ABOUT THE POLAR BEAR. —*—

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 16, 20 November 1906, Page 8

ABOUT THE POLAR BEAR. —*—

The male polar bear seems able to keep himself in food during tho winter, but the female is said to hibernate ; and this she does in a very interesting manner. When it is alii ice and snow there are no caves for her to retire to, but she makes a cave by utilising the materials around her in tho simplest possible

She simply lies down in a snowstorm and lets all the rest take care of itself. Her weight presses down the soft snow which she is lying on, and soon she is covered up by the flakes falling upon her. She now lies in a little cave, for, by moving and rolling, she presses the snow away from her back and sides, so that she has a comfortable space, and does not feel cramped and confined. If it were earth that had been flung over her she would be pressed down by its weight, and soon suffocated, but it is different with the soft, 'yielding snow. Neither, is she cold, for the heat from her body warms the little cave that she lies in just as if she were a stove ; and as the hot breath from her nostrils rises up, it thaws the snow just above, and makds a hole by which it escapes, and through which she is able to breathe. Here, then, in her little vaulted chamber, with its breathing-hole in the ceiling the female polar bear lies snugly asleep all through the cold, dark winter ; but when the summer comes and the sun begins to melt the snow out she gets, with a good appetite, all ready to catch a seal.—“ Animal World.’-* ‘