One World One Ocean
Rapidly deteriorating sea ice is forcing polar bears to swim farther than in past years, sometimes hundreds of miles, looking for ice.
Rapidly deteriorating sea ice is forcing polar bears to swim farther than in past years, sometimes hundreds of miles, looking for ice. Even when they find ice, they often must jump from floe to floe to cover the gaps in their disappearing landscape. Polar bears rely on sea ice as their hunting platform as they stalk ringed seals coming up for air. Without sea ice polar bears can’t provide for themselves or their cubs.
Our film crew got to see first-hand what life is like for polar bears while they were filming To the Arctic. We had a chance to ask members of our crew – Director of Photography Brad Ohlund, Camera Assistant Rob Walker, Director Greg MacGillivray, and Screenwriter Steve Judson – about what they saw during the film expedition. Here are some of their observations from the Arctic.
MFF: How far can polar bears jump? Do they stay on the ice for most of the day?
Brad: I couldn’t say exactly, but when the mother bear was being chased she covered a lot of distance in the air, as did the cubs.
Rob: They can jump up to 10ft I was told by our guide. Yes, polar bears spend most of their time on the ice. They swim if they have to.
Greg/Steve: The extraordinary thing about their jumps is the precision and delicacy of their landings. They can plunk down 1,000lbs of mass very gently, on a small, tippy chunk of ice without a hitch.
MFF: How do the cubs follow their moms around the ice?
Brad: It happens that they have been trained or are instinctively able to follow her. They would often hop on her back when swimming.
Rob: On ice they just follow jumping from ice to ice, staying very close. In the water they sometimes hang on the back of each other.
Greg/Steve: At only a few months old – when human babies are still lying in cribs – polar bear cubs have already learned a lot about how to survive. Lesson #1: “always obey your mother.” When she claps her jaw to signal danger, her cubs fall into line right away, like precision drill team.
