Latest news with #polarBears
NHK
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- NHK
Twin polar bear cubs make debut at Sendai zoo
A zoo in Japan introduced twin polar bear cubs to the public on Monday. About 200 people waited in line outside Yagiyama Zoological Park in the city of Sendai before it opened. Visitors cheered as they watched the animals playing with each other and cozying up to their mother. The male and female cubs, which were born at the park in December, are currently estimated to weigh 30 kilograms. Officials expect the female cub to reach about 350 kilograms in four years, and the male to be around 500 kilograms. A visitor from Tokyo carrying stuffed toy polar bears said they are so small and adorable. Another visitor said he was so eager to see them he came to the zoo on the first day they are shown to the public. The park is set to open public voting to select their nicknames from a shortlist of six possibilities. Voting will last until June 17, and the results will be announced in a ceremony on July 5. The cubs are on public display between 9:15 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. daily. Zoo officials say the time will be extended as they grow up.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Why remote Svalbard is best explored on an expedition cruise
The world is at its quietest and most awe-inspiring in the planet's remote reaches, where wildlife reigns and the planet's stark beauty is on display. Located some 580 miles from the city of Tromsø in mainland Norway, Svalbard is an archipelago comprising nine main islands, the largest being Spitsbergen. One of the best ways to immerse yourself in this wild environment is on an expedition cruise, where you'll glide past imposing glaciers, noisy walrus colonies, cliffs dotted with sea birds and families of polar bears. In the summer months, Svalbard enjoys constant daylight — making it an ideal time to see these pristine landscapes in all their glory. Here are five reasons to go on an expedition through this otherworldly archipelago. For any visitor to Svalbard, the chance to see the King of the Arctic in his natural habitat is the stuff of wildlife-spotting dreams. Roughly 3,000 polar bears call Svalbard home — more than the human population here — and as the largest of all the bear species, there's a high chance of spotting one of these mighty carnivores from a ship or tender. Polar bears are often seen navigating ice floes, stalking birds perched on cliffs or paddling alongside desolate beaches. These bears can disappear out of sight as quickly as they appear, so having an eagle-eyed guide makes all the difference. The chalk-white humps of belugas swimming in a procession; the breach of a huge humpback; or the tall fluke of a sperm whale slowly dropping below the ocean's surface, signalling the start of a deep dive — these are just a few of the wondrous wildlife moments you may encounter while exploring Svalbard. This Arctic landscape is where hundreds of walruses gather on rocky beaches to snort out a chorus, while herds of reindeer forage for moss along the tundra. Elsewhere, you can spot seals warily navigating the sea ice, or ogle thousands of sea birds — including guillemots, glaucous gulls and fulmars — nesting on vertical cliffs. During the summer months in Svalbard, when the North Pole is angled closest to the sun, the archipelago experiences perpetual daylight. The sun never quite dips below the horizon, casting a pink hue across the sky from dusk until morning. This phenomenon, known as the midnight sun, only adds to the wonder of travelling through these islands. You may lose track of time in the brightness of near-constant daytime, but this means any moment offers the chance to take in the astonishing scale of a glacier or watch as a whale exhales plumes of breath into the sky. Naturalists, marine biologists, geologists and experienced expedition staff are the human elements who make an adventure to Svalbard exceptional. The most fulfilling journeys through this archipelago bring the region's history, landscapes, marine life and conservation efforts to life through onboard lectures and presentations. On an expedition here, you are likely to have the opportunity to mingle with staff and ask them questions to develop a deeper understanding of this distinctive dot on the map. Journeying around Spitsbergen (the only inhabited island in the archipelago) feels much like moving through a documentary of your own making. This is where the Arctic's colour palette is most vibrant, visible in the dark granite seams of snow-topped mountain peaks, the glaciers that appear to glow turquoise and the steely blues of rippling ocean waves. Former whaling stations and hunting cabins made of wood and stone mark a history of human habitation — but it's the enormous whale bones lining the shore that are the most striking reminders of our past. This is paid content for Trailfinders. It does not necessarily reflect the views of National Geographic, National Geographic Traveller (UK) or their editorial subscribe to National Geographic Traveller (UK) magazine click here. (Available in select countries only).
