Baboon is one of their favourite game to hunt, as this poor fellow’s skull can attest to.  It was tied up in a tree for illustration. 

I have to admit that I usually find these type of tourist cultural demonstrations pretty cringe worthy, but after this one was completed, I concluded that it had been worth doing, and I was happy enough that I had made the effort to have it included on my grand tour of Tanzania that otherwise mostly consisted of safaris.  It certainly was a different kind of diversion!

Getting ripped with the hunters

Shortly after meeting the participating tribe members, I was offered the opportunity to participate in the pre-hunt “inhalation” ceremony.  I joined in out of respect, and sincere gratitude as well….  the later because I had a really bad pain in my side abdomen – a result of having spent more than a month getting a daily “African massage” via a Land Cruiser over bumpy roads, while doing a near circumnavigation equivalent of touring around Tanzania.  The result of that journey left me with a couple of lumbar vertebrae looking for some relief and a muscle in my side abdomen going into spasm.  A few hits from a shared blunt were exactly what any enlightened man-of-medicine would order, so I considered it appropriate medication!  The locals call the strain “elephant stomper” for its hyper and energizing effects, particularly suited for use just before their hunting activities.

The game is afoot!

After some preliminary explanations, and watching a lot of medication taking place, we were off into the bush on a hunting demonstration. As a photographer and personally I am not so much into hunting animals.  However I make no judgements on other people’s need to feed themselves, and I have been a confirmed carnivore most of my life.

I just bailed on the hunting demonstration after only a few hundred meters. However it was just enough to get the flavour of that process without anything actually getting killed. The pulled muscle had me lame on one side anyways, and despite any preceding social interactions that may or may not have mitigated that pain, the Baobab tree was a perfect place to sabotage the hunting mission in favour of a portrait photo-op.

“That baboon, even though it got away this time, I am telling you — it was huuuuge…”

So at the moment I took this photo, while they were goofing off about something, I could barely operate my camera, likely for similar reasons. But I did capture this.  I still think it looks like hunting buddies swapping tall tales.

Okay so actually I have no freaking idea what the guy on the left was communicating to the one on the right, but I imagined after-the-fact, that maybe he was just recounting a hunting story from the past, like I would talk to my own fishing buddies..  

No Baboons were harmed in the making of this still picture!

However, not to be deterred, the hunters wanted to do a target practice demonstration to show their prowess, so we moved to another area where some targets certainly got ventilated.

Speaking of baboon, an African friend advised me to avoid the roadside meat-on-a-stick that I was seeing a lot of along the highways, and why to avoid. Lets say the source was less “prime-rib” and more primate.

An alternative view (over-hyped, and over dramatized)

More background on the standard experience, via an over-hyped, overly dramatic video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny4bHOnSg0o Its pretty laughable, but it does gets you a bit closer to the hunting part than I wanted to investigate.

Jambo, is a male rhino in the breeding sanctuary, Mkomazi, Tanzania.  You need not feel bad for Jambo, he is safe and happy and pampered, under full time guard, along with three lady rhinos that the he regularly takes care of according to rhino traditions, while he does his best to ensure the survival of his species.

While visiting the rhino breeding sanctuary in Mkomazi in Tanzania, the ranger/guide explained about black rhinos versus white rhinos as follows: the term “White Rhino” is an Afrikaans bastardization of the term “WIDE rhino” which describes the shape of their mouth which is better suited for a different type grazing.  Both kinds of rhino actually have dark skin.

In order of size as I remember seeing them..

Dogfish – I used to work as a commercial diver, and sometimes schools of the local small shark species (Squalus acanthias or Spiny Dogfish). would sneak up behind me when working on the bottom.  One or two were no bother, but when whole schools of the showed up it got a bit creepy, so I would actively shoo them off me with a water jet.  

