Did you know that the world’s largest known polar bear maternity denning areas are located in Canada? Maybe not that surprising, really, considering that about 16,000 of the 20-25,000 bears in the polar region call Canada home (the rest are found in Russia, Alaska, Greenland, and Norway).
And Wapusk National Park in Manitoba is home to a population of approximately 1,000 of these great white bears, who dig their maternity dens in snow banks in early winter. Many pregnant females are probably getting ready to enter them very soon—if they’re not already cozy inside them right now! And there they will stay until early spring when they give birth to some super-duper cute cubs.
And here’s another fun fact. Polar bears generally give birth to twins (although they can have just one, or sometimes up to four). This important adaptation increases the likelihood that at at least one of those super-duper cute cubs will survive. Good.
The more baby bears surviving, the better.
As many of us know, polar bear populations are in serious trouble as sea ice continues to melt. Some experts suggest that these beautiful creatures may disappear by 2100 if we don’t make significant changes in how we live and care for our planet.
Time for change, my friends.