Safari Journal - June 2023
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
“Churchill is a town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 140 km (87 mi) from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname Polar Bear Capital of the World“. - Worldwide Safari Guide
Best Polar Bear Moments | BBC Earth
Polar Bear image: BBC Earth library
This area is 1/2 million square miles - about the size of France. A Polar Bear in april usually succeeds in a successful hunt only once in 20 attempts. The wind has shifted the last few years and so it is freezing later and thawing sooner here. There is less ice and more water within the hunting grounds.
Clan of the North | Kingdom of the Polar Bears
National Geographic documentary
Dennis Campari - Photograph by Ingo Arndt
Dennis Campari has been tracking the Hudson Valley Ice Bear’s migration for 40 years on land, sea and ice.
Follow as He searches the Manitoba wilderness for a polar bear den in hopes of capturing the first moments of a cub’s life in the wild.
Photograph by Ingo Arndt
Pregnant mother travels 50 miles from the shore where she hunts, to create a den where she spends 8 months without a meal in order to make a place that is safe from male polar bears and other predators, while she waits for the birth of her cubs. Even with these precautions, 50% of cubs do not make it to adulthood.
Arctic Fox
“Best way to see everything in a wildlife reserve can be just to sit quietly and observe. One woman, watching motionless in the Canadian Rockies natural area, had a beaver come curl up in her lap.” Worldwide Safari Guide
“Arctic fox fur has the highest insulation value of any mammal, useful in treeless arctic tundras where they live in Eurasia, North America, Iceland, and Greenland. Soles of their feet are covered entirely with fur—hence their scientific name, LAGOPUS or “rabbit foot.” Small, rounded ears restrict heat loss. Long, thick, bushy tails reach around them like fur stoles when they curl up to sleep, able to endure temperatures of –70oF (–60oC). No other canid species lives so far north.”
Churchill National Park - Manitoba, Canada
“…Then night can last nearly 24 hours, illumined by some of the brightest northern lights in the world. Only in Norway and Russia does the swirling blue, green, and white aurora borealis get this close, only 25 miles (40 km) from earth.”
- worldwidesafariguide.com
See the site location for this reserve and read more about other wildlife in this area.
"Northern Lights Relaxation"
…and, if you enjoy relaxing with a good Aurora Borealis video, Alaska Real-Time Video offers you 2 Hours of lights (filmed in Alaska).
Live Webcam Stream - Aurora Borealis
Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights Cam is brought to you by explore.org, the world’s leading philanthropic live nature cam network and documentary film channel.
This Live Webcam Stream shows you the magic of the Northern Lights, a breathtaking sight from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, a non-profit research station in the far north of Manitoba, east of Churchill town, on the coast of Hudson Bay, Canada.
This phenomenon of the aurora borealis - the northern lights can be seen early fall (August, September) late winter/early spring (January through April), strongest in the colder months (February - March).
How Pools of Genetic Diversity Affect a Species’ Fate
A new, deeper understanding of how the breeding structure of species affects their genetic diversity is giving conservationists better tools for saving animals.
“By introducing genetically diverse individuals, the evolutionary potential of populations in peril might increase and, in turn, the resilience of the species as a whole,” Steiner said. “This is the notion of genetic rescue.”
Not everyone is on board with the idea of genetic rescue through interbreeding populations, however. Some of the resistance is idealistic: Within conservation, “a lot of people feel that preserving the ‘pureness’ and evolutionary history of species should be the main goal of conservation strategies,” Steiner said. “But more aggressive conservation actions may be needed when the adaptive potential of populations is at risk.”
ILLUSTRATION: Samantha Mash for Quanta Magazine
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