Limited Edition of 495 prints, signed and numbered by David Dancey-Wood.

Print size 33cm x 34.5cm

Recently, David released another Drawing of a Polar Bear titled

"Arctic Dreams"

To view many more of David's drawings just click the banner to Wildlife Sketches

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species. Of the 19 recognized polar bear subpopulations, 5 are declining, 5 are stable, 2 are increasing, and 7 have insufficient data. For decades, unrestricted hunting raised international concern for the future of the species; populations have rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and the hunting of polar bears remains important in their cultures.

The IUCN now lists global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear, primarily because the melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food. Sea ice melting will also cause changes in their mating, and traveling patterns. The IUCN states, "If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years." On May 14, 2008, the United States Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Constantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a distinct species. He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for 'maritime bear', due to the animal's native habitat. The Inuit refer to the animal as nanuq (occasionally rendered as nanuk nanook, or nanuuq in the Inupiat language). Likewise it is Nanuuk in Siberian Yupik, and Umka in the Chukchi language. In Russian, the polar bear is commonly called "Белый Медведь" - (Bely Medved = White Bear), though an older still familiar word is Ошкуй - Oshkuy, which comes from the Komi Oski ("Bear"). In Quebec, the polar bear is referred to as Ours polaire.

The polar bear was previously considered to be in its own genus, Thalarctos. However, evidence of hybrids between polar bears and brown bears, and of the relatively recent evolutionary divergence of the two species, does not support the establishment of this separate genus, and the accepted scientific name is now therefore Ursus maritimus, as Phipps originally proposed.

The polar bear is found throughout the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas. Due to the absence of human development in its remote habitat, it retains more of its original range than any other extant large carnivore. While they are rare north of 88°, there is evidence that they range all the way across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada. They can occasionally drift widely with the sea ice, and there have been anecdotal sightings as far south as Berlevåg on the Norwegian mainland and the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is difficult to estimate a global population of polar bears as much of the range has been poorly studied, but biologists use a working estimate of about 50,000-100,000 polar bears worldwide.

The polar bear is often regarded as a marine mammal because it spends many months of the year at sea. Its preferred habitat is the annual sea ice (that is, ice that melts for part of the year) covering the waters over the continental shelf and the Arctic inter-island archipelagos. These areas have relatively high biological productivity in comparison to the deep waters of the high Arctic. The polar bear tends to frequent areas of open water, such as polynyas and leads (temporary stretchs of open water in Arctic ice) to hunt the seals that make up most of its diet. Polar bears are therefore found primarily along the perimeter of the polar ice pack, rather than in the Polar Basin close to the North Pole where the density of seals is low.

Annual ice contains areas of water that appear and disappear throughout the year as the weather changes. Seals migrate in response to these changes, and polar bears must follow their prey. In Hudson Bay, James Bay, and some other areas, the ice melts completely each summer (an event often referred to as "ice-floe breakup"), forcing polar bears to go onto land and wait through the months until the next freeze-up. In the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, polar bears retreat to the multi-year ice (that is, ice that remains solid year-round) further north each summer.

Physical characteristics

The polar bear is the largest predator that lives on land, being twice as big as a lion or tiger. Adult males weigh 352–680 kg (780–1,500 lb) and measure 2.4–3 m (7.9–9.8 ft) in length. Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–249 kg (330–550 lb), measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5.9–7.9 ft) in length. When pregnant, however, they can weigh as much as 499 kg (1,100 lb). The polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic of mammals, surpassed only by the eared seals. The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 1,002 kg (2,210 lb), was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960.

The polar bear is the most carnivorous member of the bear family, and most of its diet consists of Ringed and Bearded Seals. The Arctic is home to millions of seals, which become prey when they surface in holes in the ice in order to breathe, or when they haul out on the ice to rest. Polar bears hunt primarily at the interface between ice, water, and air; they only rarely catch seals on land or in open water.

The polar bear is an enormously powerful predator. It can kill an adult walrus, although it rarely attempts to as a walrus can be more than twice the bear's weight. However, most terrestrial animals can outrun the polar bear on land as polar bears overheat quickly, and most marine animals can outswim it. In some areas, the polar bear's diet is supplemented by walrus calves, by whales captured at breathing holes, and by the carcasses of dead adult walruses or whales, whose blubber is readily devoured even when rotten.

When sea ice is unavailable during summer and early autumn, some populations live off fat reserves for months at a time. Polar bears have also been observed to eat a wide variety of other wild foods, including muskox, reindeer, birds, eggs, rodents, shellfish, crabs, and other polar bears. They may also eat plants, including berries, roots, and kelp, however none of these are a significant part of their diet. The polar bear's biology is specialized to require large amounts of fat from marine mammals, and it cannot derive sufficient caloric intake from terrestrial food.

Being both curious animals and scavengers, polar bears investigate and consume garbage where they come into contact with humans. This was documented at the dump in Churchill, Manitoba before its closure. Polar bears may attempt to consume almost anything they can find, including hazardous substances such as styrofoam, plastic, car batteries, ethylene glycol, hydraulic fluid, and motor oil. The Churchill dump was closed in 2006 to protect the bears, and waste is now recycled or transported to Thompson, Manitoba.

In general, adult polar bears live solitary lives. Yet, they have often been seen playing together for hours at a time and even sleeping in an embrace, and polar bear zoologist Nikita Ovsianikov has described adult males as having "well-developed friendships." Cubs are especially playful as well. Among young males in particular, play-fighting may be a means of practicing for serious competition during mating seasons later in life.

To read the full Wiki article please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Bear