The polar bear is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses, this includes the most northern regions of North America and Eurasia. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore. A boar weighs around 350–700 kg (770–1,540 lb), while a sow is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar bears are classified as marine mammals.
Baffin Island, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, is the largest island in Canada and the fifth-largest island in the world. Its area is 507,451 km2 (195,928 sq mi), slightly larger than Spain; its population was 13,039 as of the 2021 Canadian census; and it is located at 68°N70°W. It also contains the city of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut.
Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that maintain arctic breed traits represent an ever-changing crossbreed of the fastest dogs.
The Norwegian Polar Institute is Norway's central governmental institution for scientific research, mapping and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The NPI is a directorate under Norway's Ministry of Climate and Environment. The institute advises Norwegian authorities on matters concerning polar environmental management and is the official environmental management body for Norwegian activities in Antarctica.
The Canadian Eskimo Dog or Canadian Inuit Dog is a breed of working dog from the Arctic. Other names include qimmiq or qimmit. The Greenland Dog is considered the same breed as the Canadian Eskimo Dog since they have not yet diverged enough genetically to be considered separate breeds, despite their geographic isolation.
The domestication of the dog was the process which created the domestic dog. This included the dog's genetic divergence from the wolf, its domestication, and the emergence of the first dogs. Genetic studies show that all ancient and modern dogs share a common ancestry and descended from an ancient, now-extinct wolf population – or closely related wolf populations – which was distinct from the modern wolf lineage. The dog's similarity to the grey wolf is the result of substantial dog-into-wolf gene flow, with the modern grey wolf being the dog's nearest living relative. An extinct Late Pleistocene wolf may have been the ancestor of the dog.
Sir Brian Keith Follett is a British biologist, academic administrator, and policy maker. His research focused upon how the environment, particularly the annual change in day-length (photoperiod), controls breeding in birds and mammals. Knighted in 1992, he won the Frink Medal (1993) and has been a Fellow of the Royal Society since 1984, and served as the Chair of the UK government's teacher training agency and Arts and Humanities Research Council, and was Vice-Chancellor of University of Warwick.
Ian Grote Stirling is a research scientist emeritus with Environment and Climate Change Canada and an adjunct professor in the University of Alberta Department of Biological Sciences. His research has focused mostly on Arctic and Antarctic zoology and ecology, and he is one of the world's top authorities on polar bears. Stirling has written five books and more than 150 articles published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has written and spoken extensively about the danger posed to polar bears by global warming.
J. Scott Armstrong is an author, forecasting and marketing expert, and an Emeritus Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Armstrong's research and writing in forecasting promote the ideas that in order to maximize accuracy, forecasting methods should rely on evidence-based methods.
Karin Lochte is a German oceanographer, researcher, and climate change specialist. She was director of German Polar Research Alfred Wegener Institute from 2007 to 2017 as well as chairman of the management committee of Jacobs University Bremen.
Mitchell Taylor is a Canadian biologist specializing in polar bears who claims that Canada's polar bear population is higher now than it was 30 years ago and that polar bears are not currently threatened by climate change. He is currently a contract adjunct professor at Lakehead University, and he is affiliated with the Heartland Institute.
Steven C. Amstrup is an American zoologist who studies bears, especially polar bears. He is the 2012 recipient of the Indianapolis Prize.
Polar Bears International (PBI) is a non-profit polar bear conservation organization. Their research, education, and action programs address the issues that are endangering polar bears. The organization also studies polar bears and monitors their activity data which helped lead to the animals being listed as a threatened species. While Churchill, Canada, serves as an important hub for PBI scientists and educators, the organization's work on behalf of polar bears spans the Arctic including Svalbard, Russia, and Alaska.
Amy Leventer is an American Antarctic researcher specialising in micropaleontology, with specific research interests in marine geology, marine biology, and climate change. Leventer has made over a dozen journeys to the Antarctic, which began at the age of 24 and led to the pursuit of her PhD.
Irene R. Schloss is an Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on plankton biology. She is a researcher at the Argentine Antarctic Institute and was a correspondent researcher of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina until July 2017. She became an independent researcher since August 2017 and an associate professor at the University of Quebec.
Professor Julienne Christine Stroeve is a polar climate scientist known for her research on remote sensing of ice and snow. She is Professor of Polar Observation & Modelling at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University College London, Senior Canada-150 Research Chair in Climate Forcing of Sea Ice at the University of Manitoba, and a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center within the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). She is also a member of the American Geophysical Union and an ISI highly cited researcher.
Susan M. Natali is an American ecologist. She is the Arctic program director and senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, where her research focuses on the impact of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems, primarily on Arctic permafrost. She is also the project lead for Permafrost Pathways, a new initiative launched in 2022 with funding from TED's Audacious Project. On Monday, April 11, 2022, Dr. Natali gave a TED Talk introducing the Permafrost Pathways project at the TED2022 conference in Vancouver, BC.
Jennifer F. Provencher is a Canadian conservation biologist. She is an early-career researcher and a spokesperson for the awareness of plastic contaminants in marine wildlife, pollution and climate change. Many of her work focus on the impact of human activities on the health of Arctic seabirds and marine ecosystems.
Merav Ben-David is an Israeli-American ecologist, zoologist, and politician who is the Chair of the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming. She was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate election in Wyoming, losing to former Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis in the general election. She ran for State Representative from Wyoming's 46th district in 2022.
Karen E. Frey is an American Earth scientist at Clark University who specializes in polar science, climate change, permafrost hydrology, and sea-ice variability. Frey also studies changes in the biogeochemistry of rivers, estuaries, and oceans in polar regions.
