 --> 0:23:00.160 that happens, they will fight, they won't kill each other. Um, yeah, 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:02.359 I thought that was kind of Yeah. Of course, the 0:23:02.440 --> 0:23:04.560 human to me is like, they know that they're dwindling, 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:06.879 so they won't kill each other. Of course it's not 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:08.720 true at all. That's funny because the human to me 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:11.359 was like they they're like, it's really tough out here, 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:14.439 so we all got to stick together. Yeah, you'd like 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:17.000 to think that. Um, but what they do is they 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:19.840 will they will lower their head but pin their ears 0:23:19.840 --> 0:23:23.040 back and roar. It's kind of a lot of posturing. Um, 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:25.800 but there could be like an injury that occurs fighting 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:30.040 over who to mate with, right, but not to the death. Yeah, 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:32.680 I'm sure it happens occasionally. There's probably a jerk bear 0:23:32.960 --> 0:23:37.040 every now and then. You know, this feels threatened Todd, Yeah, 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:42.399 he's all on steroids. But when a death will happen 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:45.440 is if anyone messes with those cubs, because Mama bear 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:50.119 will take you down, like without thinking twice. It's very sweet. 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:55.680 So the little bears have been brought up by their mom. 0:23:55.880 --> 0:24:01.240 The twins Chuck and Buck, they are they have been 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.760 brought up by their mom and raised to hunt hunt, hunt, 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:09.640 and uh, now they know what they're doing. So if 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:11.840 you could drop in on either one of those guys 0:24:12.320 --> 0:24:15.760 and actually there, I was really surprised to hear this. 0:24:16.000 --> 0:24:19.880 The males will like hang out with one another. They're 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:23.800 not necessarily territorial. Yeah, they'll even share a meal occasionally. Yeah, 0:24:23.840 --> 0:24:26.639 they have enough. Again, that's because they're like, it's tough 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:29.919 out here, man, Come on, They're like, brother, can you 0:24:29.960 --> 0:24:32.800 spare a dime. I've had my hundred pounds of blubber today, 0:24:33.320 --> 0:24:36.520 which is literally how much they can eat. So um. 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:41.800 When they hunt, they prefer ice, like a bit of ice, 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:44.080 sea ice that they can sit on. And actually what 0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:47.040 they'll do is they look for holes in the ice. 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:53.000 The main prey of the polar bear is the ringed seal. Yes, 0:24:53.040 --> 0:24:55.720 their favorite. They'll they'll eat other stuff. They'll eat just 0:24:55.760 --> 0:24:59.160 about anything, a whale, carcass, alive, beluga whale that they 0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:02.840 can catch, um, walrus is whatever, but they really go 0:25:03.000 --> 0:25:07.840 nuts for ringed seals. Okay, so um. Ring seals have 0:25:07.880 --> 0:25:11.560 a thing where, whenever it's um, the ice is thin 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:14.320 enough for them to dig through. And by thin enough, 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:18.640 we're talking like six feet right. The seal has these 0:25:18.760 --> 0:25:23.159 um basically appendages and it's flippers that are sharp and 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:25.800 they use it to carve holes through the sea ice. 0:25:26.400 --> 0:25:29.920 And these are the seals breathing holes, and they make 0:25:29.960 --> 0:25:33.239