BOOK REVIEWJournal of Mammalogy, 94(1):243–244, 2013Ó2013 American Society of MammalogistsDerocher, A. E., and W. Lynch. 2012. POLAR BEARS:ACOMPLETE GUIDE TO THEIR BIOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR. JohnsHopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 264 pp. ISBN978-1-4214-0305-2, price (hardbound), $39.95.When I 1st became interested in mammals at about the ageof 8, my neighbor Gordon True—a botanist at CaliforniaAcademy of Sciences—had a book on his desk by KarlKenyon (1953), The Seals, Sea-Lions, and Sea Otter of thePacific Coast. I read through it as best I could and wastransformed. A few years later I read it again, adding (Kenyon1969) The Sea Otter in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and VictorScheffer’s (1972) The Year of the Seal and later The Year of theWhale (Scheffer 1984). I was fascinated by the interplaybetween these animals and a major predator of theirs, the polarbear.During the early 1970s many books appeared by naturalistsand ecologists that not only documented important naturalhistory stories, but also told of how humans had affected thelives of other animals and entire biomes. Greenpeace hit thehigh seas and cruised into the Arctic bringing untold stories ofslaughter of marine mammals, especially whales. As more andmore books hit the shelves, new chapters appeared on ‘‘humaninteractions,’’ and ‘‘threats,’’ and ‘‘ will they survive?’’ Wesometimes forget—as even the 1% start to admit that climatechange is a problem—that there are many stories still to tell. Infact, there are many stories yet to be discovered, especially byseasoned, trained observers such as those documented in PolarBears: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Behavior byauthors Andrew Derocher and Wayne Lynch.And the story told in text (Derocher) and photographs(Lynch) is one that Scheffer and Kenyon would have likelyloved to have seen and read. A more proximate reason thisbook attracted my attention was its beautiful design, rich colorof the photographs, and seemingly broad (not necessarily deep)treatment of polar bear biology. There are 14 chapters thatbegin with introductory remarks about polar bears and theirevolution (chapters 1–3). A chapter of Early Human–BearInteractions starts off the book along with chapters on ArcticMarine Ecosystems, and Sea Ice and Habitat (chapters 4, 5,and 6, respectively). Then, Distribution and Populations(chapter 8) is tucked between Prey (chapter 7) and HuntingMethods followed by Polar Bear Behavior (chapters 9 and 10,respectively). The last 4 chapters are Den Ecology (chapter 11),From Birth to Death (chapter 12), Threats (chapter 13), andLooking Forward (chapter 14). There are convenient appen-dixes on scientific names of plants and animals and thingseaten by polar bears, and both an extensive list of referencesand a comprehensive index.Let me step back a bit and provide a bit more depth aboutthis book. It is printed on nice, high-quality paper, and at 1stglance appears as a ‘‘coffee-table book.’’ However the contentis both detailed and provocative because there is nopussyfooting around here because the authors are very clearin reminding us of the peril polar bears face as Arctic icedisappears. It is disappearing, and so will the bears. But as allof us know as scientists, this isn’t just a, ‘‘those poor polarbears’’ story, it also tells the story of the impact on allmammals, and our own future as well. But as for the authors,they may be the most fortunate ones, because as stated on page6, ‘‘There are few polar bear biologists in the world and eachlives in one of the five polar nations that have polar bears undertheir jurisdiction.’’ Five; and these folks passionately fight toget the word out to the rest of the planet.Basic natural history is the stuff of great tales. Even for thoseof you who are seasoned mammalogy course instructors, youwill find yourself saying to yourself, ‘‘ Huh! I didn’t knowthat!’’ For instance, overall bear health can be spotted by theirprofile as they walk, and bears have good night vision (goodfor long polar nights) to see other animals on the ice beforethey are seen—but they likely would have smelled the otheranimal before that. Ageing by sectioning teeth, adaptations forwalking on ice, highly lobulated kidneys to deal withconsumption of salt water, lack of hibernation, denning, andother ‘‘cool’’ things about living in the polar region are alldiscussed; a teaser for more details to come. For instance,details of den ecology (chapter 11; accompanied by beautifulphotographs) provides incredible information that for thesebears only a very few specific locations—such as WrangelIsland—are immensely important for bear denning, and hencethe production of bear cubs. This locality is of the highestimportance to survival of polar bears because of this fecundity.The next section (chapters 3–5) provide clear explanations ofbear evolution, human–bear interactions, and the ability ofbears to prosper in an ice–marine ecosystem. The authors evenhighlight natural hybrids between polar bears and grizzlies(‘‘grolar’’ or ‘‘ pizzly’’ bears—either way, they say love isblind). As with these types of books, there is a fascinatingsection on polar bears in mythology ending with a discussionof Inuit people and culture, who are linked to polar bearsthrough stories, folktales, taboos, and hunting. The discussionof the Arctic ecosystem is very brief (4 pages) and could havebeen combined with the following chapter on sea ice andhabitat (chapter 6). The chapter on prey (chapter 7) is extensiveand very good. Focus of the discussion in this chapter is ofpolar bear prey and the little ‘‘packaged meals’’ represented thatdot the ice as a large variety of seals and their kin. Ringed sealsare most abundant and easily devoured, whereas walrus aredangerous for bears to hunt. But discussion also extends toother ‘‘meal-deals’’ such as carrion, whales, birds, and evencrowberries (genus Empetrum) and seaweed as dietary items.Chapter 8 discusses distributions and populations and whythere are no polar bears in Antarctica. But the fascinatingwww.mammalogy.org243
