Polar bears are majestic creatures. On the list of, “animals humans are most disappointed we can’t pet,” polar bears are usually pretty high up.
For good reason! Look at this video from Monday, November 13th and then try to say that polar bears aren’t the most pet-able of all bears:
@exploreorg Have you seen the triplets 🐻❄️🐻❄️🐻❄️ #polarbear #polarbearcam #bear #fyp
Of the many things I’m thankful to @exploreorg for, this is pretty high on the list. Look at them!
Related: Polar Bear at the Toledo Zoo Welcomes Precious Twin Cubs
Explore.org is a hub for several things, including:
- Nature cams for livestreams
- Educational documentaries
- Fun activities and corresponding worksheets
In fact, it’s actually explore.org that hosted Fat Bear Week not too long ago, where they encourage people to watch their livestreams and then vote on what bear was the fattest one they saw. This year’s winner was a single mama bear!
There are several different nature livestreams we can watch, and a few of them are aimed at the polar bear’s natural habitat up north. While that provides something fun to watch in the background and not to think too much about, it does a lot more than that, too.
By letting us up close and personal into the habitat, we’re able to see just how much it’s changing: the ice caps are rapidly melting. Polar bears are getting skinnier as food gets harder to find. Over the years these livestreams go on, preserved clips just like this one will make the negative change easy to see. But if that wasn’t enough, they have corresponding documentaries to really drive the topic home!
As for the polar bears in this video, they seem to be living their best lives. The mama is nursing her three babies, which is a rare sight to see. I’ve never seen a polar bear nurse before! The cubs will typically stay with mama for about two and a half years – and they spend a year and a half nursing before beginning to wean and learning how to hunt for themselves.
After that, the mother polar bear leaves her cubs, and it’s unlikely that they’ll ever see each other again. Bears are simply not pack animals: they don’t take mates for life or hang around their cubs when they’re grown. We just have to enjoy it while it lasts!
