![Photo: The Den of the Polar Bear
The female polar bear builds her snowy den when she is pregnant or after she gives birth, beneath a pile of snow. Apart from that, she does not live in a den or a specific home.
The female polar bear usually gives birth in mid-winter, and the newborn polar bear is blind and hairless, besides being small in size. Hence, there is a real need for a den to care for this weak newborn.
The traditional den is two meters long, half a meter wide, and half a meter high.
But this den is not built without care or planning, rather it is dug beneath the snow with great care and attention, in the midst of this frozen environment, providing all means of comfort and care for the newborn. These dens usually have more than one chamber, which the female builds at a higher level than the entrance so that the warmth will not escape.
Throughout the winter, the snow piles up over the den and its entrance, and the female maintains a small opening for ventilation. The thickness of the roof varies between 75 centimeters and 2 meters. This roof acts as insulation so it maintains the warmth inside the dens, and thus the temperature remains constant.
A researcher at the University of Oslo, Paul Watts, installed a thermometer in the roof of a polar bear’s den to measure the temperature, and he got amazing results. The temperature outside the den was approximately minus thirty degrees Celsius, but inside the den the temperature never dipped below two or three degrees Celsius. What is astonishing is the manner in which the female bear measures the thickness of the snowy roof so as to maintain the right level of insulation to keep the temperature inside the den constant. Moreover, the temperature inside the den suits the female with regard to regulating the consumption of fat reserves in her body during her winter hibernation.
The other amazing thing is that the female polar bear reduces all her vital functions to a large extent during her hibernation so that she does not expend any extra energy and so that she can nurse her offspring. Throughout seven months the fat in her body turns to protein that is needed to feed her offspring, but she does not eat herself and her heart rate falls from 70 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute. Thus her vital functions are reduced and she does not relieve herself either. In this way she conserves the energy that is needed for her offspring to grow, who will be born during this period.
[from “Scientific Miracles in the Oceans & Animals” by “Yusuf Al-Hajj Ahmad”, published by Darussalam, 2010]
#Darussalam #Bear](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/p180x540/1512487_524263071040146_2163654086934423646_n.png?oh=8875cfe10fb8ba40ce1ffaf8114ac368&oe=5445B8EE&__gda__=1414418887_31eac92c243db366747b37b8be73311c)
The Den of the Polar Bear
The female polar bear builds her snowy den when she is pregnant or after she gives birth, beneath a pile of snow. Apart from that, she does not live in a den or a specific home.
The female polar bear usually gives birth in mid-winter, and the newborn polar bear is blind and hairless, besides being small in size. Hence, there is a real need for a den to care for this weak newborn.
The traditional den is two meters long, half a meter wide, and half a meter high.
But this den is not built without care or planning, rather it is dug beneath the snow with great care and attention, in the midst of this frozen environment, providing all means of comfort and care for the newborn. These dens usually have more than one chamber, which the female builds at a higher level than the entrance so that the warmth will not escape.
Throughout the winter, the snow piles up over the den and its entrance, and the female maintains a small opening for ventilation. The thickness of the roof varies between 75 centimeters and 2 meters. This roof acts as insulation so it maintains the warmth inside the dens, and thus the temperature remains constant.
A researcher at the University of Oslo, Paul Watts, installed a thermometer in the roof of a polar bear’s den to measure the temperature, and he got amazing results. The temperature outside the den was approximately minus thirty degrees Celsius, but inside the den the temperature never dipped below two or three degrees Celsius. What is astonishing is the manner in which the female bear measures the thickness of the snowy roof so as to maintain the right level of insulation to keep the temperature inside the den constant. Moreover, the temperature inside the den suits the female with regard to regulating the consumption of fat reserves in her body during her winter hibernation.
The other amazing thing is that the female polar bear reduces all her vital functions to a large extent during her hibernation so that she does not expend any extra energy and so that she can nurse her offspring. Throughout seven months the fat in her body turns to protein that is needed to feed her offspring, but she does not eat herself and her heart rate falls from 70 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute. Thus her vital functions are reduced and she does not relieve herself either. In this way she conserves the energy that is needed for her offspring to grow, who will be born during this period.
The female polar bear builds her snowy den when she is pregnant or after she gives birth, beneath a pile of snow. Apart from that, she does not live in a den or a specific home.
The female polar bear usually gives birth in mid-winter, and the newborn polar bear is blind and hairless, besides being small in size. Hence, there is a real need for a den to care for this weak newborn.
The traditional den is two meters long, half a meter wide, and half a meter high.
But this den is not built without care or planning, rather it is dug beneath the snow with great care and attention, in the midst of this frozen environment, providing all means of comfort and care for the newborn. These dens usually have more than one chamber, which the female builds at a higher level than the entrance so that the warmth will not escape.
Throughout the winter, the snow piles up over the den and its entrance, and the female maintains a small opening for ventilation. The thickness of the roof varies between 75 centimeters and 2 meters. This roof acts as insulation so it maintains the warmth inside the dens, and thus the temperature remains constant.
A researcher at the University of Oslo, Paul Watts, installed a thermometer in the roof of a polar bear’s den to measure the temperature, and he got amazing results. The temperature outside the den was approximately minus thirty degrees Celsius, but inside the den the temperature never dipped below two or three degrees Celsius. What is astonishing is the manner in which the female bear measures the thickness of the snowy roof so as to maintain the right level of insulation to keep the temperature inside the den constant. Moreover, the temperature inside the den suits the female with regard to regulating the consumption of fat reserves in her body during her winter hibernation.
The other amazing thing is that the female polar bear reduces all her vital functions to a large extent during her hibernation so that she does not expend any extra energy and so that she can nurse her offspring. Throughout seven months the fat in her body turns to protein that is needed to feed her offspring, but she does not eat herself and her heart rate falls from 70 beats per minute to 8 beats per minute. Thus her vital functions are reduced and she does not relieve herself either. In this way she conserves the energy that is needed for her offspring to grow, who will be born during this period.
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