Big Picture: Polar Bear Emergence

Photography and copy by Suzi Eszterhas

"When you watch polar bear cubs emerge from the den, it's easy to think that their life has just begun.We think of bears sleeping while hibernating, but for about four months the cubs have been busy with their mother in the den. The mother nurses and grooms the cubs as well as maintaining the den, which involves scratching the ceiling and walls with her claws to allow airflow (otherwise, the den would get completely iced over, and no oxygen would be able to get in).When the family emerges from the den the mother will have spent a total of 6-8 months not eating or drinking. The family now faces their greatest challenge: to build up fat stores before the sea ice begins to melt in the summer.But with the sea ice is melting sooner, that's less time for the mothers to hunt -- and to teach her children to do so -- and less time to regain the fat stores they lost while fasting and lactating in the den."Click here for more Polar Bear photos by Suzi Eszterhas