The Great White Bear Quotes

“... one star appears to stand almost overhead hour after hour, night after night, seemingly never moving even as the others circle perpetually around it.
In recognition thereof, it is dubbed Polaris, the pole star ...”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“It sounds on paper the slightest of shelters for the most powerful of predators. A hole in a snowdrift, sealed by more snow, scarcely seems sufficiently substantial to provide privacy and protection for one of the largest truly carnivorous mammals on Earth. And yet, the hostile environment is an impediment to all but the most curious and determined, and the monochrome surroundings render the dens invisible to all but the keenest, most experienced eyes.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“the inherent adorableness of furry white bear cubs”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“Tom Smith has found that in Alaska, mothers and cubs tend to tarry at their dens on average two days before heading out for the sea ice, although some do so the same day the emerge ... 'I'm convinced that the only reason mothers tarry at dens is to monitor cubs' growth and development,' he says. 'Once it meets some standard written in her genes, off they go.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“In time, they will grow up to be among the largest and most fearsome predators on Earth; now, they are vulnerable, largely defenseless, and insecure. Like any youngster taking its first steps in a frightening world, they want and need to stay close to their mother.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“They noticed that Earth tilted in relation to the sun, offering first one hemisphere and then the other over the course of the year ...”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“Then the bear jumped on the tent.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“But Churchill lies directly in the path of polar bears that migrate from summer shelter to the coast of Hudson Bay in anticipation of the bay's waters freezing; it was one thing to have experienced, as I had on several occasions, a moose lying in the driveway or walking down the street, but the prospect of a large and hungry carnivore lurking around the corner seeming to me an entirely different proposition.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“For Churchill residents, particularly those who, like Lance, grew up in the community, bear awareness is. both ingrained and a matter of pride; appropriately safe behaviors are second-nature. The approach is one of neither blustering bravado nor crippling caution; common sense prevails”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“Bobier and colleagues give annual talks on safety to the town's children, lessons that they hope will stay with them through adulthood.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“Bobier has been known to refer to tourists as "walking snacks”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“Or was it in fact displaying the predatory patience for which polar bears are famed, lying quietly in anticipation of the moment when one of us would lean too far forward and into striking distance?”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear

“But at the other end of the spectrum, they continued, are four 'ice-obligate' species that depend on sea ice as a platform for hunting, breeding, and resting, and for which future prospects are dim indeed. They listed the walrus as one of those species; bearded and ringed seals were two of the other three ... the fourth member of the afore-mentioned 'ice-obligate' club, is, of course, the polar bear.”
― Kieran Mulvaney, The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear