Polar bear makes huge 74 km one-day Arctic swim

[tocqueville]

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent
2 hours, 18 minutes ago

OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists have tracked a tagged polar bear swimming at least 74 km in just one day -- and maybe up to 100 km -- providing the first conclusive proof the bears can cover such giant distances in the water.

Bears often roam thousands of kilometres in a year in search of prey such as seals and there has often been anecdotal evidence of prodigious ursine swims, with bears turning up on remote islands or across wide bays.

However, previously there had been doubts about whether the bears had walked over ice part of the way or hitched a ride on an iceberg.

"What's new this time is that we have data showing how long the bear was in the water," Jon Aars, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said on Friday

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050812/sc_nm/environment_bear_dc

[thoughtanarchist]

1. Just looking for an ice floe to rest on...

damn thiings are getting harder and harder to find nowadays...

[ET Awful]

2. Isn't it obvious? He's in training for the Iron Bear Triathlon.

If they'd stuck around a while longer, they would have seen his bicycle :)

[Wickerman]

3. Well, no wonder!

The article is interesting as the bear was being tracked by WWF and is useful in studies of the impact of Global warming:

The swim probably meant that two cubs, with Skadi when the bear was marked in the spring, had died earlier in the summer. Mortality rates among polar bear cubs are high.

"We don't think cubs could swim that far -- they lose heat much faster than adults," Aars said. Cubs usually stay with their mother for about 2.5 years.

The WWF environmental group said cubs were most at risk in a warming Arctic which could destroy cubs' dens. "If sea ice retreats from denning areas it will first become a problem for females with small cubs," said Tonje Folkestad of the WWF.

[tocqueville]

5. and when the poor bear fell asleep after a hard day

a stupid penguin with cymbals came all the way from the south pole to wake him up

[Burried News]

4. Love Love Love Makes us do foolish things ...

I knew they were strong swimmers but this is remarkable.
Maybe she was going to get a Pepsi?