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Evolution of polar bears
Research paper on polar bear habitat
Research paper on polar bear habitat
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Recommended: Evolution of polar bears
One of the main differences between the Polar Bear and other types of bears is where it lives. When the Polar Bear was first discovered, it was very unusual that it would live in this extremely cold part of the world. There is information to suggest that millions of years ago the evolution process began. Evolution is a process of changes that take place as something exists over time. Researchers believe that a large number of brown bears became isolated from the rest of the population during a time period when portions of the world were covered with ice. Therefore, these brown bears evolved in order to adapt to the environment in which they needed to survive. One of the most significant changes that occurred is that the Polar Bear’s teeth are much different than other bears. The Polar Bear has large, sharp teeth designed specifically to get through ice and get …show more content…
Ask students to name some of the challenges that Polar Bears face.
Students should discuss the cold weather and difficulties finding food.
Explanation:
The Arctic climate is covered with snow and ice. The temperatures are very cold. The Polar Bear’s coat has two layers of fur and a layer of blubber (thick fat) underneath. Polar Bears use their big front paws to paddle through the water and their oil coated fur helps keep them dry when they get out of the water. A Polar Bear spends months wandering across the frozen surface of the Arctic, looking for food. They eat walruses, birds, fish and seals. Sometimes a Polar Bear has to spend a lot of time in the water searching for food or swimming from place to place to find something to eat.
Ask how a Polar Bear is “built” to live in the Arctic.
Discuss features such as sharp claws, sharp teeth, thick fur coat, blubber and big flat paws.
What type of climates do other bears live in?
Discussion should include forests and mountains.
Nature, it is everywhere, everyone uses it. Quite often, however, people abuse it, such as with humans’ impact on grizzly bears. Grizzly bears are important to the environment because they have many useful purposes for the environment: “they provide an “umbrella” for the environment because they require such large home ranges.” (savethegreatbear.org/CAD/Grizzly.htm) The Grizzly Bear is extremely vulnerable to changes in its habitat and food cycle. This allows humans to detect small changes in the environment, just by watching this amazing species. The Government of Canada needs to try harder to stop the poaching of grizzly bears in Canada.
The one way to keep bears and humans safe and living in the same environment is learning to understand them and being able to tolerate them. If people don’t do these things theses beautiful animals will begin to decrease in numbers. While there are a lot of black bears in Alaska, an estimated 100,000, hunters believe that you can just hunt and hunt and the population will decrease to average, but the plans of some hunters seems just over the top of making these bears go on to the endangered species list. But with the help of people and cooperation the Black Bears will continue to live in Alaska.
Lamarck’s ideas on polar bear evolution Lamarckism can be used to explain the evolution of polar bears from brown bears, specifically skin and fur color. Lamarck’s theory stipulated that a characteristic (brown or white fur color) which is used more by an organism will become stronger. One that is not used disappears eventually. Change occurs when polar bears want to change. If a polar bear’s phenotype changes during life in order to adapt its environment, those changes are passed onto its offspring.
The Arctic region is home to a variety of valuable animals and plants, including polar bear, seal, and so on. The ecosystem of the Arctic region is fragile because these animals are evolved to live in extreme conditions. With the climate change, many animals are endangered. Ice is the habitat of polar animals because they have to rely on sea ices for resting, food, and reproduction. With the climate change and the decrease of sea ice, the number of polar animals is decreasing and their health is threatened. For example, the average weight of female polar bears in 1980 was about 650 pounds, but the number reduced to about 500 pounds in 2004 (Djoghlaf 15). The earlier breakup and later condensation of sea ice shortens the hunting season of polar bears. Polar bears mainly feed on seals that indwell icy land. The melting ice reduces the number of seals and food intake of polar bears. In addition, polar bears are used to living in ice caves. The rising temperature causes the collapse of ice caves, which can kill baby bears. The climate change is negatively affecting the biodiversity in the region and will definitely harm the ecosystem
grizzly bears prefered habitat is deserted rivers, wild mountains, and thick and dense forest. Grizzly bears are majestic symbols of the wild. Bears live in and use a variety of habitat types, playing important roles in each one. This makes them an “umbrella species,” meaning that when we protect them and their habitat we also protect many species. Grizzly bears can also help ecosystems by distributing seeds and nutrients through their scat, and occasionally regulating ungulate populations.