Six Gill Shark   – While working at a local aquarium, one of the local fishing boats, a dragger (a particularly destructive method of fishing) had snagged a six gill shark and thought they could make some extra money, so they kept it on deck and sprayed water on it for the hour or two it took to bring the shark to the aquarium.   Given the duration of time it was out of the water, and the fact that it was caught by a dragger (sure to beat the heck out of the animal while in the net), I myself didn’t think it had a great chance, but we were game to still try to save its life.  We decided the quickest way to get it into a tank was by carrying it on the kitchen tabletop in the staff room, and then as soon as it was in water, I jumped in and got its mouth near a water jet and was actively pumping its jaws with my hands to get waterflow and oxygenate its gills.  It worked slightly, enough for it to revive a bit give a reflexible snap of it jaws, and I felt my gloves snag slightly on the teeth as i pulled my hands clear.. but it was a momentary reflex unfortunately. 

Leopard shark

White Tip

Blacktip

Galapagos Shark

Caribbean Reef Shark

Hammerhead

Nurse Shark

Grey reef shark Maldives

Bull Shark

Tiger Shark

Great White Shark

Whale Shark

I have spent a lot of time traveling and taking photographs around the world (my photoblog is at https://TheWanderingHoneybadger.com/ ). One of the things that I learned was that an essential aid is a decent travel / road-trip playlist.  I also learned that these playlists can become interwoven with the trip itself, the song track of your own personal particular journey and experience.   

Given that I have more than a month of photo-safari planned for Tanzania (hopefully in 2023), and tooling around in a Land Cruiser with my driver & guide we definitely need some great tunes to listen to!  Hence this project to create the ultimate road trip playlist, with a little help from my traveling friends.  Hopefully you will enjoy this curated playlist as well, and find the annotated comments below useful as well.

I appreciate that many songs are about relationships, but suggest that is easily interchangeable with traveling.  In other cases, the title or lyrics may be related to travel literally, but if the tune is something I would want to play on a road trip, then that’s good enough for me.  Your mileage may vary. 

Contributions and suggestions are very welcome – just send an email to wanderinghoneybadger@gmail.com with your suggestion as to why you think it should be included and I will seriously consider it.  If accepted will include your note in the list below. 

Playlist Notes and References

Still Corners – The Trip.   A newer song, with three different video cuts of it available, including the official Video, an old film footage from Easy Rider version, and a summer holiday version. Perfect for when you have a long bus journey through Patagonia, the US Southwest, or anywhere else of similar landscape.

RUFUS DU SOL – Alive – good tune and simulated footage . I have travelled more than a few real landscapes of similar looks. This also reminds me of what I am missing not being able to jump with one of those flying suits and skim over the landscape. I really dislike heights, but that sport just blows my mind. Sadly past my prime for that kind of fun!

The Doors L.A. Woman – I was stuck on a slave ship, a 65′ Sailboat in the Marshall Islands, and a handful of Doors songs helped me get through the rough spots in the experience, esp. L.A. Woman. Great for any car drive as well.

Duke Dumont – Ocean Drive, catchy tune. Reminds me of some road trips I did on Phuket Island with a group of Thai friends etc hunting for restaurants for dinner etc.

America – Ventura Highway. In 1975 I was in my mid teens, and a buddy had just got his driver’s license, and was able to borrow his older brother’s car.  We spent a lot of time driving along highways out of the city.  The movie Vanishing Point was playing at the outdoor theatre “dawn to dusk” as one of the feature movies, etc. 

Dua Lipa Hotter – Than Hell.  She certainly is, and of course when you are out on the road and it’s hotter than hell, perhaps this tune will distract you like it did with me, in places like Death Valley USA 47 Celsius, Mae Hong Son Thailand 44, Luxor Egypt 41, Myanmar 38.

Jimi Hendrix – All Along The Watchtower, sometimes when traveling you get yourself into deep shit, things are going real bad or troublesome. For me at least, this song is a salve for that. Plus on my first visit to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, you were still allowed to climb up to the top of some of the corner towers. I watched the sun go down over the Cambodian jungle from a window opening up there one evening listening to this song and few others… A watchtower indeed. Also good from the top of Tikal , Guatemala watching the sun rise and the jungle wake up. 

Diane Warren, RIta Ora, Sofia Reyes, Rek – Seaside.  All too often heading to the ocean has been my destination and reason for a road trip.

Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On (feat. MØ).  One of my very most favorite countries in the world, is India.  It (and Bangladesh) have the friendliest people that I have ever met in my travels around the world.  But it certainly is not without its challenges when it comes to traveling in, many of which I have written about in I an extensive series of blog posts about my journeys around India. The ability to “Lean on” locals for advice and help and kindness made it much easier to accomplish, like the guy in the bus seat beside me who offered to run into the station to get me a bottle of water, the people who allowed me to share their train compartment seating area when I had no designated seat, and so on..

Kygo – Carry Me ft. Julia Michaels.  

Anemone – Brian Jonestown Massacre, just a homage to Bourdain, it was his favorite song. For me, a perfect background track for Egypt, or when you are not travelling solo but your travel companion is dragging you down, or when some personal baggage from your normal life is weighing you down on your journey.

Golden – Cannons (Harry Styles cover) I like Cannons’ cover better, and as a photographer, it reminds me of walking the streets of cities around the world, or out into the wilds for landscapes. We often seek out that special time of the day, “golden hour”, before/after twilight when the sun is low in the sky and the colours are warm, as some of the best times for photography.

A Horse With No Name – America.   I once rode through part of the Thar Desert on a Camel With No Name… Sorry about the somewhat cheesy video.

Calvin Harris – This is What You Came For.    I was in the middle of doing what I call the great circle route of South East Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos and back to Thailand, and had landed in the location of Luang Prabang, a magical town in the middle of the mountains, on the side of a river, with five hundred year old wooden temples.  After several days in Luang, I took a six hour boat ride upriver, which was an adventure unto itself.. in that several times we had to physically get out of the longtail and drag it ourselves over gravel banks in order to continue our journey.  It really was one of the best boat trips I ever did in Asia, as there was so much to see along the river, with people living along the banks, and doing things like snorkel placer mining for gold etc.  Finally arriving at our destination for the night, I scrambled up the muddy bank and started wondering why had I came to this particular place, but after heading a bit further up the bank onto the bridge overlooking the river, I understood immediately as the view was beautiful.  This is what you came for, indeed.  Also this place was the cheapest place I ever stayed, a private room for $1 USA a night.  Basic, but it was ok.

Sniff ‘n’ The Tears – Driver’s Seat.  According to the songwriter, “Driver’s Seat” isn’t about driving, but rather “fragmented, conflicting thoughts and emotions that might follow the break-up of a relationship”.  For me, it’s about the sadness of leaving a place that I fell in love with. 

Duran Duran – Hungry like the Wolf. The imagery from the official video suits well, and while the song is about a hunt for a woman, it also stirs the blood for a hunt like being on a photo safari, like say tigers in the jungles and forests of India, Jaguars in South America, or lions and elephants of the African savanna.

Rihanna – Where Have You Been.   When you have found that perfect place, and are reflecting back on what it took to find and get there. 

Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run.    Sometimes when you are in a shitty situation, like a job you hate, you just need to run away to an adventure.  At least that was my reason.  I had had it. Starting on a friday night over a glass of wine, I went out on the internet, looking for a berth.  One week later, I had taken indefinite leave from my job and was off flying to the other side of the world – to crew on a boat of strangers.

Coldplay – Hymn For The Weekend.  For me, this song is about how travel renews your mind, spirit and body. 

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – I Won’t Back Down  I hate giving up ground that I have conquered (travelled over), in effect going backwards, when travelling.  I particularly hate it if it has altitude, or is uphill, if it is before I reach my goal, i.e. the rim of a volcano, the temple at the top of a mountain, or even just a lookout.  The time I was hiking a jungle path in Guatemala in the 30 celsius plus heat.  Except the path lead 3000 ft up the side of a steep mountain to a viewpoint at Semuc Champey.  I learned there was two ways up to the viewpoint that I wanted to use to photograph the natural formations there, one was short but nearly straight up, the other was longer and winding.  I chose the easier route up, and it was a good but quite tiring climb.  I really resented when the path lead up, then down, the up then down, the up… because on each down section I was losing tons of height that I felt I had already conquered and paid for.  When I got to the top of the viewpoint, I was breathless, from more than just the view.  I bunch of much younger guys reached it just after me, and gave me big high fives for reaching it without popping a coronary.  I was happy to concur. 

