polar bear near town	3 July 2025
This morning, a polar bear walked behind the village just before breakfast. The Dutch team could see him very clear from a rooftop. The bear moved fast. Video by Hans Verdaat

	These pictures are taken by Frits Steenhuisen. In the background a reindeer mother and calf. Predation of reindeer by polar bears seems to increase (see this post. These reindeer were alert as you can see on the earlier picture to the left. The lack of big antlers from the mother is one of the costs of reproduction. The mother has spent all calcium from her body on her offspring. Antlers play an imortant role in reindeer (the only deer where the females have antlers) to fence of males in early spring (as males shed earlier) but also as cooling device during summer fattening, which can quickly be closed off by removing the skin from the antlers.

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