Established in 2000, International Polar Bear Day is marked on 27 February every year.   

The idea to have a special day for the polar bear was proposed by Polar Bears International.

In Russia, polar bears are under the protection of the state for several reasons, namely the impact of human and climate factors, the most important of which today is the melting ice in the Arctic Ocean.

The Joint Administration of Nature Reserves on the Taimyr Peninsula has the predator on the radar screen: its staffers hold environmental-awareness initiatives while their observations of the behaviour of the predator that is native to the Arctic have produced the most interesting results.   

Recently, Viktor Matasov, the director of the nature reserve, managed to take a photo of a polar bear as it was disguising itself before heading off to hunt for bearded seals. Indeed, ice and snow are desperately lacking in the area, so the smart animal, whose fur blends in with the Arctic landscape, dirtied himself thoroughly in the coastal mud lest he should be noticed by his potential prey in the new snowless conditions.   

Hopefully, the polar bears will find new ways to live comfortably in the changing world and humans will help them to do so. That is why about 20 years ago, a special day – Polar Bear Day – was established on 27 February.

Larisa Stryuchkova

(Photo © by Viktor Matasov)