Numb – Linkin Park. I typically do epic journeys of two to four months at a time, usually hitting at least five or more countries. About 1 to 2 months is usually when my personal low stretch/tired phase hits, when the pace has you numb and you start to want to get away from “getting away”, it’s not really homesickness, perhaps more like sensation overload. I always get my second wind though and continue on back at normal energy and pace!

Alessia Cara – Wild Things.  “Find me where the wild things are” indeed.  I have been lucky enough to photograph tigers in India, lions in East Africa, polar bears on the Beaufort Sea, leopard seals in the Antarctic, jaguars on the Amazon river system, and elephants in Sri Lanka, and Great Whites in Australia, and Komodo Dragons in Indonesia to mention a few.  See my portfolio for the images of those and others. 

Still Corners – Black Lagoon. When you have found that perfect place on your journey, a cove or beach, a forest or meadow etc. and have it all to yourselves, at least for a while.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – Woodstock (We Are Stardust). Perfect for when you are on a pilgrimage or spiritual journey, no matter what your faith if any may be.

María Callas | Un bel dì vedremo – Madame Butterfly (Puccini).   It was the last evening of a week long cruise through the Galapagos Islands on a 100′ yacht.  While we were relaxing around the back dining area, I decided to treat the other guests to some “sailboat sangria” (made with equal parts of red wine, sprite, and fruit juice).  I thought this song was the most perfect accompaniment to our libation so I started playing it off my laptop while we were enjoying the sangria and the sunset.  “Un bel dì vedremo” translates to “One Fine Day”, and it most certainly was!

The Animals – We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. My definition of an adventure: when you are in the middle of it, you are really thinking this is bad/dangerous, and you gotta get out of there, but afterwards upon reflection, you start to think, that was really cool, maybe I should do it again… that’s when you know it was an adventure!  And then there is the inverse, which is when you are in the middle of a situation, and it hasn’t really sunk in what a pickle you are in, but later on you realize you actually came very close to dying..  Then it’s not an adventure, it’s one of your nine lives.  My second of nine lives was trying to photograph a juvenile Orca (killer whale) while in the water with it, and it got way way out of control. 

Kansas – Carry on Wayward Son. The song is about a spiritual sojourn, looking for truth and meaning, something often motivating a trip or journey.

Jethro Tull – Bungle in the Jungle. Sometimes while on safari, one gets to witness some Bungling in the Jungling.. nature does take its course.

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna Lyric Video – Title Song|Shahrukh,Rani,Preity,Abhishek|Alka YagnikI. I was traveling in the coastal Sahara Desert by taxi (on the road between Hurghada and Luxor), and my driver offered to play some music, so I said sure because I was interested in what he would come up with… and then this track hit, so I immediately wanted to know what exactly it was it was so beautiful.

Blue Oyster Cult: Burnin’ For You.   The tradeoff’s you make when you are out on the road or on tour.

Incubus – Drive.  I have found in my own travels that it is always best to find your own path for the best adventures. 

Dua Lipa – Levitating.   It’s all about the lure of running away.

The Weeknd – Starboy ft. Daft Punk.  When success comes too quickly there is a price or toll to be paid because it’s a journey of its own kind.

Rihanna – Shut Up And Drive.  A perfect road trip song if there was ever one, so shut up your jive.  

Chris Isaak – Wicked Game.  Found this useful on long train or local bus rides around the Indian Subcontinent… when my mind started drifting as I was looking for mental escape away from some physically uncomfortable situation..   Fond memories, or perhaps for some just fantasies, about being wicked and frolicing around on exotic beaches with exotic women in exotic locations.

Majid Jordan – Waves of Blue.  I have travelled more than 7500 nautical miles at sea, most of it in sailboats like my own, but also a few larger vessels, e.g. on ship crossing the notorious Drake Passage etc.  The waves and swells can be quite mesmerizing “most” of the time.

