Wildlife Wake-Up Call

The only logical reason to wake up early on vacation is for wildlife, and that’s exactly what we did this morning. Usually, we’re woken up by the ship wide PA system at 7am. Today, we were woken up at 6am… for a family of polar bears. I sprinted out of bed, bundled up in my layers of clothing for the 34-degree weather, and grabbed my telephoto lens. I headed up to the bridge to see where the polar bears were before heading to the bow to photograph. We were treated to a magical sighting of a momma polar bear with her two well-fed cubs.

Momma polar bear (left) with her two cubs checking out our ship

Two polar bear cubs checking us out and posing

A lactating female polar bear pumps contaminated milk to its cubs. When a female first breeds, around the age of six, she is passing six years of accumulation into her young so survival chances are poor. Of course, there is also the issue of diminishing Arctic sea ice. Less sea ice means less foraging habitat for bears, and the bears become increasingly concentrated on the smaller patches of habitat. The concentration effect is critical for females with cubs since they are forced into proximity with males who act aggressively toward the young, or they are forced away from the remaining feeding habitat. With global warming, breakup of the sea ice happens earlier in the summer and refreezing occurs later so the length of time that bears are away from their favored foraging habitats increases.

All that being said, this mom and her two cubs appeared to be well-fed. The naturalists agree that the mom seems to know what she’s doing, and even I know that it is rare for two cubs to survive and be well-fed. Although the fog was heavy this morning, we were able to watch the bears for around half an hour before mom got disinterested in the ship and called her cubs to follow her off into the distance.

Mom (far right) lost interest in the ship and called for her cubs to follow her.

While we were eating breakfast, we were informed that there was a walrus sighting. I put the coffee down, sprinted to my room for the camera (which I had put away before breakfast after we saw the polar bears) and sprinted back up to the bow. When I started photographing the walrus, I noticed that she was nursing a pup who was only a few weeks old. Due to the tusk size, our naturalists estimated that she was very young. In both sexes, the upper canine teeth grow to be enormous tusks though they are usually larger and heavier in males. The tusks continue to grow throughout life and are used for fighting and hauling out on ice floes. The pup will stay with its mother for nearly two years, so female walruses only breed once every two years.

Momma nursing her pup

Momma walrus with a bird flying overhead

The rest of the day was spent waiting for Canadian immigration officials to clear the ship, who never came. We sailed around Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik), Nunavut for the remainder of the day. At one point, there was even a rainbow!

I love the patterns the ice makes!

Rainbow over the Canadian High Arctic

That's all for now... Stay tuned for more Greenland/Iceland/Canadian High Arctic adventures. Also, be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified of new posts, as there is sometimes unreliable internet! Follow my instagram @elissatitle for more photography posts.