Polar Bear Birthday

Polar bears are polar predators, and the largest on earth. Their weight ranges from 500-800 kg. Due to their thick, warm wool, their habitats are located along the northern shores of Eurasia and America on glaciers. They are excellent swimmers. They feed on meat, hunting seals and fish. In total there are 22-30 thousand polar bears, and in Russia there are about 5-7 thousand. Each year, the female gives birth to 2-3 cubs, just in time for December. It was in this month that it was decided to establish the Polar Bear Birthday holiday. The initiators were the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Marine Mammal Council in Russia. Since 2008, the holiday has been held on December 29. The celebration is celebrated throughout the Arctic territory of Russia by employees of environmental stations, laboratories, as well as participants in polar bear rescue projects. Unfortunately, the polar bear population is slowly declining. Every year, 5 thousand cubs are born, but not all of them survive to adulthood. Females are able to reproduce only at the age of 5-6 years. In addition, their extermination by poachers for meat and skins has been impossible to stop for several decades. But the main reason for the death of animals is the global melting of glaciers. But it is on them that clubfooted animals lead their way of life. Human pollution also leads to the death of white predators. The polar bear is included in the Red Book of Russia. It is forbidden to destroy it. But not all countries are in solidarity. For example, in North America there are some rules under which it is legal to kill a white animal for the purpose of self-defense. Sometimes the places where the predator hunts are covered with ice, and catching prey becomes impossible, then the hungry animal goes to people, rummages through the garbage and becomes a victim of human self-defense. Modern zoos around the world are trying in every possible way to support this species. But keeping Arctic predators in captivity, much less breeding them, is not easy. Since in natural conditions the animals are accustomed to an active lifestyle, they walk hundreds of kilometers and hunt for food for days on end. Zoos are trying to diversify their life in captivity - expanding their pens, supplying food to the enclosure, imitating natural conditions. Special organizations have been created on the territory of the Russian Federation to protect and conduct research on polar bears. Among them are the Russian Geographical Society, the Institute of Ecology and Evolution named after A.N. Severtsov, state project “Bear Patrol”, Marine Mammal Council, Russian Arctic National Park, “Taimyr Nature Reserves”. Their job is to study the life of bears, protect the animal from human actions, and also educate people about the rules of behavior around the Arctic predator.