Nursing vocalization of a polar bear cub

Andrew E. Derocher; Sofie M. Van Parijs; Øystein Wiig

doi:10.2192/09SC025.1

We can help you reset your password using the email address linked to your BioOne Complete account.

Registered users receive a variety of benefits including the ability to customize email alerts, create favorite journals list, and save searches. Please note that a BioOne web account does not automatically grant access to full-text content. An institutional or society member subscription is required to view non-Open Access content. Contact helpdesk@bioone.org with any questions.

All Fields are Required

First Name

Last/Family Name

Password

Password Requirements: Minimum 8 characters, must include as least one uppercase, one lowercase letter, and one number or permitted symbol Valid Symbols for password:
~ Tilde
! Exclamation Mark
@ At sign
$ Dollar sign
^ Caret
( Opening Parenthesis
) Closing Parenthesis
_ Underscore
. Period

Confirm Password

Web Account created successfully

Andrew E. Derocher,¹ Sofie M. Van Parijs,² Øystein Wiig³

¹1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9, Canada
²2National Marine Fisheries Service, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water Street, Woods Hole
³3National Centre for Biosystematics, Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, PO Box 1172, Blinde

Abstract

We recorded the nursing vocalization of a wild polar bear (Ursus maritimus) cub in Svalbard, Norway and describe it with the term humming. From a 3-minute recording of the vocalization, we found the sounds composed of between 30–55 pulses with a mean of 0.05 (SE = 0.002) seconds in duration, a frequency with the greatest energy at 0.28 kHz (SE = 0.06), and a mean maximum frequency of 0.85 kHz (SE = 0.15). The function of the pulsed vocalization is unknown but may relate to comfort and contentment or to stimulate milk release by the mother.

Citation Download Citation

Andrew E. Derocher, Sofie M. Van Parijs, and Øystein Wiig "Nursing vocalization of a polar bear cub," Ursus 21(2), 189-191, (1 November 2010). https://doi.org/10.2192/09SC025.1

Received: 8 September 2009; Accepted: 1 May 2010; Published: 1 November 2010

You currently do not have any folders to save your paper to! Create a new folder below.