Together

I am a...
Professional/Serious Amateur

Photograph Description
I photographed this polar bear (Ursus maritimus) sow and her cubs on the shores of Hudson Bay, where every year in the Fall polar bears congregate waiting for the seawater in the bay to freeze so they can go out on the ice hunting for seals and teaching cubs how to break the ice to catch them. Due to climate change, sea ice break-up on Hudson Bay is three to six days per decade earlier than it was before, and freeze-up is delayed by about the same time. This has forced the bears to stretch their fat reserves for several more weeks to deal with longer ice-free periods. If ice-free periods continue increasing, the Southern Hudson Bay polar bear population could go extinct as early as the 2030s. Polar bears are classified as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species.

Photograph Place
Canada, Hudson Bay

Photograph Date
October 2006