The Bond of a Mother Polar Bear and Her Young

Nobody can deny the grace and strength that puts Polar Bears among the most magnificent animals on the planet. Despite their reputation for being somewhat dangerous, they're still considered an extremely beautiful and majestic beast. The top wildlife travel companies offer specialist Polar Bear tours among their portfolio of exciting nature-focused trips, and this is a fantastic opportunity to see these wonderful creatures in their natural habitat.

Although you will be travelling with an experienced guide on Polar Bear tours, it can enhance your experience if you learn as much as you can about how the animals live and behave. Here we explore how the female Polar Bears take care of their young from birth.

At Birth

When the cubs are born they weigh about 500-600g and measure about 30cm; males are often slightly larger than the females. While, at birth, it may appear the cubs have no hair, in fact it is just very fine. Small, vulnerable and born with their eyes shut, the cubs are virtually helpless when they enter the world.

A Mother’s Love

The female has four mammary glands to nurse its young, which it does either sitting up or lying down. Staying close to the mother also helps to keep the cubs keep warm. Nursing is a frequent occurrence in the first few weeks of a cub’s life and they might suckle up to six times a day. Nursing does decrease as the cubs grow, but a female might feed her cubs for up to 30 months. Many cubs stop nursing of their own accord at around 18 months but still stay with their mother until they are almost three years old.Vital for the survival of the cubs in the harsh Arctic conditions, the mother's milk has 33% fat, compared with 3-5% fat found in human milk.

As with most animals, the mothers will protect their young with their own life and the instinct to defend the young is extremely strong.

Growing Up

Cubs start to open their eyes in the first four weeks after birth and start to walk at around two months while still in the protective den. When the mother encourages her young to leave the den in spring, she continues to stay close to home so the cubs can return if and when they need to. At this time the cubs acclimatise to the cold and practise walking. The mother teaches the cubs to hunt and, although they only watch her for the first year, this is a valuable experience. It is not until a cub is around two years old that it can hunt proficiently, and at this age it may be able to kill a seal once every five days.

Once the cub is around 30 months old the mother will be ready to breed again; either she or a pursuing male will chase the cubs away and force them to begin their life as an adult.

If you're lucky enough to experience the sight of a mother and her cubs while on Polar Bear tours, it makes for a truly memorable experience. Specialised bear tours are designed by wildlife experts in order to give you the optimum opportunities for sightings, so, depending on the time of year you travel, chances of seeing a mother and her cubs is reasonably high.

Marissa Ellis-Snow is a freelance nature writer. If you’re looking for bear tours, Naturetrek specialises in expert-led natural history and wildlife tours worldwide. Naturetrek brings over 25 years of experience to polar expeditions and tours to other spectacular regions on Earth.

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