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Travel + Leisure
26-05-2025
- Travel + Leisure
This Tour Company Will Take You to the Most Remote Corners of the World From the Arctic to the Amazon—and Teach You How to Save It, Too
A partnership between Natural Habitat Adventures, a leading conservation travel company, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) takes eco-conscious travelers to locations threatened by climate change while allowing them to offset their carbon footprint for an entire year. The Climate Change & Our Wild World program provides travelers with a first-hand view of three locations that are seeing the worst impacts of the climate crisis: Greenland, the Arctic, and the Amazon. The poles are the epicenter of the climate crisis, with temperatures in the Arctic expected to increase 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 Fahrenheit) over the next 50 years, at least twice the global average. Meanwhile the Amazon rainforest, one of the Earth's most diverse ecosystems, is suffering from climate-fueled wildfires and deforestation. The first tour of 2025, slated for August, will take travelers to the virtually uninhabited and rarely visited east coast of Greenland, allowing them to witness how the melting of the Greenland ice sheet is accelerating due to man-made climate change, contributing to sea level rise. In early November, the Arctic tour will explore the Canadian north, where the shrinking ice cover is pushing polar bears toward extinction. This time of the year sees the highest concentration of polar bears near the outpost town of Churchill, Manitoba, as they gather for the start of their winter hunting season. The Amazon trip that starts in late November will explore the river's headwaters in the Pacaya Samiria Reserve, a 5-million-acre wildlife sanctuary on the eastern flank of the Andes that is home to pink river dolphins, scarlet macaws, sloths, and monk saki monkeys. In recent years, traveling to areas threatened by the climate crisis has taken off, triggering a trend known as "last chance tourism,' which sometimes leads to overtourism and contributes to environmental degradation due to the carbon footprint associated with traveling. But Nat Hab and WWF have taken strides to reduce the environmental impact of their trips while offering travelers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance their understanding of the climate crisis. For example, groups typically average 10 people and feature leading conservationists, mostly from WWF, who give presentations and engage in daily discussions with tour members. 'The beauty is that they provide excellent info both on a general level, but also insight that few have access to or will seek themselves, due to the very complicated and multi-layered nature of climate work,' Court Whelan, chief sustainability officer for Nat Hab, told Travel + Leisure . 'I truly feel that these trips are generating the next round of climate advocates, with people emerging from the trip as more informed, inspired, and ready to pursue and advocate for solutions than most people in the world,' Whelan said. In addition, Nat Hab has designed a comprehensive program to offset emissions stemming from the tours that provides funding to green energy, emissions reductions, and forest conservation initiatives in countries hard-hit by the climate crisis, such as Ethiopia, Indonesia, and India. To avoid 'greenwashing,' Nat Hab selects projects that are vetted through third party verification and prioritizes initiatives that seek to advance UN Sustainable Development goals. 'This way, we feel like we're doing the most good, while making sure the offsets are extremely valid and meaningful,' Whelan said. The company estimates that these collaborations offset 40 metric tons of emissions for each traveler in the Climate Change & Our Wild World program, more than twice the average annual carbon footprint of people living in the U.S., which is at 16 metric tons. 'Our main focus when offsetting is probably more to raise awareness about emissions and the ability to offset, to hopefully educate and perhaps even instigate travelers to look into offsetting in their own lives,' Whelan added.
BBC News
23-05-2025
- BBC News
Woman looks to break Arctic record made possible by melting ice
A British woman is getting ready to try and break a record by becoming the first person to sail on her own around the Arctic Hibbert is thought to be the first person to attempt to do so in a single she says the chance of breaking this record isn't all said: "It will be a bittersweet record to achieve because if I make it all the way round in a single season, it will prove that the Arctic no longer has the ice covering that it is supposed to." Ella, sets off from Gosport, near Portsmouth, and head to Iceland and Norway on 24 May ahead of her 10,000 mile journey, which is expected to take five route will take her north of Iceland, down around southern Greenland, up through Canada and across the north of Alaska before heading back to only be able to sleep for 20 minutes at a time when she hits the Arctic Circle, and will face other challenges like polar bears and extreme conditions."It's not something that you can prepare for until you're there in it, and there's all sorts of weather around the Arctic." While she is on her challenge, Ella will also be helping with research which hopes to show the impact of climate record depth soundings while she travels - this tells you the distance between the sea bed and the surface. She also plans to auction off her boat when she finishes the trip to raise money for conservation charities, which she hopes is a way of giving back to the Arctic for the time she will be spending there.
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Cub ‘searches' for mother after Britain's oldest polar bear put down
The wildlife conservation charity's vets advised that Victoria should be put down after taking its quality of life and wellbeing into account. There are now 15 other polar bears at zoos in Britain. Mrs Bowman said Victoria was treated to a special diet in the days before its death. 'In recent days she was treated with some extra tasty things that she liked that weren't necessarily on her diet any more – tinned sardines, which she loved,' she said. 'And we added some jam and honey which she really loves but which were not normally on her diet.' 'Victoria was in her 29th year, which is the equivalent to a person being in their 90s, and her health had been deteriorating. 'We'd been monitoring her for a long time and had been giving her pain relief. We had been keeping her comfortable, but there is only so much comfort you can give her. 'We care a lot about our animals and everyone is feeling it. It's a very sad day and the keepers are all affected by it, but we are also very aware of why the choice was made.' Victoria was born at Rostock Zoo in Germany in December 1996 and first gave birth in 2008 at Aalborg Zoo in Denmark to a female named Malik. In 2015, Victoria moved to the Highland Wildlife Park and gave birth to two male bears, Hamish in 2017 and Brodie in 2021. David Field, the RZSS chief executive, said: 'Victoria was an excellent mother and seeing her bring up two big, healthy boys has been a joy for our charity's dedicated teams and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who have flocked to see the family and learn more about the threats these amazing animals face in the wild.' The RZSS said that in the wild only a small percentage of polar bears live past 18 and described Victoria's age as 'testament to the world-class care she received from her keepers and veterinary team'.
