Enter our 'Umky Patrol' drawing competition!
WWF Sweden and WWF Russia are inviting children up to 15 years of age to send in drawings of polar bears and their habitat. For more information, and a downloadable form, CLICK HERE (Word document).
WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracker
The four Svalbard polar bears have been renamed.
Learn more about WWF's polar bear work around the Arctic by visiting the WWF-Canada and WWF-US polar bear websites.
- As a result of the Canon Europe competition polar bear N23479 is now "Amala" and N23831 is now "Bouba Le Blanc" .
- Polar bear N23881 is now "Frøya" as a result of a WWF-Norway competition.
- Polar bear N23731 has been renamed "Flo".
Learn more about WWF's polar bear work around the Arctic by visiting the WWF-Canada and WWF-US polar bear websites.
Updates from the field
14 May 2008
Svalbard polar bear movements April and May 2008
Norwegian Polar Institute polar bear biologist Jon Aars makes his last report for this polar bear field season from the islands of Svalbard.
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Polar bear news
14 May 2008
US government says climate change putting polar bears at risk
Climate change is destroying vital polar bear habitat, putting the species at risk of extinction, the US government said today as it listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
US government says climate change putting polar bears at risk
Climate change is destroying vital polar bear habitat, putting the species at risk of extinction, the US government said today as it listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
- Read the expedition diary from Tom Arnbom, a Swedish biologist, as he visits WWF's Polar Bear Patrol project in Vankarem, Chukotka, north-east Russia.
- follow the bears on Svalbard and the Southern Beaufort Sea using Google Earth?
- play online games or download education packs in the new Canon Kids' Zone?
- watch an animation that explains how we track the polar bears on this website?
- learn more about the latest conservation status of polar bear populations around the Arctic?
- Read more about polar bears and the largest threats to their survival?
- find out which arguments in the U.S. polar bear endangered species listing process are facts and which are fallacies?
Polar bear threatened
The polar bear is under threat from climate change. There are more than 20,000-25,000 polar bears in the Arctic, but this could change if the Arctic continues to warm at twice the rate as the rest of the world.The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists the status of the polar bear as "vulnerable" on its Red List of Threatened Species.
If our great-grandchildren are to live in a world with polar bears in it, we must all take action now to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide.
Learn more:
- Threats to the polar bear
- Status of polar bear populations around the Arctic
- What you can do to help