Out of an Ice Age emerged one of our most majestic creatures in the world the polar bear. From its brown bear ancestry, the predator evolved to be a master of a harsh and unwelcoming ice kingdom. Intelligent, adaptable and fierce, the polar bear learned how to survive in a place that offers few comforts to any creature. But now that very environment is in flux. And so is the polar bear’s fate (Nature). Polar Bears are very different from other bears. Polar bears are very large bears compared to Black bears. Polar bears weigh anywhere between 330-1700lbs and Black bears weigh anywhere between 150-600lbs. They have strong legs with large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes that help with walking on ice and swimming. The wide paws prevent sea ice from breaking by distributing weight while walking. Their paws allow them to pull a 600 pound seal out of its breathing hole (Rosing, 20). The webbed feet results in making polar bears, unlike other bear species to be considered as marine mammals along with seals, sea lions, walruses, whales and dolphins (Polar Bear). According to Rosing Polar bears are excellent swimmers and have been known to swim up to six miles an hour and as far as 60 miles at a stretch. The bears paddle with their front feet and steer with their back feet. They often overheat. Sometimes they venture into the waters just to cool off. When a bear climbs on an ice floe, it shakes itself off because it is trying to prevent ice from forming on its fur (22-23). Because of climate change and hunting of polar bears are now becoming an endangered species which is affecting the food chain. We can fix this by going green, banning polar bear hunting and keep creating these new hybrid bears that are mixed with griz...
In recent decades, the global warming threat has captured the attention of the nation and the world. While the main focus began with concentrating on the effects this long-term natural crisis would have on the human population, select groups have worked to approach the topic in a manner that entails prevention in order to help other animal and plant species around the globe. One such organization is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has played a major role in the conservation of the polar bear species, one of the mammals most adversely affected by the recent climate changes. As more research has been conducted regarding the polar bears, scientific name Ursus Maritimus, the conclusions have been shocking. In 2008, the Department to the Interior listed the polar bear species as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 awarding it some protections mandated by the federal government (Wolfe). However, on January 5, 2011, Representative Donald Young proposed a bill in Congress in order to delist the polar bears as threatened, thus decreasing and even removing the conservation efforts that have been set in place over the past three years. The polar bear Species should remain listed under the Endangered Species Act because ice thickness has decreased 40 percent during the past 30 years thus reducing the polar bears’ critical environment, if current conditions continue the polar bear populations around the world may decrease by two thirds by mid century, and since the species has been protected under the Endangered Species Act the worldwide populations have experienced stabilization or growth in most circumstances.
To begin with, the melting of polar ice caps has caused polar bears to swim long distances. According to Bryan Walsh of TIME Magazine the melting of the ice caps have caused polar bears especially the young cubs to swim longer distances which has caused a “ forty-five percent mortality rate” (Walsh). In the article Walsh, writes about a study that showed that younger cubs because of low fat and strength were more likely to die due to the long di...
A Giant Panda have a black and white coat which are all quite similar to each other’s. The black patches of fur usually surround the eyes, and are on the ears and legs. The species fur coat is usually described as wool like, which helps them make it through colder temperatures. Giant Panda Bears usually have a height of four to five feet long nose to butt. The weight of one of these huge animals usually is up to three hundred pounds. Normally,
tail. They have gray or rosy brown backs with lighter gray or brown hind legs and have
White Bear, an episode of the TV series “Black Mirror”, can be seen as a critique of today’s criminal justice system. The eye-for-an-eye mentality seen in the show prevents society from improving after a tragic crime and concurs with the concept of capital punishment. Criminals should be rehabilitated in attempt to make them better citizens as opposed to suffering at cost of retributive justice. Sentencing offenders to retribution is very counterintuitive and does more harm than good and the episode “White Bear” can be seen as evidence of this concept. In addition, it is not doing Victoria, the main character, any good having the public ridicule her. The customers of White Bear are so bored with their own lives they find joy in watching others
This cat is a powerful jumper and climber, also capable of running at high speeds. The paws of the Siberian tiger are equipped with long, sharp, dagger-like retractable claws.
We can see evolution in action everywhere we look, because through natural selection, all living things have been prosperous or killed off based on their environment. That is the beauty of natural selection; a mutation occurs in an animal and if it is beneficial, the animal prospers and passes on its traits to the next generation (Green, 2012). The polar bear was just a brown bear living in a snowy environment until a mutation occurred in one bear’s DNA that caused its fur to be white. This helped the bear blend in the snow when hunting, so the trait was passed on from generation to generation, until all brown bears in the area were all killed off, and only polar bears remained. Evolution doesn’t create new features; it takes mutations that