Ed Sheeran & Passenger – No Diggity vs. Thrift Shop (Kygo Remix).    For some reason, this tune reminds me of a couple of ladies I crossed path with while traveling around half of Australia.  The first encounter happened early one evening in Melbourne A, and I was essentially just off the plane, at the start of an epic road trip around much of the continent.  I was walking down the street about to cross the road to get back to my accomodation, when my eye was caught by this pretty young woman stumbling down the street being dragged by this huge hound.  It was all she could do to keep it under control, even though it was very clear that she was quite strong given how athletic she looked. She passed me with the hound, and as I admired the view of the young lady, and wondered if she could manage or actually needed some help, so I changed my route and decided to continue down the street behind her watching the show and make my crossing later.  We would up at the next corner stopped by a light, and started chatting about the hound.. and also the local architecture.   and the line from this song, i.e. “Damn that Girl is Good” came to my mind…  Silly me, I should have asked her if she was interested in dinner, as I could have used some tips given it was the start of my very first visit to the continent down under. 

CCR – Run Through The Jungle.   My version of this is being in the water with sharks, in my case, eight different species (Dogfish, Sixgill Shark, Leopard shark, Whitetip, Blacktip, Galapagos, Caribbean Reef, Hammerhead, Nurse Shark, Grey reef, Bull Shark, Tiger, Great White, Whale Shark.  In fact I still have all my important body parts, and actually found my encounter with a bright yellow poisonous sea snake coming right at me and my snorkling companion.  Initially I just started sculling in reverse, towing my lady friend, but the snake kept coming at us, I had to let go of her momentarily, and then spin in the water in order to actively swim in the other direction, using my fin strokes to repeatedly whack the snake in the head to keep it off us.  It persisted for a bit, then gave up thankfully.   I didn’t know the species at the time it happened, but my rule of thumb is to be wary of brightly coloured things in tropical locations, as they can kill you all too often. 

Murray Head – One Night in Bangkok. Perfect song for that short-time R&R excursion to someplace exotic, and there are lots of clever quips in the lyrics of course if you know Thailand… like the one about Yul Brynner not being there (which is because “The King & I” so offended the Thai King and the people, that both the movie and the actor were banned).  If you are contemplating a trip to Thailand, you could do a lot worse than checking out my blog post “Thailand Survival & Trip Guide“, as it distills about 20 visits, and years of boots on the ground and accumulated time there.

Robin Schulz – Sugar. On my playlist when I drove around half of Australia, esp, driving through the Outback.  I was on my own dodging oncoming truck trains on the single paved road, while avoiding the termite mound spikes poking up on the gravel side shoulders.  The former would have squashed me like a bug on the windscreen, and the last would have take out a tire, and maybe even more if you hit one.  It was towards the end of this leg through the Outback, on my way to go diving with some great white sharks along the South coast, that I encountered another young lady of note.  She was the innkeeper’s daughter at a roadside motel, at a locale called the Devil’s Marbles.  So titled because of some unusual rock formations there, which I wanted to photograph and made the stop worthwhile.  The only accomodation around was at the Devil’s Marbles Hotel, near Davenport in the Northern Territory.  It actually was pretty decent accomodation and the food was great.  The lady in question that caught my eye was a daughter of the owner, and she had a nice smile while taking my food order.  She showed some interest in my photography, and later on when she came to do the housekeeping for the unit, I started to show her my photographs from the day before of the formations.  It was bright out so I momentarily put the laptop inside my room where lighting was better and she went inside to review them.  I decided it was prudent not to be have the innkeeper’s daughter in the room alone with me, and quickly exited and left her to check out the landscape photos on her own.  Reflecting about that later on I decided it would have made a great subplot for a screenplay… a traveling photographer stops overnight at remote inn in the desert, in a locale called the Devil’s something or other, and gets caught up or blackmailed by the innkeeper’s daughter so that she could get enough cash to escape her current life.. and so on..

Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill.  For me, this song is about empathy, putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, sharing and exchanging the experience, particularly when traveling to see and learn how other people live.  Another reason that as much as possible I always avoided formal “tours”, and would do all my own travel logistics directly with the local businesses of where I was visiting and exploring.  

