Polar Bear Day 2024: Photographer shares adorable snaps of mother and cubs - as species faces uncertain future

A wildlife photographer has shared his hard-earned snaps of an adorable new polar bear family, to mark an important date for lovers of the vulnerable species.

This Tuesday (27 February) is International Polar Bear Day, which coincides with the time of year polar bear mothers and their cubs are asleep in their dens. The annual event aims to raise awareness about the conservation threats the species face, as the changing climate and warmer global temperatures place their Arctic homes under increasing pressure.

British guide Paul Goldstein spotted a mother and her cubs on his last expedition to Canada's Baffin Island, shortly after they emerged from their hibernation den. But he said finding the bears in the island's great icy expanses was no easy task. "To spend a day waiting for them to wake in the cold has its challenges... later on my frozen finger was fused to the shutter release as she moved off in front of a towering grounded iceberg.

"Camping on a frozen fjord in -25 [Celsius] temperatures is demanding but also exciting, but spending the days out on the ice searching and the nights under the Aurora makes this a very special place," he told SWNS.

"I have photographed polar bears for over 20 years in the Arctic but this area is really very special. This sequence [of photos] was only over a remarkable 36 hours and these were the smallest bears I've ever witnessed, I think they may have left their hibernation den that morning."

The area had just experienced a blizzard, Mr Goldstein continued, so every now and then the cubs would climb onto their mother as she waded through the snow, "like carry-on luggage". He managed to capture some of these moments on camera too.

Ivory-coated polar bears are the world's largest bear species, although they are closely related to brown bears. Found exclusively around the frigid Arctic circle, the species is dependent on sea ice for much of the year, where they live and hunt their favourite food - seals.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies polar bears as vulnerable and declining in numbers, with around 22,000 to 31,000 bears left. The main threat the species faces is the loss of their sea ice habitat.

Another snap of a young polar bear sleeping in a cradle of ice off Norway’s Svalbard archipelago recently won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition's coveted People's Choice Award category. Photographer Nima Sarikhani said he wanted it to inspire hope in all who saw it.

Natural History Museum director, Dr Douglas Gurr, said the "breath-taking and poignant image"showed the beauty and fragility of our planet. "His thought-provoking image is a stark reminder of the integral bond between an animal and its habitat, and serves as a visual representation of the detrimental impacts of climate warming and habitat loss."