Wapusk National Park of Canada

Polar Bear Webcam

Every autumn, large male polar bears gather at Cape Churchill, along the Hudson Bay coast, waiting for the sea ice to form. Polar bears depend on sea ice as a platform from which to hunt ringed seals, their main food source.

Large male polar bears gather at Cape Churchill
© Parks Canada

Polar Bears International and explore.org have placed a webcam at Cape Churchill, in Wapusk National Park.

• Watch video highlights from last fall on the explore.org  website
• Learn more through up-to-date posts by biologists and other experts on the Scientists and Explorers Blog on the Polar Bears International website

Frontiers North Adventures, authorized commercial tour operator in Wapusk National Park also worked with Polar Bears International and explore.org to offer two additional live webcams from Cape Churchill. Check out the highlights at Tundra Buggy Cam and Tundra Buggy Lodge.

Parks Canada is excited to work with Polar Bears International and explore.org to offer this window on the polar bears in Wapusk NP. Like Parks Canada, both of these organizations are dedicated to providing authentic learning experiences about wildlife.

Wapusk National Park – The Bear Facts …

• Most of the polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay population are born in Wapusk NP, which protects one of the world’s largest known concentrations of polar bear maternity dens, where female bears give birth.
• Cape Churchill is located on the northern coast of Hudson Bay, within the boundaries of Wapusk NP. This Park measures 11,475 square kilometres (about the same size as the island of Jamaica, the country of Belgium or 2 Prince Edward Islands!)
• Chances are, you will see only large male polar bears on the Cape Churchill webcam. These big males claim this prime coastal area (where sea ice forms the fastest) pushing out the smaller bears (juveniles and mothers with cubs).
• The male bears, seen in autumn along coastal areas like Cape Churchill, are experiencing what is called “walking hibernation”, as their metabolism slows down to conserve energy. Once they are back on the ice and able to hunt, their metabolic rate will return to normal.
• While male bears, non-breeding females and juveniles gather along the coast, waiting for the ice, the pregnant females are in the denning areas, approximately 70 km inland, within Wapusk NP. The cubs are born between the end of November and the beginning of December. Mothers and cubs emerge from the dens in February/March to make the trek to Hudson Bay, where the females begin their hunting season.

Learn more: Polar bears in Wapusk National Park

Polar Bears International (PBI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear and its habitat through research, education, and action. PBI provides scientific resources and information on polar bears and their habitat to institutions and the general public worldwide.

explore.org is a philanthropic media organization and multi-media arm of The Annenberg Foundation, as part of its Pearls of the Planet initiative, a variety of live feeds that aim to help people fall in love with the world again.