Frank Tyro holds up the photo he raffled off to audience members. He took the photo of the polar bear, bald eagle and raven in Churchill, Manitoba during one of the field trips he helps instruct there. Betsy Spettigue was the lucky winner.
Betsy Spettigue models the snow glasses Frank Tyro brought to the presentation. Carved from a caribou bone, the narrow slits in the glasses limit the amount of light entering and help prevent snow blindness. Betsy has twice been to Churchill on Great Bear Foundation field trips and plans to go on another in the fall of 2019. Several other audience members also expressed an interest in the field trips.
SEELEY LAKE – Prompted by the success of its August screening of "Walking Bear Comes Home," the Clearwater Resource Council presented a follow-up Clearwater Partners Workshop Nov. 17. Entitled "Montana to Manitoba: The Polar Bear Connection," the slide show was presented by retired Salish Kootenai College professor and current Great Bear Foundation President Frank Tyro. In addition to his other projects and duties, Tyro is an instructor, co-leader, bear monitor and bus driver for the Arctic Field Courses in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.
According to their website, the Great Bear Foundation is "dedicated to the conservation of the eight species of bears and their habitat around the world."
Tyro explained the polar bear may be misclassified. Genetically, it is so closely related to the brown bear the two species can mate. The polar bear may, in fact, simply be a white phase of the brown bear. Tyro added that few adult polar bears are pure white, more often they appear cream-colored or yellowish or, especially in summer, have brownish patches. The latter results from their tendency in the summer to dig down into the peat moss right next to the permafrost layer where they "hang out and relax" to keep cool.
Seals and their pups constitute polar bears' primary food according to Tyro. Pups are especially vulnerable because they cannot escape into the freezing water until their coats thicken. Tyro showed photos and described how a polar bear watches and listens at a seal's breathing hole and then plunges face and front feet first into the hole when he detects a seal's presence.
In addition to providing information on polar bears, Tyro gave brief facts about the many other birds and animals of the region. He also included information about the culture of the native people living in Churchill and showed pictures of parkas and other clothing created from the skins of caribou and other animals.
The Great Bear Foundation's goal in conducting field courses is to raise awareness of the issues threatening the arctic region in general and polar bears in particular. The Foundation believes better stewardship of the region can be fostered by giving people a chance to experience arctic life for themselves and closely observe the bears during day excursions. Evening activities include lectures by experts such as Tyro.
Among the video clips in Tyro's presentation was one of a polar bear walking near the Foundation's bus. Tyro said, "This is what we go to see. They are very curious and they're just beautiful in the way they walk. Sometimes we'll sit and watch an animal for 45 minutes to an hour because you can learn a lot about an animal by how they move, what they're looking at, what they're turning over on the ice, or on the land. To me, that's a really vital part of what we do: just watch their behaviors."
Further information about the Foundation's field trips is available on the Great Bear Foundation website http://greatbear.org/field-courses.
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