One of my “bucket list” goals of going to the Arctic was to see polar bears (also puffins, walruses other birds, and whales). I got them all, but I didn’t get close enough to a puffin.
This photo series, one or two I showed before at much lower resolution, comprises two of these elements: a polar bear and a whale, identified by our whale experts as a sperm whale (I can’t verify this). Near the northernmost part of our trip, at roughly 83º north latitude (a record for the ship itself and everybody on it), we saw an amazing sight: a polar bear (Ursus maritimus) gobbling down the blubber of a dead sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) on top of an ice floe. So here you see the world’s largest terrestrial predator gnawing on the world’s largest marine predator. It is a rarity, as both animals are scarce, and to see them together raised the hair on my neck. It was so amazing! Here are a few shots:
Don’t ask me how a dead whale got on an ice floe rather than sinking in the sea. This sight alone was, to me, worth the price of the trip. But there was of course a lot more, which I’ll post in the coming weeks. These, though, are my favorite photos. Even an expert polar photographer doesn’t come across situations like this. (Click ’em to enlarge.)
If the resolution leaves a bit to be desired, this was taken with my point-and-shoot Panasonic Lumix DMC ZS60 camera with the lens cranked all the way out to 30X. I highly recommend this camera for travel, as it fits in your pocket but takes a lot better photos than does an iPhone.
More to come.