Tundra Buggy

Churchill is 120 miles from any road. You cannot drive here. It's either by train or plane. 

We spent our 2nd day in the Tundra Buggy. It is a large 4-wheel truck/bus that is 14 feet off the ground to clear any curious bears. This picture is what the tundra looked like.

It was very windy and about 35 degrees which is very warm for this time of year.

There were 2 highlights to our day trip...a mother and her cub crossing the snow-less tundra and 2 males wrestling each other.

This mother and cub are on a frozen pond

As we drove up to the 2 male bears, they were lying nose-to-nose as if they were best friends keeping each other company. Then one of them got up and nudged the other with his nose b/c he wanted to play. Since he didn't get the response he wanted, he slapped him with his dinner-sized paw. Then they stood up and sparred (play wrestle) for about 10 minutes. Then they both broke away and laid in a snow drift prostrate to cool off while eating snow.

What I've noticed about all these bears is how patient they are. They are waiting for the sea ice to freeze up so they can hunt, and it's not happening. The mothers are so kind and caring to their offspring. They all have peaceful expressions that are lovable. They have a sense of humility and fairness. It is hard to imagine how dangerous they are to humans.

The bears also make friends with sled dogs that are tied up. The bears are social animals and see dogs as friends, not food. The dogs love them too, and engage in play with the bears when the bears come to visit them.

Most of the time the bears are sleeping. It is warm here and they get overheated easily. Polar bears spend 79% of their time sleeping, 17% being active (walking, digging) and 3% being social, so it was a real treat to watch them be social.

These bears have not eaten since April. The warmer weather pushed them off the ice b/c the ice was melting. Their main source of food is seals and they can only hunt them while on sea ice. They cannot hunt while swimming and the seals do not come ashore. When the seals are having their babies, their blow holes make a small cubby in the ice. Polar bears can smell them miles away, even though they are under 6 feet of ice. The bear crashes through the top to the baby and eats it. Then it waits for the parent to come back and eats them. This is all they do out on the ice...eat. They have not had a real meal since April. They become scavengers and lose up to 6 lbs/day. They are "skiny" right now.

Dr. Halfpenny predicts in 10 years, there will be no more ice in the Arctic. People will be able to sail their boats across the North Pole in 10 years.