Word: polarizing
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...want to see polar bears up close, the place to go is Churchill, Man., on the western shore of Hudson Bay. When the ice breaks up in the summer, the bears come ashore by the hundreds to wait for the autumn refreeze. So it's where tourists and scientists go, to gawk at and study the huge white predators. Just south of Churchill, the Canadian government recently created Wapusk National Park (wapusk means "white bear" in the indigenous Cree language) to protect the area where pregnant females dig their dens. (See the top 10 invasive species...
...recent years, another large predator, not quite as big as the polar bear but equally fierce, has been spotted in Wapusk. Although hunters eradicated them from Manitoba more than a 100 years ago, grizzly bears are trickling back and setting the stage for what could be a fascinating natural ecological experiment. (See pictures of Germany's polar bear celebrity...
...enriched environments of contemporary zoos are as much for the benefit of human visitors as anything else. The array of dysfunctional behaviors on display at even the best zoos - from swaying giraffes to pacing big cats to the compulsive back-and-forth swimming of Gus, the famously neurotic polar bear in New York's Central Park Zoo - illustrate the psychologists' point. Trying to improve conditions is hard enough with small to midsize animals like cheetahs and lions; with a leviathan like a killer whale, whose enclosure can only get so big, it's nearly impossible. (See a 2006 story about...
...Winter Olympics Friday night in Vancouver was the usual mix of artistry and awkwardness. The festivities included Canadian aboriginal dancers, who greeted the parade of athletes donned in sparkling regalia - a touching nod to an underappreciated aspect of the country's culture. But the 65-foot puppet of a polar bear covered in LED bulbs that emerged from the stage, while admittedly pretty cool, begged the question: Does the world really need to see a 65-foot polar bear? (See pictures of Olympic opening ceremonies...
...world but the real one," says Ghazaleh, a young graduate student from northern Tehran. If escape is not possible - as appears to be the case for Jack, Hurley and Kate - then at least our trapped heroes can live in paradise, even if a smoke monster or the occasional polar bear threatens their existence. "If this story had taken place in Siberia, then nobody would have watched," says Masoud, a 28-year-old engineer from Tehran. The point is for the viewer to be able to escape, even if the characters cannot. "Today an Iranian says to himself...