Great Polar Bear

This “up-close [and] graceful account” of the polar bear combines historical accounts, research, and the author’s own encounters in the Arctic (Kirkus Reviews). Polar bears are creatures of paradox: They are white bears whose skin is black; massive predators who can walk almost silently; Arctic residents whose major problem is not staying warm, but keeping cool. Fully grown they can measure ten feet and weigh close to two thousand pounds, but at birth they are just twenty ounces. Human encounters with these legendary creatures can be both exhilarating and terrifying. Tales throughout history describe the ferocity of polar bear attacks on humans. But human hunters have exacted a far larger toll, obliging Arctic nations to try to protect their region’s iconic species before it’s too late. Now another threat to the polar bears’ survival has emerged, one that is steadily destroying sea ice and the life it supports. Without this habitat, polar bears cannot exist. The Great White Bear celebrates the story of this unique species. Through a blend of history, myth, personal observations, and scientific accounts, Kieran Mulvaney tells the story of the polar bear: its history, its life, and its uncertain fate.

This sweet children’s picture book presents a moving story, set in a fragile Arctic world threatened by global warming. Featuring exceptionally beautiful illustrations, The Lonely Polar Bear offers an accessible way to introduce children to climate change issues.

“Great polar bear... how do you survive on the thick ice covering the deep Arctic Sea?" Journey into the magnificent and mysterious world of the far north in Great Polar Bear, Carolyn Lesser’s poetic and scientifically accurate story about a year in the life of a polar bear. Learn how this impressive animal thrives in one of the harshest -- and imperiled -- environments in the world. Carolyn Lesser also makes her illustrative debut in Great Polar Bear, using collage to capture the bear hunting, swimming, and playing in the far north. Great Polar Bear is a stunning one-on-one reading and sharing title. Originally published in 1996 as The Great Crystal Bear, this stunning edition features all-new artwork from the author. Praise for the previous edition (The Great Crystal Bear): “Lyrical in tone and accurate in zoological detail, the narrative is ideal for one-on-one sharing.”—School Library Journal “In a rolling, poetic text, Lesser wonders about the life of a polar bear....She weaves her gentle musings with solid scientific information, as the bear searches for food, traps and eats a seal, and play fights with younger bears to teach them how to battle for a mate.....for primary-graders, this would make an evocative addition to a unit on the Arctic.”—Booklist “Lesser weaves a surprising number of facts into a lyrical narrative about a year in the life of a polar bear. Readers learn how the bear's hollow white hairs gather sunlight while its black skin absorbs the heat, how it kills and eats and leaves behind meat for other, less able, animals.”—Kirkus Reviews “Great Crystal Bear is exciting, neat and fun to read. It’s a book about a polar bear and how he mates and that he eats seals.....I would recommend this to about anyone who is interested in polar bears.—Taryn Butler, 10, Gold Hill Elementary, Tega Cay, SC, GRP”—The American Scientist, The Scientific Research Society “Great Crystal Bear is a children’s book that will also appeal to adults, providing a lyrical, impressionistic, and yet factual look at the great white bears....the book is sure to become a favorite during storytime in your house.”—San Diego Zoo member newsletter “This is a book children will enjoy hearing and reading over and over which will inform them of the life of one solitary animal in the world of large mammals.”—The Open Book

No animal is more symbolic of the Arctic than the Polar Bear. In the short space of 150,000 years, it has undergone behavioural and physiological changes to evolve from a Grizzly Bear into the most specialised predator of the Arctic sea ice. Yet, its survival is now threatened by global warming. Renowned Polar Bear scientist Ian Stirling compresses 40 years of research on these iconic mammals into a new and comprehensive natural history. In accessible language he explains their evolution, life history, behaviour, how they are researched, and the current threat to their very existence. He also explains why the Polar Bears of Hudson Bay have become so important to our understanding of the species, and how Churchill became the "Polar Bear Capital of the World". Maps, tables, graphs and the most diverse collection of Polar Bear photographs ever assembled in a single book provide greater insight into this unique mammal. Underlying it all is a call for immediate action, which can still save this magnificent hunter of the Arctic.

Gives information about polar bears which inhabit the Arctic regions of Russia, Norway, Canada, the United States, Denmark, and Greenland and discusses their relationships with humans.

Praise for the second edition: "Norbert's gift as a photographer is his great curiosity about the natural world. His magic is displayed in photographs that weave light, color and action into a tapestry that tells volumes about life in the Far North."-- National Geographic Magazine "Highly recommended."-- Library Journal (starred review) The polar bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore in the world, uniquely adapted to thrive in the harsh environment of the Far North. In The World of the Polar Bear, renowned nature photographer Norbert Rosing follows the polar bear through each season of the year. This timely third edition has been fully updated and features more than 20 terrific new photographs. With its thorough and engaging text and spectacular photography, The World of the Polar Bear includes: A season-by-season account of the life of the polar bear, including feeding, mating and rearing of cubs A new chapter featuring the polar bears of Svalbard, Norway An intimate look at the animals that share the polar bear's environment, including seals, arctic foxes, walruses and muskoxen A section on such northern sky phenomena as sun dogs and northern lights Many anecdotes and insights about the polar bear -- at once a loving parent, a fierce predator and a natural jester Polar bears are seriously threatened by global warming, and this book continues to explore this critical issue. The World of the Polar Bear is quite simply the best book ever published on the polar bear.

From bestselling author James Raffan comes an enlightening and original story about a polar bear’s precarious existence in the changing Arctic, reminiscent of John Vaillant’s The Golden Spruce. Nanurjuk, “the bear-spirited one,” is hunting for seals on Hudson Bay, where ice never lasts more than one season. For her and her young, everything is in flux. From the top of the world, Hudson Bay looks like an enormous paw print on the torso of the continent, and through a vast network of lakes and rivers, this bay connects to oceans across the globe. Here, at the heart of everything, walks Nanurjuk, or Nanu, one polar bear among the six thousand that traverse the 1.23 million square kilometers of ice and snow covering the bay. For millennia, Nanu’s ancestors have roamed this great expanse, living, evolving, and surviving alongside human beings in one of the most challenging and unforgiving habitats on earth. But that world is changing. In the Arctic’s lands and waters, oil has been extracted—and spilled. As global temperatures have risen, the sea ice that Nanu and her young need to hunt seal and fish has melted, forcing them to wait on land where the delicate balance between them and their two-legged neighbors has now shifted. This is the icescape that author and geographer James Raffan invites us to inhabit in Ice Walker. In precise and provocative prose, he brings readers inside Nanu’s world as she treks uncertainly around the heart of Hudson Bay, searching for nourishment for the children that grow inside her. She stops at nothing to protect her cubs from the dangers she can see—other bears, wolves, whales, human beings—and those she cannot. By focusing his lens on this bear family, Raffan closes the gap between humans and bears, showing us how, like the water of the Hudson Bay, our existence—and our future—is tied to Nanu’s. He asks us to consider what might be done about this fragile world before it is gone for good. Masterful, vivid, and haunting, Ice Walker is an utterly unique piece of creative nonfiction and a deeply affecting call to action.

Presents an introduction to the polar bear, discussing its evolution, physical characteristics, life cycle, predatory behavior, habitat, and the threats to its existence from global warming.