Bears · Eco-Chick

Browsing all posts tagged with bears

Green Kids Books "Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World"

I am always on the lookout for good environmentally conscious children’s books. Telling the story of Knut the world’s famous baby polar bear, in their book by the same name (Scholastic 2007), Craig Hatkoff and his two daughters Isabella and Juliana paint the picture of one precious little creature who needed human help to survive.

The Hatkoff family have written five children’s books together, including “Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship,” a true story about an orphaned baby hippo adopted by a giant tortoise in Kenya. The Hatkoffs have written together since Julia had her tonsils out and they penned the NY Times bestseller “Good-bye Tonsils.”

Knut, the polar bear, was rejected by his mother at birth, so one of the zookeepers, Thomas Dorflein (of the Berlin Zoo) took it upon himself to nurse the tiny bear into big bear-hood. Only able to eat four tablespoons of milk at a time, Dorflein had to be up with the cub every two hours to make sure Knut’s tummy was full.

As Knut grew and became a great attraction at the Berlin Zoo, people fell in love with the bear and he inspired many to think about habitat preservation and slowing global warming. Knut became such a celebrity that he has been featured on the cover of Vanity Fair and People magazine.

The Hatikoffs encourage personal action in their book to help “keep polar bears safe.” With a message of respect for our fellow creatures and personal action to help slow the global warming process, Knut is a heartfelt story that teaches kids to honor nature.

bears, books, kids, literature

Infanticide and Vera's Cub: Why Some Mothers Eat Their Young

3 Comments

by Olivia Zaleski · 01/14/08

Post copied from Living Now section of the Huffington Post.

I want this baby polar bear! Well, on second thought, I want this baby polar bear for just a few weeks–before it gets teeth. In a year, that cub will look at me and say, “Hmmm, I bet you’d make a good meal!”

Carnivorous predator or not, I think I speak for the masses when I say “awwwwwwww . . . ” Not convinced? Just watch this video and make sure you turn the volume up, to hear the little tyke snoring. Aside from the ear-wrenching temper tantrum, this is a truly delightful little creature. Smitten, I fear I may break into Marc Anthony’s song, “I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You.”

In case you don’t know the story of this little cub, zookeepers at the Nuremberg City Zoo have been busy suckling it–wait, that sounds funny. Rather, zookeepers are feeding the cub by bottle after deciding to remove it from its mother, Vera. Like many postnatal females, Vera was showing intense signs of great distress and confusion.

Earlier in the week, the Nuremberg City Zoo’s other female polar bear, Vilma, had eaten her two offspring. The zoo feared Vera would do the same. According to a profile report from National Geographic, it is not uncommon for polar bears, among the most violent of predators, to eat or maul their young.

LiveScience.com writer Andrew Thompson, says “zoologists have observed filial cannibalism, the act of eating one’s offspring, in many different types of animals.” Lions hippos, bears, wolves, hyenas, herring gulls and more than 15 types of primates, other than man, have been known to engage in infanticide.

Yet, the question remains, “Why would any mother want to eat its child?” Parents of teenagers might have an idea, but scientists haven’t settled on a single explanation for infanticide. It is a curious topic, as it seems difficult for such an opposing behavior to evolve–let alone coexist. Could there be some evolutionary benefit to the practice?

A report published by Oxford University Zoologist Dr. Michael Bonsall and Hope Klug from the University of Florida says females may commit infanticide to gain increased access to physical resources (food or space), bias the sex ratio of the litter, or eradicate further problems if the baby is sick or refuses to feed. By killing ill pups, the mother may then allocate her precious resources to those pups more likely to survive.

Animal behaviorist Dr. Anne Hanson says “mothers may also kill entire litters when they are stressed.” According to Hanson’s study, History of the Norway Rat (Rattus norvegicus): Rat Behavior and Biology, “the mother may perceive the environment as too hostile for the pup’s survival, or she perceives herself as unable to rear the litter successfully, so she recuperates some of her energetic investment by consuming the young. Malnourished mothers, and mothers who have an abnormal birth experience, may also become infanticidal.”

I would assume that these two mother polar bears had abnormal birth experiences–they did give birth in a zoo, not their native glacier. Or perhaps, the little polar bears were so cute that their mothers just wanted to “eat them up.” Whatever the reason, one of the pups is safe and sound in zoological intensive care. As you can see from the video above, the cub is healthy, happy and very, very cute. Despite the occasional ear-wrenching tantrum, the cub is reported to spend most of it’s time sleeping–thank God for our ears!

For more from Olivia Zaleski visit her weekly column on the Huffington Post.

Animal Behavior, Animals, baby polar bear, bears, German Polar Bear, German Zoo Polar Bear, infanticide, Mrs. Knut, Nuremberg City Zoo, Nuremberg Polar Bear, Nuremberg Zoo, Olivia Zalesk, Olivia Zaleski, Polar Bear Cub, polar bears, Vera Polar Bear, Vera's Cub, Zoo, Zoo Deaths

Roam If You Want To (But Not if You're a Bear)

3 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 01/08/08

This map, scanned from Patagonia’s latest catalog, details a grizzly’s 50-mile journey, which in the world of a bear, isn’t even really that far of a trip- they’ve been known to travel 500 miles or more as part of their natural movements.