aspect of this part is the ‘‘polar bear research in action.’’ AuthorDerocher does an excellent job taking the reader there indiscovering the 19 recognized populations of polar bears and inestimating abundance (some populations have not yet beenestimated and their numbers are unknown). Each of thepopulations is discussed as well as their status and threats.Chapters 9 and 10—discussions of hunting and their generalbehaviors—could have been either combined or linked closerto chapter 6 or chapter 7. Chapter 12 is beautiful, the closest Ihave seen to Victor Scheffer’s (1972) The Year of the Seal.Opening this chapter in the Arctic summer as a cue thatpregnant females need to start finding a den begins the ‘‘ year.’’Once cubs are born—and twins are common and there isadoption of lone cubs—it takes about 2 years for them to huntand head out on their own. Swimming and moving around theirrange, competition between siblings, and techniques in huntingand defense take up much of the time with the mother. There issome information on disease, parasites, and adult survivalrates, but this could have been expanded by including resultsfrom more studies. Although there are plenty of pictures ofbears eating things, there are not any of bears being killed inthis chapter; that is for the last substantive section, chapter 13,on threats to bears.Among the threats, there are harvests by local people usingtraditional methods, but also annual quota of a legal killing ofpolar bears. Incredibly, so far removed from our industrialworld, polar bears are uniformly affected by waste aerial andparticulate pollutants that industrialized nations dump into theglobal environment. Because bear distribution is on top of theworld and they are top consumers on a cascade of prey andwhere air and water currents carry much polluting chemicalsand toxins to their world, there is no such thing as anunpolluted bear. And we have heard this story before. KenGeluso et al. (1976) described the concentration of organo-chlorine residue from the widespread use of DDT pesticides aslactating free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) nursed theiryoung. The yearling bats, after being weaned and beginningflight, would fall dead after these pollutants that had beenconcentrated in their fat stored from lactation were metabolizedand poisoned them. The same may be happening in polar bearsas cubs mature and begin to use up their fat reserves.Derocher says that, ‘‘heavy metals mercury, lead, cadmium,and selenium are all found in polar bears. Some heavy metalsoccur naturally; others are released from metal smelters,cement production, and fossil fuel burning. Coal releases themost mercury.’’ Sure, we might as well poison the earththoroughly before melting the ice during global environmentalchanges! But wait, there’s more! As sea ice melts, there is moreand more talk about drilling for oil in the Arctic. There areactive rigs there now. A large oil spill would have seriousconsequences for polar bears that seem ill-equipped forescaping polluted waters and feeding on oil-soaked prey, andit is unlikely that rescue workers would have much successwashing them with dish soap as was done to pelicans in theBP–Gulf oil spill for more than 3 months in 2010.Clearly global change—in particular warming of theArctic—will drastically reduce bear numbers if not eliminatepolar bears completely. As the authors pen in the last, short,poignant chapter 14, evolutionarily, polar bears have onlyexisted ‘‘a few moments.’’ To help save the ice bears, theauthors implore us to learn more, get involved, and work toaddress the issues threatening bear and human lives. Think ofall the nonsense we surround ourselves with. That is all just tocompensate for what a polar bear can do on its own—raw–engaged—living to which it is adapted. This is a beautifulbook, a fascinating subject, and a turning point in our humanevolution and relationship with the natural world. Get the book,then go out and do something.—WILLIAM L. GANNON,Office of the Vice President forResearch, Department of Biology, and Museum ofSouthwestern Biology, MSC05 3480, University of NewMexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA; e-mail:wgannon@unm.edu.LITERATURE CITEDGELUSO, K. N., J. S. ALTENBACH,AND D. E. WILSON. 1976. Batmortality: pesticide poisoning and migratory stress. Science, NewSeries 4261, 194:184–186.KENYON, K. W. 1953. The seals, sea-lions, and sea otter of the Pacificcoast. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, published byUniversity of California Press, Berkeley.KENYON, K. W. 1969. The sea otter in the eastern Pacific Ocean.United States Department of the Interior, North American Fauna68:i–xiii þ1–352.SCHEFFER, V. B. 1972. The year of the seal. Charles Scribner’s Sons,New York.SCHEFFER, V. B. 1984. The year of the whale. Simon & Schuster, NewYork.