Bears: A Year in the Life

Peter Harmathy teaches secondary-school fine arts in Barrie, Ontario.

Matthias Breiter is a filmmaker and photographer who is completing a
doctorate on bears. His pictures have appeared in National Geographic.

This book, which features an exceptional collection of the author’s
colour photographs, documents a year in the life of polar, black, and
grizzly bears. Starting in February, we join the hibernation den,
experience the birth and growth of a female’s premature offspring, and
marvel at the fascinating mechanism of hibernation and gestation that
makes survival and birthing possible while a bear is semi-comatose.
March and April see the emergence of the cubs and the mad struggle for
survival in an environment where food is scarce. May is breeding season,
while June and July are times of rearing, playing, and learning.
August/September is a time of plentiful food, particularly on the
salmon-rich West Coast where seasonal obesity is a necessary strategy,
with bears gaining up to 60 percent of their body weight in fat. In
October/November, as the food supply dwindles and the bears’
metabolism slows, hibernation is triggered. Polar bears (with the
exception of pregnant females) follow a different pattern as they
continue to roam, hunt, and feed throughout the cold Arctic twilight.
The book’s introduction and epilogue discuss the sad legacy of
human–bear interactions, but hold out some hope for a peaceful
coexistence.

Bears are truly the “canary in the coal mine,” an indicator of
healthy wilderness. This book admirably fulfills the author’s
principal message: “Dread can change into appreciation only if
understanding replaces ignorance.”