No one can deny that life is rapidly changing for Churchill’s polar bears. Each year is so unpredictable and there is no doubt that the off-ice season is longer than it used to be. The upside is that polar bears are creative, adaptable and intelligent animals… and they are changing their lives, adapting in real time, to meet the challenges of the new normal.
Today is a great example. There is a young mother with two COYs (cubs of the year, about 10 months old) hanging out at Ithaca Point. Life is tough, especially for inexperienced moms supporting two cubs that have high energetic demands…
So, today she was camped out on the rocks and, as they do, another bear came by to casually displace them – asserting dominance or simply investigating, who knows – but she was chased down to the tidal zone… where she promptly grabbed a seal!
Open-water seal kills are becoming the norm
This is what we are seeing more and more in Churchill – open-water seal kills. Bears hunting seals in the shallow tidal zone.
This is the real reason bears gather along the coast near Churchill. Yes, it is some of the first ice – but it is the first ice forming along an extensive tidal zone. The change in tides, the broken ice and the kilometres of tidal zone give them the best chance of finding a seal that is trapped or sleeping in these shallow waters.
What we did not expect was for the bears to adapt to open-water seal kills as rapidly as they are. In the late 90s this was considered a once-in-5-or-10-year event – now we kind of expect to see the results of open-water seal or whale kills each year.
It’s just another example of bears changing their lives as a result of the changing climate – and if they can re-imagine their entire identity, why are humans not able to do the same?
Regardless, this seal kill has likely meant the difference between life and death for one of her two cubs. These calories are a huge advantage at a critical time of year – and this is nothing but good news.
