Your New Ice Environment
Arctic Conservation Reminder

Wilderness Impact
In an effort to minimize the impact of our visit and to preserve the fragile Arctic environment, we ask that our participants abide by the following guidelines:

• Don't litter! Respect the wilderness, its wildlife and the enjoyment of future visitors.
• Do not collect natural "souvenirs."
• Keep noise levels to a minimum.
• Respect Local People's Sensibilities.
• Tourists are guests in other peoples' country. Please treat locals as you wish to be treated by guests in your home. Gifts and barter items can be a wonderful means of appreciation and repayment; they can also be patronizing and overbearing if selected or offered poorly. Useful or beautiful items are generally best, especially if they represent the crafts of your region. It is best to give these items to the Expedition Leader; they will hand them over to the community.
• Ask before you take photographs of people or their dwellings, or intrude on an activity.
• Don't disrupt or displace subsistence activities.
• Avoid "dumping" surplus gifts on the local kids and do not encourage begging.

Polar Bear Primer
Hibernation in the true sense of the word DOES NOT apply to polar bears. True hibernators experience a marked drop in heart rate and a body temperature that plunges to nearly 0° C 32° F). It may take some time to wake them up. Though brown and black bears hibernate in winter, polar bears do not. Only pregnant females hole up in a den. The rest of the population remains active throughout the year.

Pregnant polar bears den up in the fall after feeding heavily in August and September. Most choose den sites in snowdrifts along mountain slopes or hills near the sea ice. Others den in banks of snow on the frozen sea. To build her den, the female scrapes a tunnel into the snow and digs two chambers. She gives birth to her cubs in November or December.

When a female polar bear emerges from her den in March or April, she is in a physiological state similar to that of a hibernating black bear. Her body temperature, however, does not drop quite as low as that of a black bear. Instead it ranges from 35° to 37° C (95° to 98.6° F).

Interestingly, polar bears appear to have the ability to control their hibernation. A study done on a group of Hudson Bay polar bears that fed at a garbage dump during the fall "lean period" revealed that the animals were not in a state of hibernation. However, those bears that steered clear of the dump were.

Scientist Ian Stirling points out that a black bear deprived of food in summer would starve. A polar bear, however, appears to have the ability to turn on its hibernation mode when food is scarce and to turn it off when food becomes more abundant again.

Polar Bear Safety Guidelines
Ice Station Beechey is situated in a prime polar bear denning area and we will be taking excursions via snowmobile in hopes of safely viewing these kings of the High Arctic. Your Inuit guides will be equipped with 12-gauge shotguns to discourage unwanted encounters, if they should happen. The following information is a general guideline for visiting the polar bear's domain:

• Avoiding Bear Attacks
• Be alert - detect bears before they detect you.
• Keep away from food sources.
• Polar bears are unpredictable; do not approach bears for photography or other reasons.
• Never come between a female and her cubs.
• Among polar bears, hissing and snorting signify aggression, as does a lowered head. An attacking polar bear will charge forward with head down and ears laid back.

If A Bear Approaches

• Get on a snowmobile and drive away.
• If this is impossible, do not run. Stand your ground unless you can move away slowly to a safe shelter.
• Gather together in a group; make yourself look bigger by a holding a jacket over your head.
• If the bear approaches, shout or make a noise.
• Go inside a building.

Polar Bear Fact: In all instances (recorded from the U.S., Canada and Russia ) in which a person was killed by a polar bear, the animal was starving or had been provoked.

Life Under the Ice
Polar regions attract the most unusual creatures. Each has evolved and adapted to thrive in a near-freezing environment under the ice. Noted here are some examples of marine life we'll encounter at the Breadalbane habitat:

Bioluminescent Comb Jellies
(Bolanopsis infundibulum, Mertensia ovum)
These glowing jellyfish are largely transparent and iridescent, with some pinkish hues. Their long-trailing, extremely "sticky" tentacles are used to capture small crustaceans. Very little research has been done on the comb jellies, though it is known that they are common in the area, most likely due to the fact that other animals do not seem to consider them suitable prey.

Swimming Snails
(Clione limacina, Limacina retroversa)
The habitat is filled with these peculiar creatures. The Clione Limacina species can grow up to two inches long. It looks like a head with little horns and preys exclusively on Limacina Retroversa. Limacina Retroversa feeds on algae and resembles a translucent garden snail with wings.

Sea Stars
(Crossaster papposus, Leptasterias polaris)
Rose stars, Crossaster papposus, are a circumpolar species. They have 12 arms and can be in red, pink and orange tones. Similar in color to the rose star but with six arms, Six Ray stars, Leptasterias polaris, brood their eggs by curling over the top to protect them.

Basket Stars
(Gorgonocephalus arcticus)
These creaturescan be a foot across, with branching arms that attach to the ship's hull. Their branching "frilly" arms give the appearance they are multiplying. Basket stars are a whitish to light beige color and often seen around soft coral.

Sea Anemone
(Urticina)
Very little is known about this species, but they have a strong presence around the wreck site. They are brown, reddish and yellow in color, and when clustered provide a field of bright glowing hues. The submersibles will cover a lot of ground so we hope to see these anemones; any observations will be useful for future studies.

Shrimps
(Paracrenton borealis, Lebbeus polaris)
The first species is four to five inches in length, brown and tan in color, and clumsy and slow. The second species is standard in size, pinkish in color and moves quickly. We will see more of the Lebbeus Polaris around the wreck site.

Soft Coral
(Gersemia)
Abundant around and on the wreck, this invertebrate is pinkish orange in color when expanded, raspberry red when contracted.

Arctic Cod
(Borgandus saida)
"Cornerstone" of the Arctic food chain, Beluga whales, ringed seals and local birds all feed on this fish.

Ringed Seal
(Phoca hispida)
Known as the smallest arctic carnivore mammal, they feed mainly on crustaceans, small fish and zooplankton. They can stay submerged for up to 20 minutes. They are not shy. Their sharp claws on foreflippers enable them to dig breathing holes and dens for their pups.

Ringed seals are a staple for polar bears and without them, there wouldn't be as many polar bears or as many people colonized in the North, as they have been used as an important source of food, clothing, oil and many other resources.

Additional marine life

• Snail fish - Liparide
• Sculpins - Cottidae
• Eelpouts - Zoarchids

Breadalbane PDF (371Kb)