Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 10/08/2009 - 13:31

Hello!

I listened to your seminar today and enjoyed it very much! Thanks for taking the time. :)

I have one question to ask regarding something Merav mentioned. I thought I understood her to state that they collared a bear in Barrow who then swam 400 miles to the sea ice! Do you know if this bear swam continuously, stopped on ice floes, rested in the water? I think I might have missed some of that information. What is a typical length of an ocean swim? When would a bear just not make it?
Thanks for your time.

Keep safe and stay warm!

Susan Summers Virginia Living Museum

Cristina Galvan

Hi Susan -Thanks for your question - I was just as amazed as you were to hear
about the bear that swam 400 miles.
The bear swam for most of the distance across open water. She rested
for a day or so on a small piece of ice on Sept 6th and then continued
the rest of the distance and ended up on the ice on Sept 13th. This is
definitely much further than they thought bears would swim. There are
some bears that start out for long swims and just don't have the energy
reserves to complete the swim and end up drowning.
I hope you keep following along and posting more questions!
Thanks,
Cristina Galvan