Webcam to capture polar bear migration
The Associated Press
Posted: Oct 30, 2011 12:42 PM CT
Last Updated: Oct 30, 2011 1:40 PM CT
A young polar bear cub teases his mother, in the shrub and tundra outside Churchill, Man., November 2006. There are only a few places on the planet where humans can see polar bears in their natural environment, and even then, for just a brief window before winter sets in. But during the last weeks of autumn - usually from the middle of October to early November - no place on Earth has more polar bears than Churchill. (Harold Ables/Associated Press)
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A new webcam is capturing live images of the annual Canadian polar bear migration.
Hundreds of bears travel through the small town of Churchill, Man. each fall and wait for Hudson Bay to freeze over so they can hunt seals.
In the past, their trek was witnessed mainly by scientists and tourists. Now, thanks to a $50,000 US grant from the Annenberg Foundation, anyone can view the bears' antics and actions from their living room through the foundation's website.
Three cameras are on a makeshift lodge and one is attached to a roaming tundra buggy.
Krista Wright of Montana-based Polar Bears International says the streaming cameras help raise awareness of climate change's effects on the animals' habitat.
There are only 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears worldwide.
The Western Hudson Bay polar bears, one of 19 subpopulations, are estimated to number between 600 and 800.
Their gathering point near the former military town of Churchill makes them among the most accessible and studied group of bears in existence.
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