Polar Bear Facts and Adaptations - Ursus maritimus
The Polar Bears and Penguins trope as used in popular culture. The primary May be explained by the fact that Everything's Better with Penguins. Then again. A polar bear has probably never eaten a penguin in the wild. smart and adaptable, traits that bode ill for any penguin who meets a polar bear. Here at National Geographic Kids we're heading north – far north! – to meet one of nature's toughest animals in our 10 facts about polar bears!.
Polar Bears and Penguins
The belief is common among school children, who grow up seeing illustrations of penguins and polar bears together.
Polar bears, of course, live only in the circumpolar North.
- The truth about polar bears
- Why do polar bears and penguins never meet?
They never encounter penguins, which do not live in the same regions as polar bears. Most sport hunting is now banned by international treaty, but polar bears face increasing threat from shrinking Arctic sea ice as a result of anthropogenic climate change.
Polar bears also have high levels of PCBs and other pollutants in their bodies as a result of the distillation of atmospheric pollutants from all over the world. These pollutants may be the cause of higher juvenile mortality rates and suppressed immune system functions. One of my earliest memories is of a trip to Churchill, Manitoba when I was four.
We saw polar bears along the shore of Hudson Bay, and I slid down a slide shaped like a polar bear. I especially remember a post card of a polar bear looking in the window of our hotel.
The next time I saw a polar bear in the wild was at age 23 from a plane window on the ice south of Ellesmere Island. These are memories I will always cherish.
Polar bears and penguins | ScienceBlogs
But most people will never see a polar bear in the wild, which is why they need the images that they see on TV to be truthful. And that's where Coca Cola Company has a responsibility to their customers. By choosing to use the polar bear as your corporate mascot, you also chose to tie your company's fortunes to that species.
Endangerment or extinction of your mascot would be bad PR. Instead, create some good public relations and media for your company.
Start with the simple: Polar bears live at the North Pole, while penguins live in the south. Then tackle the more complex: Educate the public about the threats facing polar bears. Adjust your corporate operations manufacturing, marketing, etc. Lead by example, and future generations of children will know the magic of the bears. However, a hundred years ago there probably weren't many who imagined a… Benzene in soda: The dominoes are starting to fall and the first was a big one, Coca Cola: Results of long-term carcinogenicity bioassays on Coca-Cola administered to Sprague-Dawley rats.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. So apparently Coca-Cola causes breast and pancreatic cancers in rats.
Better cut back on the… "You stupid or something? Check the recent Economist article. Last week PepsiCo announced that the label on its Aquafina brand of bottled water will soon carry… Maybe the polar bears were on an eco-cruise when their ship sank and they got stranded? By NoAstronomer not verified on 18 Dec permalink You know, this drives me nuts too. I looked up the commercial on You Tube to see what people were saying about it I hate that attitude. Do you ever get responses to your letters?
I wonder how many other people wrote to them, as well. I've often asked myself why all those native Antarcticans don't dress themselves more appropriately. As to where exactly they get all those yellow feathers for the boas they're normally prancing around in, well, I guess that's going to remain one of life's little mysteries for me.
By DrJ not verified on 18 Dec permalink Having wintered over in the antarctic, I can confirm that questions about polar bears eating penguins is one of the most popular misconceptions adults in the general public have. It gets a bit tiresome. By Andrea Grant not verified on 18 Dec permalink Why can't people get information right?
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I've always wondered where commercials get their information or whether they just figure what's in their commercial is right. I can't tell you how many times I hear this and it seems that EVERY movie or tv blip that has one in it inevitably has the other! It drives me nuts!!! They are literally poles apart, so don't unite them in fiction just because they look cute together. If children's authors are looking for a "friend" for their polar bear protagonist, then how about a brown bear?
There is little doubt that polar bears are a very recent offshoot from the brown bear lineage, though there is considerable debate over when this divergence took place.
One analysis suggests that the split began around 5 million years ago. Another places the division at less thanyears ago.Polar Bear Mom and Cubs - National Geographic
Either way, the polar bear is a remarkably recent evolutionary innovation. This much is clear from the fact that the two species are still reproductively compatible.
When zoos have brokered a cross between a polar bear and a grizzly, they have been rewarded with cubs. These hybrid offspring, variously named "pizzlies" or "grolars", are often fertile themselves. This is compelling evidence that polar bears and brown bears can be friends Over the past decade, these beasts have occasionally cropped up in the wild too. This is compelling evidence that polar bears and brown bears can be friends, even if the level of intimacy might not be suitable for children.
There are of course differences, the most notable being coat colour.
The hairs of brown bears are pretty solid. But polar bear hairs are hollow.