Kincraig, Scotland, UK. 28th Apr, 2015. Victoria an 18 yearold Female Polar Bear Enjoys her first day out to explore her new enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig. Inverness-shire scotland. Victoria is the only female polar bear in the UK. Credit: David Gowans/Alamy Live News
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations in decline. For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and polar bears remain important in their polar bear is a marine mammal because it spends many months of the year at sea. However, it is the only living "marine mammal" with powerful, large limbs and feet that allow them to cover miles on foot and run on land. Its preferred habitat is the annual sea ice covering the waters over the continental shelf and the Arctic inter-island archipelagos. These areas, known as the "Arctic ring of life", have high biological productivity in comparison to the deep waters of the high Arctic. The polar bear tends to frequent areas where sea ice meets water, such as polynyas and leads (temporary stretches of open water in Arctic ice), to hunt the seals that make up most of its diet. Polar bears are therefore found primarily along the perimeter of the polar ice pack, rather than in the Polar Basin close to the North Pole where the density of seals is low.
Size: 4164px × 2728px
Location: Highland Wildlife Park, Kincraig. Inverness-shire. Highland Region. Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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