Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway
Polar bears are seasonal breeders and typically mate from late March to early May. Implantation is, however, delayed until autumn, which can allow plasticity in the date of mating. As for other seasonal breeders, a rapid return to estrus after the loss of dependent offspring can be expected, even in...
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Language: | English |
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2015
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.25786 https://doaj.org/article/a7b7f1524c5d45159cb2d373983dbc71 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:a7b7f1524c5d45159cb2d373983dbc71 2023-05-15T15:03:09+02:00 Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway Thomas G. Smith Jon Aars 2015-03-01 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.25786 https://doaj.org/article/a7b7f1524c5d45159cb2d373983dbc71 en eng Norwegian Polar Institute 1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v34.25786 https://doaj.org/article/a7b7f1524c5d45159cb2d373983dbc71 undefined Polar Research, Vol 34, Iss 0, Pp 1-3 (2015) Polar bear mating season mating behaviour Svalbard Arctic geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2015 fttriple https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.25786 2023-01-22T19:15:06Z Polar bears are seasonal breeders and typically mate from late March to early May. Implantation is, however, delayed until autumn, which can allow plasticity in the date of mating. As for other seasonal breeders, a rapid return to estrus after the loss of dependent offspring can be expected, even into the summer. A few earlier observations and dissections of dead animals suggest that polar bears are able to mate in summer. We report on a mating incident on 29 June 2014, the first documented mating this late in the season among wild polar bears. The female had lost her dependent cub during the period prior to the mating event. We speculate that she lost this cub late in the mating season, entered estrus and successfully mated in late June. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic polar bear Polar Research Svalbard Ursus maritimus Unknown Arctic Norway Svalbard Polar Research 34 1 25786 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Unknown |
op_collection_id |
fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
Polar bear mating season mating behaviour Svalbard Arctic geo envir |
spellingShingle |
Polar bear mating season mating behaviour Svalbard Arctic geo envir Thomas G. Smith Jon Aars Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway |
topic_facet |
Polar bear mating season mating behaviour Svalbard Arctic geo envir |
description |
Polar bears are seasonal breeders and typically mate from late March to early May. Implantation is, however, delayed until autumn, which can allow plasticity in the date of mating. As for other seasonal breeders, a rapid return to estrus after the loss of dependent offspring can be expected, even into the summer. A few earlier observations and dissections of dead animals suggest that polar bears are able to mate in summer. We report on a mating incident on 29 June 2014, the first documented mating this late in the season among wild polar bears. The female had lost her dependent cub during the period prior to the mating event. We speculate that she lost this cub late in the mating season, entered estrus and successfully mated in late June. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thomas G. Smith Jon Aars |
author_facet |
Thomas G. Smith Jon Aars |
author_sort |
Thomas G. Smith |
title |
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway |
title_short |
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway |
title_full |
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway |
title_fullStr |
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) mating during late June on the pack ice of northern Svalbard, Norway |
title_sort |
polar bears (ursus maritimus) mating during late june on the pack ice of northern svalbard, norway |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.25786 https://doaj.org/article/a7b7f1524c5d45159cb2d373983dbc71 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic polar bear Polar Research Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic polar bear Polar Research Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
op_source |
Polar Research, Vol 34, Iss 0, Pp 1-3 (2015) |
op_relation |
1751-8369 doi:10.3402/polar.v34.25786 https://doaj.org/article/a7b7f1524c5d45159cb2d373983dbc71 |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v34.25786 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
34 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
25786 |
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1766335044856578048 |