Polar Bear

Polar bears area amongst the largest land mammals in North America. Ranging from 900 to 1,600 lbs, a full-grown bear can measure up to 8 feet tall. The current overall estimate of wild polar bear population is approximately 20,000 – 25,000 worldwide. Roughly 2/3 of that number (15,000) are in Canada.

Churchill, known as the polar bear capital of the world, sees polar bears as early as July, but it is most common to see larger numbers of bears in October and November. This is due largely to the fact that the winter ice in Hudson Bay begins to melt in late June, forcing the bears back on land. The bears then migrate slowly along the coast towards the Churchill area, waiting for the ice to reform in late November. Once the ice is thick enough, the bears return back to the ice to hunt seals in order to restock the fat stores they used during the summer months – polar bears generally don’t hunt at all during the summer and depend on fat stores gained throughout the winter to sustain them.