White bear, or polar bear, polar bear, oshkuy, nanuk, umka, is a predatory mammal of the bear family, a close relative of the brown bear. The second largest land predator of the planet after the combed crocodile. Named because of the white wool. The polar bear is distinguished from other bears by its long neck and flat head. His skin is black. The color of the fur coat varies from white to yellowish; in summer, fur can turn yellow due to constant exposure to sunlight. The polar bear's coat is devoid of pigment coloration, and the hairs are hollow. The world for a polar bear is limited by ice fields. This primarily determines the features of his behavior. Judging by the animals kept in captivity, the polar bear, in comparison with the brown one, seems less smart and less agile. (The polar bear, for example, is worse than other species of this genus, amenable to training, moreover, it is more dangerous and excitable, and therefore it is relatively rare to see it in the circus arena.) It has a certain "straightforwardness" in its actions, due to the monotonous way of life of the animal, its narrow food specialization, the absence of enemies and competitors in nature. But it is enough even to observe a polar bear for a short time in a natural setting to make sure of the high level of psyche, of the animal's exceptional ability to assess the conditions of the natural environment, to apply to them, depending on them, flexibly change hunting tactics, find the easiest and most passable paths among the piles hummocks, confidently move through young, fragile ice fields or areas of ice teeming with cracks and streaks. The Earth's climate is becoming milder every year, and in the Arctic it is warming two to three times faster than on the rest of the planet: over the past hundred years, the temperature there has increased by 4-5 ° C. The boundaries of solid sea ice are shifting further and further north. Warming is especially noticeable in the mainland of the Arctic - in Alaska, north-west Canada and the Asian coast of the Arctic Ocean. As a result, the unique flora and fauna of the Arctic and the way of life of its indigenous inhabitants were on the verge of extinction. The author of the article, Vitaly Nikolayevich Lystsov, works at the Russian Scientific Center "Kurchatov Institute". For many years he was involved in the radiation and environmental safety of the polar region, participated in the work of the International Group for the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment.
