Page:Polar Exploration - Bruce - 1911.djvu/115

Rh are all the more remarkable when he knows that, added to this cumbersome equipment, their preserved provisions were such as almost certainly to cripple their strength, if not utterly to prostrate them with that deadliest of Polar enemies—scurvy.

The most striking of all Polar animals is undoubtedly the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus). The resemblance of this remarkable animal to its surroundings has already been dealt with; let us now consider other characteristics. The habitat of the bear is the sea ice and the sea, and not the land. The polar bear is constantly wandering about the floes and pack. It is a solitary animal usually. If there are two or three together, they will be a mother with one or two cubs. The bear does not hibernate, as is commonly supposed, but walks around in a desultory manner, examining and sniffing at everything. Dr. Kœttlitz has pointed out that what have been called hibernating holes or caves are only ice and snow houses constructed occasionally by the male and female for shelter in very bad weather, but usually by the female for shelter during her final stages of pregnancy and for a little time after the birth of her young. The mother and young do not appear to stay long in these caves, but soon begin again their wandering life. Their wanderings seem objectless except for the sake