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researcher have captured highly rarified footage of polar bear cubs leaving their snowy dens for the first metre .
The footage , take on the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard , exhibit a motherpolar bear(Ursus maritimus ) plodding through the Arctic island ’s frozen landscape painting and her three young carnivore emerge one after another from a jam in the ice , before slipping and slide around the rooted terrain .
Polar bear dens are underground hideouts where bears spend the winter months.
The scene is from one of 13 den sites on Svalbard that scientists have been monitor for nearly a ten to pour forth luminousness on denning behavior , which is notoriously unmanageable to canvass because polar bear mum build the dens underground in laborious - to - access areas .
The researchers described new aspect of denning behavior in a newspaper publisher published Thursday ( Feb. 27 ) inThe Journal of Wildlife Management .
" It ’s a reasonably special matter to see polar bear cub emerge into this vast , white landscape that appear so inhospitable , " hint authorLouise Archer , a Polar Bears International postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto Scarborough , told Live Science in an email .
Polar bear cubs were seen without their mothers only 5% of the time after the families emerged from their dens.
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" In Svalbard , polar bear build their dens on the slopes of steep craggy area , and it ’s hard to guess how laddie could find their foot in this grievous terrain , " Archer suppose . " Watching them sliding , tumbling , and even rise up on their female parent was truly noteworthy . "
The raw subject area offers a glimpse at one of the most vulnerable and critical periods of a polar bear ’s animation , researcher said in astatement .
Polar bears pass the winter in their dens . significant female person give birth around early January and nurse their cubs through natural spring , when the family emerges to slow make its way to the sea ice . new-sprung diametrical bear are hairless and count just 1 pound ( 0.5 kilo ) . However , they grow speedily thanks to their mother ’s fatso Milk River and reach 22 pound sterling ( 10 kg ) by the fourth dimension they emerge as cub .
maintain salubrious opposite bear populations calculate on cubs ' survival of the fittest , which is only around 50 % , grant to the statement . Cubs survive only if their hideout stay on undisturbed throughout the winter and they can roam the palisade area after emerging . Human activity threaten both of these necessity .
" Polar bear mothers are possess increasing difficulty reproduce due toclimate - labour changes , and are likely to face further challenge with theexpansion of the human being footprintin the Arctic , " Archer enounce in the affirmation .
To value human influence on polar bear replication , researchers postulate to considerably understand denning behaviors and timing . A decennium ago , Archer and colleague fitted 13 female bears with GPS collar that recorded the animals ' locating , body temperatures and levels of activity . The investigator used this data point to turn up the bear ' dens , before traveling to Svalbard to install camera traps outside them .
The discipline is the first to combine taking into custody data with camera footage of polar bear . " Every den we monitored had its own account , " Archer said .
Throughout the study period , the momma and cubs first emerged in early March , sometimes venturing out for just a few minutes before rejoin to their hideaway . The families desert their den before thanpreviously recordedon Svalbard , but more observations are call for to corroborate if this is a raw course , according to the statement .
The bears remained near their dens for an norm of 12 day before head off toward the sea methamphetamine hydrochloride , where mothers instruct their greenhorn to track down . The cubs stayed with their mamma 95 % of the prison term , seldom leaving the den alone . On Svalbard , cubs remain with their mother for 2.5 year after nativity , agree to the instruction .
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The researchers could n’t follow the bear once they left the den land site . " I would love to bang how the diametric bear menage we monitor fared once they departed the den , " Archer told Live Science by email . " How soon does the mother catch a stamp , [ and ] do her cub manage to survive those initial few week when they venture out on the ocean ice ? "
Polar bear are presently draw close up their dens , but it wo n’t be long before they issue again . Archer and colleagues are in Svalbard now , roll up information that may avail them fill these gap .
" We ’re excited to bring out fresh tools to supervise bear during this vulnerable time and to advance insight into their behavior across the Arctic , " Archer said in the statement .
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