“For many wild animals, to roam means to survive.” I can relate. I’ve lived all over the world, and feel the deep desire, seemingly necessary to my well-being, to travel to far-off lands (or at least a couple states over) on a regular basis. For people, it’s easy to get around; we just have to choose the method. Car, plane, bike, train, snowboard, rollerblades, or feet?

Us humans are even guaranteed the Right to Roam in many countries. Animals? Not so much.

Since our furry brethern don’t have such rights, there is less land for them as we expand over the landscape. Not only less land overall, but the land that is so munificently set aside by us humans is usually fragmented, conserved in chunks separated from eachother by highways and roads, fences galore, angry humans, and housing developments.

Big animals need big spaces. If territories are balkanized by highways, energy development and housing, the long-term survival of large mammals – as well as the multitude of smaller creatures connected to them – is jeopardized. Imagine it this way: As writer David Quammen has noted, if you cut a beautiful, handwoven Turkish rug into 36 pieces, you don’t end up with 36 Turkish rugs. You have instead 36 worthless remnants.

If you’re a large animal like a bear, moose, or wolf, you’re screwed. Even though you need to roam- to migrate, find new food sources, to find new mates to increase your line’s genetic hardiness…in short, to survive and propagate- you are faced with being run over by a semi or shot for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just for doing what comes naturally to you.

But there IS a solution. Greenways, or wildlife corridors are recognized by conservation biologists as a means by which animals can move from one protected piece of land to another, letting the animals do their thing, with the added bonus of keeping them out of our garbage. I love bears, but I don’t really want to come face-to-face with them in my yard, I must admit.

Freedom to Roam is a partnership of conservations organizations, recreation groups and companies dedicated to establishing migration corridors between protected areas. Patagonia is supporting the organization with the sale of these organic t-shirts, above.

Animals, bears, cape, car, conservation, Energy, epa, farm, Food, fur, garbage, Organic, spa, style, t-shirt, t-shirts, Tea, travel, Wildlife

Mortgaging Planet Earth

4 Comments

by Courtney Tenz · 09/27/07

Whenever I start to feel a little cynical (depressed?) about being an environmentalist (i.e. whenever I get the urge to put on some snakeskin sneakers, wear diamonds bigger than my eyeballs, smoke CO2 cigarettes, and hop on my mahogany-furnished private jet to hurtle me and my friends around the world while drinking whiskey made from rare orchids just so I can finally stop crying about penguins and polar bears losing their habitats), an editorial like the one in today’s New York Times “Our Moral Footprint” by Vaclav Havel comes along, reminding me that I’m not the only one wishing people would stop arguing about global warming and start doing more than changing light bulbs. It’s analogies like these that give me hope that others will turn off their tvs, get out of their cars, and start paying back the earth for all we’ve borrowed …

Maybe we should start considering our sojourn on earth as a loan. There can be no doubt that for the past hundred years at least, Europe and the United States have been running up a debt, and now other parts of the world are following their example. Nature is issuing warnings that we must not only stop the debt from growing but start to pay it back. There is little point in asking whether we have borrowed too much or what would happen if we postponed the repayments. Anyone with a mortgage or a bank loan can easily imagine the answer.

bears, car, cars, epa, Europe, fur, Global Warming, habitat, New York Times, NYTimes, opinion, polar bears, skin, sneakers, tv

Dresses and Coyotes in the Great Smoky Mountains

6 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 06/05/07

Come on, isn’t this better than a shot of yet another European monument or church? And it’s right here in the U.S.!

Trying to figure out a fun Summer trip? Feeling guilty about jetting to Europe because of how much CO2 your ride would produce? Wanting to try something different, that’s low-impact on your wallet and creates a minimum of stress?

Taken while lying on the ground, contemplating the mountains’ geology

Consider visiting one of our nation’s national parks. After all, you’re already paying for them with your tax dollars! (Hey, I know I sound like an ad for our parks system, but they’re really important ecosystems that are more than worth supporting, I say.) Over Spring Break I drove down with one of my best friends to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, which straddles the border between Tennessee and North Carolina. (I know, to be super eco-friendly, I should have gone to a park closer to my Connecticut home, but I’ve been to most of them, and I was saving Vermont for the Summer.)

Who knew you could find old-growth trees this size on the East Coast? I felt like I was in California as I hiked through the Smokies. And yes, I am wearing a dress! Very comfortable and great to hike in. Eco Chicks should all try it sometime (thanks to Brianne for the suggestion)!

While some of the park was crowded, and it will probably be more so during the warm season (this park is THE most visited park in the United States), once you get on the beaten trail, you will have plenty of room. Most folks who visit this and other parks only ever check out the edges of the woods, at best going on short day hikes.

All-natural cool-down time at a waterfall

Try camping out for just a night or two if it’s not something you haven’t had much practice in. Or stay in a campground and use it as a home-base for extra-long day excursions. Ask park personnel about hikes that will be your speed. We got some really good advice and suggestions from all the park employees that we asked. I’ve found this is generally true in national and state parks.

Rain can turn everything into a gorgeous wet wonderland as long as you’re prepared with the right gear.

We camped out in two different sections of the park, really getting to see a variety of ecosystems within a small area, and spotting some wildlife. Remember, it’s always smart to hang your food up in a tree to keep bears away; in the Smokies many campsites have pulley-systems already set up for this purpose, which makes it easy to keep the bears away. After all, you’re in their home now, but they’ll still want to chow on your treats.

A not-so-shy coyote I caught on camera on evening