Coldplay – Midnight. I have done a lot of evening and night photography, Prague and Sydney come to mind, and out on a balcony in freezing cold of Dharamshala in December for a few nights trying to photograph star trails overtop the Himalayas, while by day I explored places like the Dali Lama’s Temple down in town. 

Ellie Goulding – Lights.  Unlike the songwriter’s intent which was simply about her fear of the dark, and how she always has to have a light on while she sleeps, for me this song is the fascination I have for looking at the lights of a city while night landing via airplane.  

More notes to come as time and memory permits. 

Me, in my much younger days at the helm of Encounter.

This is a silly looking, but common pose that polar bears go into.  They may even snooze a bit when like this, or push themselves along the snow like a snowplow to clean their tummies.   The pose has even been adopted in some Yoga circles as an effective position for pregnant women in labour.

This female bear and her two sub-adult cubs (two cubs in a litter is most common, although one and three are possible as well), were “lounging around” on the beach beside some logs, and I couldn’t help anthropomorphizing some captions for that photo based on the apparent pose…

• “Hey Good Lookin, why don’t ya pull up a log and join us here, the kids are a bit bored watching the beach pebbles erode”
• “I want you to draw me like one of your French girls”
• “Hallow Hansum Photographer Man – Is that a big telephoto lens you have, or are you just happy to see me?”

It’s always informative to look back at the historical context of how humans have treated and interacted with other species in the past. Unfortunately, it’s all too often horrendous. For your amusement or horror, it’s up to you. (https://www.vintag.es/2017/07/incredible-vintage-photos-showing.html)
Source of these images from the net, but they are pretty crazy given what these Russians did in the 1950’s-70’s to stage a photo or two, but polar bears have such a great sense of smell, I am sure the scent of the condensed milk was to them like catnip is to a feline!)

Now the Russian’s weren’t the only ones crazy about polar bears, in Germany from the 1920’s to 1960’s, it was a fad to pose with someone wearing a polar bear costume as one photograph collector (Jean-Marie Donat) discovered through a whole series of different images of people posing with costume “polar bears” in various locations, situations, and over that fourty year period.
Image: TEDDYBÄR, a series from the Jean-Marie Donat Collection, Innocences Publishing

Pre-dating the Selfie, I guess we could call it a PolarBear’ie

And finally, I always go back to my authoritative source for advice on safaris and animals, the great master Gary Larson and his Farside comic strip!

Of course, these two species inhabit different poles… but hey, it’s a cartoon!

Just a reminder that February 27th is International Polar Bear Day, so this is the last post in this series…  but to recap:

A Naughty Polar Bear Cub “goofs” on its Patient Mom – watch the 3 minute video below!

Useful Links:

1. Take small steps to go greener, see the slideshow from Prevention Magazine about 70 ways you can live greener
2. Go big and try to go as carbon neutral as you can through buying carbon offsets through planting more trees
3. Support Polar Bears International
4. Support more photography like this by buying artwork or other printed products

Polar Bear Conservation

Like many species around the world, polar bears are facing loss of habitat due to shrinking sea ice in the Arctic. 

“Over the 41-year satellite record, the Arctic has lost about 1.9 million square kilometers (734,000 square miles) of ice in December, based on the difference in linear trend values in 2019 and 1979. This is comparable to the size of Alaska and California combined.”

National Snow and Ice Data Centre, USA

The bears rely on getting out on the ice to hunt seals, and with the ice is greatly reduced that makes their survival more difficult.   Even the twenty-something son of our guide in Alaska noted that he remembers when the edge of the sea-ice was visible from the village in the summer just a decade or so ago.  Now the ice is completely out of sight in the summer.   

The bears on the Beaufort Sea where these images were taken are one of the polar bear sub-populations that are on the decline in terms of numbers.  It is only in recently that the bears started to hang around this location, but polar bears everywhere are now spending more time on land than they did previously. 

