2025 Polar Bear Safari Highlights

It was another amazing year of hosting guests on our signature polar bear safaris to Churchill, Manitoba, the polar bear capital of the world.

A polar bear mother felt comfortable allowing her 10-11 month old cub to nurse near our Tundra Buggies. Image by Jacqueline Matechuk.

Our first trip of the year started off with a very rare sunny, warm and calm day along the shores of the Hudson Bay and a spectacular scene of a polar bear mom nursing her cub. To observe this behaviour in the wild was the highlight of the trip for many guests.

As I like to say, polar bear moms in the Western Hudson Bay population are some of the hardest working single moms in the bear world. They need to pack on enough fat to go upwards of 8 months of the year without eating, all while pregnant, giving birth and nursing their cubs before they then make the dangerous journey back out onto the sea ice in the spring to resume hunting seals. This first year can be very challenging with only about 50% cub survival. Risks to cubs include hypothermia, wolves and other bears when cubs are this young. 

As such, this polar bear mother was on high alert, using her powerful sense of smell as an early warning system to pick up the scent of nearby polar bear males that could pose a threat. Based on her behaviours, she seemed to be an experienced mother, as she successfully navigating the terrain to avoid any pinch points that could put her cub at risk from unrelated males. Just like other bear species, breeding age males will try to kill the cubs of females they know they didn’t mate with to bring the females back into estrous. This increases their odds of mating with the female and passing along their own genetics. Moms with cubs can usually avoid this from happening by having greater endurance than the large, lumbering males, who quickly overheat and have to give up on the chase to cool themselves down.

Mimicking mom, the cub joins her in smelling the air during one of our polar bear trips to Churchill this fall. Image by Jacqueline Matechuk. 

Polar bears use their powerful sense of smell to find food, mates and detect threats posed by large male bears.

Because cubs lack substantial fat reserves to help insulate them from the cold, mothers avoid taking cubs through water and will walk much longer routes around unfrozen water bodies to avoid any polar bear plunges. 

Cubs stay with their mothers for about 2.5 years, rapidly gaining weight and learning the ropes of surviving and thriving in a such a harsh environment.   In an average day we typically saw 1-2 mothers with 1-2 cubs each.

We were also treated to the antics of polar bears lounging along the shore. While waiting for the sea ice to return, polar bears spread out along the shoreline, striking various poses that delight guests, who remark about the similarities to their own yoga poses, morning stretching routines or to their pets. 

It’s not uncommon to see polar bears pushing themselves along the ground with their back feet. Whether it’s to scratch an itch, clean their coat, or just for fun, their antics are entertaining to watch from the safety of the vehicle.

Image by Jaqueline Matechuk.

Guests often ask if a bear is male or female and it can be hard to tell from a distance. While large males are easy to pick out due to being almost twice the size of females, sexing younger bears from a distance can be challenging, especially if males are juveniles and similar size to adult females. However, in general males are less diligent about their personal hygiene after getting out of bed or rolling around on the ground and as a result, they will often have dirtier fur than females, as seen with these two males compared to the mother in the first two photos.

A big stretch by a large male polar bear. Note that the extra long guard hairs on the forelimbs are unique to breeding aged males and are thought to help signal to a female his breeding status. Image by Owen Slater.

A unique feature of bear ecology in the Churchill area is the use of summer dens. These act as polar bear beds and are dug down to the layer of permafrost to act as cool retreat on warm days. The bears sleep away the days, chilling on the permafrost while expending very little energy. Some of these summer dens are thought to have been used for hundreds of years in the Churchill area.

When the ice on the Hudson Bay melts, which typically happens in  July, the bears are forced onto shore and most will go 4 months or more without a substantial meal. During this time, on average a polar bear will lose 1kg of fat every day it’s on land and not eating. Couple that with the fact they they use 13 times more energy when they are walking and you can understand why they spend the majority of their summer and fall resting.

Image by Owen Slater.

With the unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of snow until almost November, the otherwise hard to spot willow ptarmigan and Arctic hare stood out like sore thumbs on the tundra having already changed into their thick, white winter plumage and fur.

Without any snow, even in a vast tundra landscape an otherwise camouflaged Arctic hare is easily spotted from above in the middle of a dense clump of willows.

When flushed from a hide, Arctic hare can travel up to 60km/hr and jump up to 2 meters with each hop to evade predators. On really cold days, hares will congregate together in groups to conserve body heat.

Image by Jacqueline Green.

A small flock of willow ptarmigan feeding near a Tundra Buggy as guests enjoy the close-up encounter with these winter hardy birds. During another trip we came across a large flock that numbered over 200 birds.

Willow ptarmigan have some of the densest feathering in the bird world with feathers extending down to their toes, creating little snowshoes that keep them on top of snow drifts as they forage on willow leaves and buds. When it’s really cold, they will burrow into snow banks and stay in these snow caves until temperatures improve.

By early November, the freshwater ponds and lakes started to freeze, and bears became a bit more active. Males, who are largely solitary for most of the year, started to come together to socialize and play.

Image by Owen Slater.

In the next photo, two large male bears come together for a brief encounter before going their separate ways. When temperatures are cold enough in the fall, males will often socialize with each other including playful wrestling and sparring in the snow drifts while waiting for the sea ice to form.

Seeing these giants of the Arctic forming temporary groups to play and socialize with one another is often a highlight for many guests, who come away with a new appreciation for the behavioural complexity and intelligence of polar bears. 

Females with cubs became more common later in the season, often patrolling the low tide and early sea ice formations in search of seals. Image by Jacqueline Matechuk.

A bonus was seeing the northern lights on a couple trips, including on the airplane ride home from Churchill. Image by Owen Slater.

With another successful polar bear season behind us, for a few more days you can continue to watch the bears from the comfort of your home by following this Polar Bears International (PBI) link. These live cameras will stay rolling until the sea ice returns and the bears disappear out onto the frozen ocean.  (https://explore.org/livecams/polar-bears-international/polar-bear-cam)

If you’re interested in following individual polar bear movements throughout the year, Polar Bear Tracker provides updates on collared female bears here.

To track sea ice formation, daily maps that document sea ice conditions in Canada, including the Hudson Bay are posted at this link: Sea Ice Conditions

To learn about actions we can all take to help conserve the polar bears of Churchill now and for future generations, browse the PBI action page for more information here.