THE EUROPEAN BEARS AND THE 
WILD BOAR 
T HE Ice, White, or Polar bear ranges over the whole of the North 
Polar regions, being most common on the fringes of the Arctic 
ice. Sir George Nares found no Polar bears north of lat. 79°, 
although Captain Hall observed them as far as lat. 81°. At pre- 
sent we need not discuss their habitat in North America and 
Asia, but only those parts of Northern Europe where they are 
most generally to be found. They are abundant to the north-east of Spitz - 
bergen, in Franz Josef Land, Novaya-Zembla, Jan Mayen and the east 
coast of Greenland, being only rare visitors to Northern Norway, the White 
Sea and Iceland. They are more aquatic than terrestrial animals, having 
been observed swimming in the sea more than eighty miles from the 
nearest land. In summer they often frequent the coast of the Arctic Islands 
and create havoc amongst the sea birds and their young, but their usual 
prey is the ringed, harp, hooded and bearded seals and their young, as 
well as young walruses and any dead carrion, such as whales, etc. The 
strength of these animals is very great, and they have been known to drag 
the carcass of a floating 15 -foot white whale on to the ice and there devour 
it. 
The average height at the shoulder is about 4 feet 3 inches and length 
from nose to tail 8 feet 3 to 6 inches. Very large males are sometimes killed 
up to 10 and 1 1 feet. The finest I have ever seen was a magnificent specimen 
hanging in Mr Brand’s store in Bergen in 191 1 . It measured 12 feet 4 inches 
and the pelage was in perfect condition. Colonel Clifton Brown, of Holm- 
bush, also has a specimen of nearly 12 feet.* In spring the hair is pure white, 
the yellow tinge generally coming from insufficient cleansing. 
The feet and legs are large and powerful and the bear can both run and 
swim with great rapidity. It usually kills the sleeping seals by surprise; 
but if they are watchful the bear will spend hours in stalking them, and 
will resort to the device of diving under the ice and coming up close to 
his quarry, so that it must fall an easy prey as it enters the water. All 
authorities who have a comprehensive acquaintance with this animal in 
its wild state agree in saying that it is exceedingly timorous, and will 
only rarely attempt to attack man, and then only when wounded or in 
* Admiral Markham remarks ( Enc . of Sport, vol. I, p. 86) that bears of over 13 feet have been killed, but no such 
skin is known to exist. 
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