One can surmise that faced with an earlier ice thaw, and a much later freeze up, the bears are inclined to scrounge what food they can find.  The village whale bone pile is a gift to the bears when the carcasses are first deposited, but the bones are stripped clean within a few months.  More problematically, the bears become habituated to checking out the whale bone pile, and hanging around human civilization in search of scraps. 

Reduced sea ice dramatically increases the likelihood of bear-human interaction, although one must note that the data about polar bear attacks seems to indicate that no attacks occured at whale bone piles, and few were the result of females protecting cubs.  Typically, attacks occur by food stressed adult male bears invading field camps and towns.  Certainly the residents in these towns and camps are both taking measures to reduce attractants like garbage, and taking steps to protect people. 

Whether polar bears around the globe will be able successfully adapt to these changing conditions, as they “may” have done in the past, or will they disappear into oblivion as a species remains to be seen.   The best estimates, such as the red list prepared by the IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, suggest that polar bear populations will drop by nearly one third by 2050.

The one prediction nearly guaranteed to come true in the near term is that conflicts between polar bears and humans will increase as the bears try to find new ways to forage to survive.        

Polar Bear Zen – Contemplating Its Own Extinction?

Perhaps the above caption is overstated, but surely the bear will be thinking its polar bear thoughts sometime soon about its next meal, because that’s what bears do. Its next meal and the one after that, and the one after that, and so on, will surely determine its own fate, and perhaps in part, of the fate of its whole species. That may be as Zen-like that polar bears get in terms of contemplation… but if one spends some time observing the bears, one discovers they are very good at being still as well, so maybe they are the ultimate animal zen masters.

In any event they are marvelous creatures and they deserve the best chance for survival that we can give them, as their fate is most certainly in our hands!

In case you were wondering, why many of the bears in these photos, but not all, aren’t pure white in the colour of their fur (their skin is black some sometime its just the angle of light and the lay of their fur), but mostly the reason is that the more time on land they spend, particularly when there is no snow, the dirtier their fur gets.  Noting also that habitually they strive to be very clean, and will self-groom, swim in the water, and even take baths in the snow.  As the Arctic continues to warm, one can expect this visual marker to be even more evident.  

Please do help support their ongoing survival by trying to live greener yourself, either in small parts like this slideshow from Prevention Magazine about 70 ways you can live greener and/or go big and try to go as carbon neutral as you can through buying carbon offsets through planting more trees!

Big or Small, Just Do Something!

Also, do continue to come back for one or two more posts in this series.

While they look very cuddly, some people make the argument to fear the polar bear. Indeed, polar bears can be very dangerous. 

Bears wandering into town are common, and people keep their doors unlocked so that people being cornered or chased by a bear have a way to get to safety.  Locals carry guns if the bears are about, and I saw what looked to be a few spent shotgun shells on the beach, since that is the route they tend to come from. 

In hindsight I expect the shells were from “slugs” not pellets, when one starts to consider what it would take to actually stop a polar bear.   However cans of bear spray are also seen in buildings, are actually is more effective and easier to use.  Spray is significantly better for the bear, and perhaps for people too, as if you are not a good shot with a gun, you might fail to stop the bear coming for you.  Then of course, the bear will have some extra fat and protein for its diet, so perhaps a very good outcome for the bear, but not so much for you. 

Lucky people can count on the fact that only one to three people die this way annually around the world, however with increasing bear-human interactions the trend in this regard is not particularly good. 

A classic polar bear move, often associated with feeding!

Polar bears know how to use their weight to maximum effect, and this is typical behaviour while hunting and feeding. The bear will hold its arms straight and bounce down on the ice in order to fracture it and break through to any seals underneath.

First nations peoples of the north obviously have had a long relationship with polar bears, and the bears are highly respected due to the strength, intelligence and persistence/determination of the animals.   Most certainly they know it is not wise to disrespect a polar bear, and they have their own survival traditions and knowledge in that regard.

I am ashamed to say that my country (Canada) allows the trophy hunting of Polar Bears, so if you enjoyed these photographs of polar bears, please join me and sign the petition against trophy hunting of Polar Bears! 

