Polar bears are creatures of paradox: They are white bears whose skin is black; massive predators who can walk almost silently; Arctic residents whose major problem is not staying warm, but keeping cool. Fully grown they can measure 10 feet and weigh close to 2,000 pounds, but at birth they are just 20 ounces. Creatures that may wander thousands of miles over the course of a year, they begin life in a snowdrift.
Human encounters with these legendary beasts are cause for both excitement and apprehension. Tales throughout history describe the ferocity of polar bear attacks on humans; but human hunting of polar bears has exacted a far larger toll, obliging Arctic nations to try to protect their region’s iconic species before it’s too late.
Now, however, another threat to the polar bears’ survival has emerged, one that is steadily removing sea ice and the life it supports. Without this habitat, polar bears cannot exist. The Great White Bear celebrates the story of this unique species. Through a blend of history, both natural and human, through myth and reality and observations both personal and scientific, Kieran Mulvaney masterfully provides a context for readers to consider the polar bear, its history, its life, and its uncertain fate.
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When author Mulvaney joined an expedition on the icebreaker Arctic Sunrise, he planned to watch polar bears on the ice along the Alaskan shoreline, but most of the ice was gone. After days of searching, he finally saw an emaciated bear swimming far at sea. Such may be the fate of the species if global warming continues unabated, for the polar bear is a marine mammal that lives more on ocean ice than on land, hunting seals and scavenging beached whales. The author found more bears in Churchill, Manitoba, but they were stranded waiting longer each year for the ice to form on Hudson Bay. Mixing historical accounts, research data, and his own observations, Mulvaney skillfully describes the harsh nomadic life of polar bears. Readers who enjoy nature writing will appreciate this sympathetic report on the endangered state of the great white bear. --Rick Roche
About the Author
KIERAN MULVANEY is the author of At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions and The Whaling Season: The Struggle to Stop Commercial Whaling. He has traveled extensively in the Arctic and Antarctic. He has written for the Washington Post Magazine, the Guardian, New Scientist, and BBC Wildlife and is a correspondent for Discovery News and Reuters.
Kieran Mulvaney's books include "At the Ends of the Earth: A History of the Polar Regions" (Island Press, 2001), "The Whaling Season: An Inside Account of the Struggle to Stop Commercial Whaling" (Island Press, 2003), and "The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011; published in the UK, as "Ice Bear", by Hutchinson). He also wrote the main text of "The Greenpeace Book of Dolphins" (Century Editions/Sterling, 1990), and wrote the introductory text for the coffee table book, "Witness: Twenty-Five Years on the Environmental Front Lines" (Andre Deutsch 1996).
Kieran presently blogs on Earth matters for Discovery Channel News, and covers boxing for Reuters, ESPN.com, and HBO Sports.
He was born in Weston-super-Mare, in England, and has lived in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Washington, D.C.; Anchorage, Alaska; and Alexandria, Virginia, where he now resides.
As an armchair Arctic traveler, I am in love with the animals that populate this brutal, but beautiful climate and this includes the Polar Bear.
The reading of this book is a bittersweet experience. Filled facts and stories about these magnificent creatures, it is also a book that realistically frames the fate of the polar bear. The first chapter foreshadows the fate of the polar bear. The author and friends while on an icebreaker sailing around Alaska watch a young polar bear swimming and trying to get up on some ice. Thrilled with the viewing, it is only later that they view footage they shot that Mulvaney realizes the bear is shivering and in extremely poor condition. The warming of the climate is drastically affecting the polar bear and as you read this book and see the bear through the stories of scientists, trappers and natives you get the feeling that you are reading a pending obituary--especially as you get to the last of the book.
Reading about the polar bear and their habits and habitat from birthing to hunting to just existing you realize how dependent the bears are on ice. And as the ice melts, the polar bears existence becomes tremulous indeed. The bear is at the top of a very specialized environment which includes prey-predator relationships. As the ice melts it affects the bear as well as the rest of the food chain.
To start, I'll admit... I love polar bears. They're beautiful and fascinating. This book was a good intro to the creatures presented in an entertaining way. It never once had the 'textbook' feel that a lot of science books have. It's not the best written book you'll come across, but it's still a fine read.
I was drawn to this book by my fascination with polar bears, and it truly delivers with extended and illuminating accounts of polar bear life and behavior throughout. That, alone, would be reason enough to read (and love) this book. But the care with which the author explains the nature and challenges of the polar bear's threatened realm is equally exceptional. Read this important book for the polar bears, but read it also to better understand what is essential to their survival. The facts are so masterfully drawn together to explain what's at stake that you will see and feel it all, from both human and polar bear perspectives.
THE GREAT WHITE BEAR will live long in your memory and beckon to be read and referred to again. May the awareness and action that the book will undoubtedly inspire be enough to save the polar bears and their Arctic realm.
