Шпицберген и фьорды Норвегии. Silver Cloud Expedition 24 июня – 06 июля 2018.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) mother with cub hitching a ride on mama's behind. Wapusk National Park - Manitoba - Canada - Vulnerable in the iucn red list In late February begin of March the mothers, which have not eaten during all the period in the den (from October/November) exit the den for the first time with the newborn. It in fact at this time of the year that the seals are giving birth to their cubs on the pack ice. Those represent the main source of food for the bears and an easy catch for the hungry mothers with their cubs. It is extremely difficult and rare to witness the exit of the bears from the dens and one has to face extremely challenging conditions. Here the expedition in numbers: - Feburary 17th to March 3rd 2015 – 13 days on the field - 10’000 shots - 800 mm super telephoto lens (sometime used with a 1.4x converter) - 117 hours of waiting in front of a polar bear den - winds gusting to 60/70 km/h - average temperature -45/50C (with wind chill) - 12 hours of effective shooting - 5 polar bear spotting In this particular episode the mama bear was resting with her two young cubs in a day den on the way to the pack ice. Day dens usually consist in wind protected areas as snowdrift refuges or tree shelter. She was extremely calm when our vehicle reached the location and we could photographer her and the cubs for a few hours before she suddenly decided it was time to leave. She rushed downhill in deep snow when one of the two cubs decided it was much more convenient to hitch a ride on mama’s butt. Jumped and reached out holding on with a firm bite on the butt’s fur. An extremely funny and totally unexpected behaviour.

Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) mother with cub hitching a ride on mama's behind. Wapusk National Park - Manitoba - Canada - Vulnerable in the iucn red list In late February begin of March the mothers, which have not eaten during all the period in the den (from October/November) exit the den for the first time with the newborn. It in fact at this time of the year that the seals are giving birth to their cubs on the pack ice. Those represent the main source of food for the bears and an easy catch for the hungry mothers with their cubs. It is extremely difficult and rare to witness the exit of the bears from the dens and one has to face extremely challenging conditions. Here the expedition in numbers: - Feburary 17th to March 3rd 2015 – 13 days on the field - 10’000 shots - 800 mm super telephoto lens (sometime used with a 1.4x converter) - 117 hours of waiting in front of a polar bear den - winds gusting to 60/70 km/h - average temperature -45/50C (with wind chill) - 12 hours of effective shooting - 5 polar bear spotting In this particular episode the mama bear was resting with her two young cubs in a day den on the way to the pack ice. Day dens usually consist in wind protected areas as snowdrift refuges or tree shelter. She was extremely calm when our vehicle reached the location and we could photographer her and the cubs for a few hours before she suddenly decided it was time to leave. She rushed downhill in deep snow when one of the two cubs decided it was much more convenient to hitch a ride on mama’s butt. Jumped and reached out holding on with a firm bite on the butt’s fur. An extremely funny and totally unexpected behaviour.