   ‘Ooh Rah’ – Here Come The Marines of the Animal Kingdom – Ursus Maritimus

The science behind polar bear hairs is quite interesting, in that their fur is transparent.  Those long guard hairs are essentially hollow, with a multitude of air-cells in a fractal like pattern that scatters and diffuses the light very effectively for all spectrums.  This is what makes the bears appear white (their skin is actually black), and gives them a camouflage when on snow or ice when hunting.  It’s also great insulation because its like they are wearing a bubble-wrap coat on top of an 11 cm layer of blubber.   

Unlike many other bears like grizzlies, polar bears have soft papillae on the bottom of their paws, the bumps that act like treads on the ice.   Additionally, the paws are very wide to distribute the weight on snow, like snowshoes, and the toes are webbed for better swimming.

This bear was grooming itself, and happened to go into this pose, which immediately reminded me of childhood game/torment that I used to play with my brother, called “Stinky Toes in your Nose”, and had me laughing at the memory for sure.

I liked the image so much I turned it into a bath towel that people can order!

Polar Bear Kung Fu Practice?

Actually not, cause when you have 30cm wide paws (largest paws on earth) with 9cm claws.. one swipe of that paw could easily decapitate a human, so you have a built in Touch of Death (Dim Mak).

Another classic Polar bear pose, sometimes they just rest in this position, and sometimes they play “snowplow” this way to help clean their fur on the underside!

Polar bears are very clean, and they spend plenty of time in grooming using their tongue, or washing their bodies in the water or on snow.  

Backscratch and a Snowbath!

Researchers believe that they clean up after feeding in order to remove any smell of their prey that would interfere with them sniffing out their next meal!

Stay tuned for more polar bear posts coming daily until International Polar Bear Day on Feb 27th!

Like most marine mammals, polar bear milk is supercharged, in that it’s about 30% fat content.  The cubs nurse for as little as 18 months, up to as long as 30 months when they eventually leave their mothers. 

The main staple food for adult polar bears would be Ring and Bearded Seals (70%). Adult bears will often just eat the skin and blubber of a seal. This high fat diet not only provides maximum energy, but also reduces other bodily functions that would result in water loss. Polar bears also feed on young or injured Walrus, Beluga Whales, Narwhals, and White Beaked Dolphins. Occasionally some land based prey like Arctic Foxes, birds etc., are included in their diet. They will also vegetation like kelp as noted in many of the photos (kelp being a great source of minerals).  

Polar bears can eat up to 30 kg a day, but summer time is usually fasting time, where they may not eat anything significant for 3 to 4 months.

Adept on land and in water, polar bears can swim 100 km or more, and apparently they can sniff out their favourite dinner (seals) up to 32 km away if the seal above water, and 1 km away if the seal is 1 meter under the ice. 

The classic “Nose in the Air” pose of “Nanook” – The Polar Bear

They can quickly dispatch a seal with a single bite and literally drag the whole seal out of the water using their strong neck and shoulder muscles.

Another classic polar bear maneuver, often seen when the bears are feeding.  The bears know how to use their weight very effectively to break through ice by keeping their front legs straight and bouncing up and down. 

Their 5 cm claws are also deadly sharp and also used for grabbing and traction. At up to 680kg, they are the largest carnivores on the planet!

Reflecting Bear – Do I look fat, like I need to be?

This bear, like all his/her pals in the vicinity, looks fat and sassy compared to some others in the world that are skinny and starving.

In this location, the other main attraction for the bears, besides town and possibly trying to get into refuse bins, is the town “whale bone pile”.  The local people in the village have an annual whale hunt for food, and the leftover whale carcasses and bones are piled up on a reef near town, which makes good eating for polar bears.  The whale bone pile even provides some sustenance for the occasional grizzly bear, although quite far from the normal range for grizzlies, this does provide yet more evidence of how climate change is affecting the animals and changing their normal habits.

These bears are habituated to checking out the local whale bone pile, almost on a daily basis, even though it is October at this point and the whale carcases were stripped of any sustenance months ago by the bears, birds and other scavengers.   Climate change IS affecting their behaviour, even here.

Please do help support their ongoing survival  and give a donation to  Polar Bears International and do continue to come back for the rest of the posts in this series!