It’s time to update you on what Aurora the polar bear has been doing these last few weeks! It’s been almost two months since her family made it to the sea ice and she’s made some interesting tracks already.
For those that haven’t been following, Explore.org sponsors a polar bear on Polar Bears International’s Polar Bear Tracker, and you chose to name her Aurora. She has traveled over 253 miles since we last checked in with her in December. Remember that she has two young cubs to take care of, so that’s quite a ways to walk!
Aurora is now located far off the coast of Ontario: she has chosen to travel somewhat south in Hudson Bay. In fact, she remains the most southern of all the western Hudson Bay polar bears on the Bear Tracker; she’s even farther south than at least one bear from the southern Hudson Bay (SH) population. At one point, Aurora stepped right over tracks of one SH bear, which could indicate a food source.
Her movements have also been relatively eastward and by now she is over halfway across Hudson Bay. We’ll have to see whether she gets close to Quebec or decides to turn back toward her home region sometime soon.
There are still a couple months until the seals start pupping, which is the biggest hunting time of year for polar bears. Until then, we hope that she and her cubs are finding plenty of food and we look forward to seeing what she does next!
thanks for the update. I just discovered PBI’s Polar Bear Tracker a couple days ago. I was wondering if all the bears that are being tracked are mothers with cubs? I clicked on several and those all appeared to have cubs. also are the mile totals accumulated for the current year or for all the years that particular bear has been tracked? some had quite significant amount of mileage. thank you.
Hi mosaic_world! Most of the bears are mothers with cubs, though we do collar single females more rarely. The total miles accumulated are from October 2014 until the present. They do move incredible distances in a short amount of time!
Does Aurora also have a number? Just trying to figure out which one she is.. thanks
Yes! Scientists know her as X35591. You can see her first update here: http://blog.explore.org/polar-bear-x35591-aka-aurora/
thank you
Thanks for the update. Good luck Aurora!
Roger that
Thank you so much for the update!!!
Good luck