Polar Bear Playing With Husky Photographs

Summary:
Email forward features a series of photographs showing a wild polar bear playing with a husky sled dog (Full commentary below).

Status:
True

Example:(Submitted, October 2007)

Subject: Polar bear playing with a sled dog...

Stuart Brown describes Norbert Rosing's Striking images of a wild polar bear Playing with sled dogs in the wilds Of Canada's Hudson Bay.

The photographer was sure that he was going To see the end of his huskies when the polar bear Materialized out of the blue, as it were:

Obviously it was a well-fed Bear...

The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs..

Commentary:
These photographs of a wild polar bear apparently playing with a sled dog are circulating via email and online. The photographs are genuine and were taken by renowned German wildlife photographer, Norbert Rosing. Rosing has become well known for his remarkable photographs of polar bears of the Canadian Arctic and has visited the region a number of times. Information on Norbert Rosing's biography page notes:

In 1988 he started his still ongoing project: The World of the Polar Bear. It covers the entire Canadian Arctic from Churchill / Manitoba to Pond Inlet and Cambridge Bay in Nunavut. He captured in photographs the life of the Inuit, Muskoxen, Atlantic Walrusses, Whales, the Aurora Borealis and of course the life circle of the Lord of the Arctic, the Polar Bear in which he has become a specialist. Out of this project many articles have been published for several magazines worldwide, including GEO Germany and National Geographic.

The particular sequence of images and the description featured in this email forward were apparently taken from a Speaking of Faith audio and slide show by Dr. Stuart Brown, an expert on animal and human play and founder of the National Institute for Play. The photographs, along with more detailed information, are also published on the Institute's website with the title Why Didn't the Wild Polar Bear eat the Husky?

Last updated: 8th October 2007
First published: 8th October 2007

Write-up by Brett M. Christensen