Stock Photo Description: This is a photograph of two polar bears sparring. Although it looks serious, these were younger bears play fighting. Biologists think this type of play activity gets the bears in shape to swim long distances and hunt for seals once the ice pack freezes. Their latin name is Ursus Maritimus and the bears are amazing swimmers. Many bears have recently drowned from trying to swim too long of a distance between ice flows. The ice pack is far less consistant than in prior years due to warming temperatures. The bears congregate around Hudson Bay in large numbers in late October and early November waiting for the ice to freeze and pass the time by napping, playing, and sparring. Recently, the ice has been freezing later and melting earlier making the polar bears a threatened species directly due to global warming.
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