Ice Bear. Giant of the Arctic. Lord of the Arctic. The Inuit call it pihoqiaq, “the Ever-Wandering One.” By whatever name, the polar bear is a true symbol of Canada’s north.

In November, ice forms along the western coast of Canada’s Hudson Bay. Throughout the fall and up until just before the bay freezes, large numbers of polar bears gather together along the coast until they can move out onto the frozen ice of the bay and begin feeding. The bears have just spent three to four months in a walking hibernation – they’ve not been actively hunting but surviving on fat reserves that they built up the winter before.

Perfectly suited by nature to the harsh cold, polar bears command respect for their strength, size and cunning. They prefer to live on the sea ice all year round, which is where they hunt their main prey, seals. When the edge of the ice moves north in summer, bears travel many miles to stay on the ice near the seals. The southernmost population of polar bears, living near Churchill, Manitoba on Hudson Bay, doesn’t follow the retreating ice. The bears there spend their summers on land, and when temperatures drop in the fall and the pack ice gathers again, they leave the land to spend the winter on the frozen sea.

Polar bears are one of the earth’s most powerful carnivores, the most carnivorous of all the bears, adept at stalking and killing. Their favourite prey is seals and young walrus, but they have been known to kill and eat beluga whales, which also inhabit Hudson Bay. In addition to their mainly meat diet, the bears graze on grasses, mushrooms and berries. They have, aside from humans, no natural enemies, but can occasionally fall victim to killer whales.

Polar bears are one of the world's largest carnivores – an adult  bear can be longer than a small car. Males can weigh up to 800 kilograms (almost 2,000 pounds) and measure three meters in length (nearly 10 feet). Male bears can be twice the size of females. The bears’ coats are thick, made up of hairs that conserve heat, and vary in color from white to creamy yellow. Under this dense coat is black skin, good for absorbing the rays of the Arctic sun. In wild populations, the lifespan for males is over 20 years and for females, over 25 years.

Male and female polar bears avoid each other except during the mating season in the spring.

After mating, the female has only a few short months to build up the large fat deposits she will need for herself and her new cubs. The female enters the maternity den in the fall, a single-room shelter she digs into a snowdrift or peat bank. Polar bears have one to three cubs, weighing less than a kilogram (about two lbs.) when born. They fatten up to 10 to 15 kilograms (25 to 30 lbs.) by the time they and their mother leave the den and then after about two years, they begin to fend for themselves.

The streamlined bodies of polar bears are well adapted for the water and their body fat helps them float. A special clear second eyelid, called a nictitating membrane, covers the bears’ eyes like built-in goggles. Polar bears’ tails and ears are stubby and compactly fitted to their body -- less surface area means less heat loss. However this doesn’t apply to their feet – they are huge! The bears use their large forepaws to paddle when swimming and sometimes use their hind legs as rudders.

The huge paws also come in handy when crossing thin ice, working like snowshoes. The feet spread out the bear's weight and keep the animal from breaking through ice cover that would normally crack under such pressure. As well, the pads of these remarkably useful feet are covered with soft, tiny growths called papillae, which increase the friction between the bear’s paw and the ice and lessen the possibility of slipping.

The Polar Bear Capital of the World

On the east bank of the Churchill River where it empties into Hudson Bay, stands a small remote and ruggedly beautiful village of about 900 people. Churchill has the appearance of many of the settlements of the far north – its open spaces dotted with the houses of its mixed Inuit, Cree and white population. This area is unique in its geographical and historical significance; it’s where the sub-arctic vegetation changes to tundra and where a historic trading post of the famous Hudson’s Bay Company and the Prince of Wales Fort once thrived.

The town is still a major grain-handling port, but eco-tourism has come into its own here. The region is the northernmost limit of the Canadian moose, is one of the migration routes favored by the arctic wolf, provides spring calving grounds for the Cape Churchill caribou, and is used for denning sites by the arctic and red fox. Nowadays the town attracts people with a taste for wilderness and wildlife – masses of migrating birds, huge pods of beluga whales and the congregation of the polar bears. Churchill also provides access to one other spectacular natural wonder, the amazing Northern Lights.

Churchill is over 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) northeast of Manitoba’s capital city, Winnipeg. Heading north to Churchill, the beautiful Manitoba landscape changes from majestic prairie to boreal forest, then taiga, and then the treeless tundra surrounding the village. Most of northern Manitoba is inaccessible and its limited highway system was built to service the resource centers, such as the pulp-and-paper town of The Pas, just to the north of lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis.

But Churchill is well beyond the reach of Manitoba's highways, and its only surface connection to civilization is by Canada’s major railroad, VIA Rail, on one of the longest railway lines in the world. The trip aboard VIA’s Hudson Bay from Winnipeg takes about 34 hours – two nights and a day of travel. The Northern Spirit sleeper cars feature comfortable bedrooms or roomettes, and Manitoba cuisine in the dining car.

Once in Churchill, the only way to be sure to see the polar bears is to travel out onto the tundra. This is done in heated, specially designed vehicles adapted to go out on snow and ice. These all-terrain vehicles, tundra buggies, sit about 4.5 meters (about 15 feet) above the ground on huge balloon tires that apply minimum pressure on the fragile tundra. The vehicles include comfortable seats, a large observation deck and a washroom facility.

From the safety of a tundra buggy's window or outdoor viewing platform, visitors develop affection for these animals -- but cute can be dangerous! Polar bears are fearless and very curious and although their demeanor reminds one of large, sloppy, friendly dogs, their charm disguises their power and the potential danger they represent. They are, in every sense, the Lords of the Arctic.