Endangered animals in the north |
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The polar bear |
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The future for polar bears is uncertain. The climate is changing. |
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Every spring, the Arctic ice melts earlier and every summer there is less ice. |
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The habitat of the polar bears may disappear. |
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Nobody knows if they will survive. |
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Habitat |
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Polar bears live all around the Arctic, in northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Russia. |
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In winter, ice covers the Arctic Ocean. |
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The sea water round the land freezes, too. |
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Polar bears hunt for food on the sea ice. |
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In summer, when the sea ice melts, they live on the land but there is little food for them. |
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They wait for the autumn when the sea freezes and they can go hunting again. |
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Appearance |
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Polar bears are the largest kind of bear. |
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The male is about 2.5m tall and weighs around 500kg. |
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The female is smaller, about 2m tall and weighs about 250kg. |
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Their thick, white fur insulates them from the cold. |
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Their feet are large and furry. They can walk across the snow easily. |
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They can swim well, too, because their feet are partly webbed. |
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Diet |
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Polar bears hunt the seals that live under the ice in the Arctic Ocean. |
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Seals make holes in the ice and they come up to breathe. |
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The polar bear waits patiently by the hole. |
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When the seal comes up, the polar bear tries to seize it in its powerful jaws. |
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Reproduction |
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In the winter, female bears make dens under the deep snowdrifts. |
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Here the cubs are born. |
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The mother bear keeps them warm and fed for several months without ever leaving them. |
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When they are bigger, they go outside. |
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The mother bear teaches them to hunt on the ice floes. |
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Threats |
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Loss of sea ice because of climate change is the main threat to polar bears, but pollution from industry and oil spills also threaten them. |
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In Russia, a new Arctic Park has been created. |
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Here, polar bears will live in safety, protected from harmful industrial activity. |
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Look at Nature |
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Animals in danger |
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This month, we're taking a look at smallest sea mammal in the world. |
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The sea otter |
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Sea otters live in the North Pacific Ocean. |
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There used to be hundreds of thousands of sea otters but almost all of them were hunted and killed for their fur. |
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The sea otter was nearly extinct and only 1,000-2,000 were left. |
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A hundred years ago, hunting sea otters was banned. |
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Now there are more than 100,000. |
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Read these facts about the sea otter. |
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Sea otters live near rocky coasts of the North Pacific and stay about 1km from the shore. |
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They do not have dens on land and they can spend their entire lives in the water. |
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They sleep on the sea and eat there, too. |
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The sea otter has a thicker fur than any other animal. The outer fur waterproof. |
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The soft fur underneath stays dry and protects the Otter from the cold water. |
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Otters are between 1m and 1.5m long and weigh from 20kg to 40kg. |
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The females are smaller than the males. |
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The otter's back feet are fully webbed and they can swim well underwater. |
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Sea otters dive to find food. |
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They have long whiskers that help them to find their prey in the dark water. |
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They can lift boulders on the sea floor and search for sea creatures underneath them. |
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They eat snails, crabs and shellfish. |
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They use stones as small tools. |
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They hit the shellfish with a stone to get them off the rocks. |
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Sea otters often sleep at the sea in large groups of 10-100. |
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They float on their backs and hold each other's paws to make a 'raft' and keep the group together. |
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Otter pups are born at sea. |
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The mother floats on her back with her newborn pup on her chest. |
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A young pup's fur has so much air in it that it bobs safely on the surface like a plastic ball and is safe from drowning. |
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The biggest threat to sea otters is oil spills. |
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If a sea otter is covered in oil, its fur cannot keep it warm and it dies of cold. |
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Thousands died in 1989 when an oil tanker spilled 40 million litres of oil into the sea. |
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Look at Nature - News just received! |
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Next year, more oil fields are opening in the North Pacific region. |
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More ships will carry oil across the sea, so there is a greater chance that another accident will happen. |
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The future of the sea otter is not guaranteed. |
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Listen 5 times |
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