Svalbard - Norway - page 904

But as is the case throughout the Arctic, Svalbard's glaciers are retreating and the
ice sheet, their natural habitat and prime hunting ground for seals, the mainstay of
their diet (an adult bear needs to eat between 50 and 75 seals every year), is shrink-
ing. Although polar bears are classified as marine mammals and are powerful swim-
mers, many risk drowning as they attempt to reach fresh ice floes. Less sea ice also
means that some populations will become isolated and inbred, their genetic stock
weakened. The birth rate may fall since females need plenty of deep snow to dig the
dens in which they will whelp. And hungry bears, on the prowl and desperate for
food, could lead to increasing confrontations with humans.
Your chances of seeing one, unless you're on a cruise and observing from the
safety of a ship, are minimal, especially in summer. In any event, on Svalbard contact
is actively discouraged, both for your and the bear's sake (if a snowmobiler gives
chase, for example, he or she will be in for a stiff fine). Bears under pressure quickly
become stressed and overheat under their shaggy coats and may even die of heat ex-
haustion if pursued.
Should you be unlucky enough to come within sight of one on land, don't even
think of approaching it. An altogether safer way to track polar bears is to log onto
www.panda.org/polarbears , managed by the World Wildlife Fund. Here, you can
track the movements of bears that scientists have equipped with a collar and satellite
transmitter.
Wildlife
Inadditiontopolarbears,SvalbardishometootheremblematicArcticspecies.Thespecies
you're most likely to see are the Arctic fox (also known as the polar fox) and Svalbard's
unusually squat reindeer. Svalbard's reindeer are genetically akin to their distant Canadian
cousins and some have been found bearing Russian tags, proving that they walked in over
the ice. Unlike their cousins on the mainland, they don't live in herds but in family groups
of two to six animals. Since they have no predators other than humans they thrive and the
estimated population of around 10,000 is kept constant by an annual cull. Most Svalbard
reindeer starve slowly to death when they're about eight years old, their teeth having been
ground to stumps by the stones and pebbles they mouth along with sprigs of edible matter.
Despite having been hunted to the brink of extinction in centuries past, whales can still
be seen on occasion in Svalbard's waters, while seals are also common. Walruses, too,
suffered from relentless hunting, although a population of between 500 and 2000 still in-
habits Svalbard.
For more on Svalbard's fascinating bird life, Click here .