Kauri Dieback Fact File

My Student Conference

Polar bears

Ursus maritimus, the scientific name for a polar bear. They are from the bear family which has __
species including, Brown bear, Black bear, Giant panda and more. The polar bear, unlike any other
bears are located in extremely cold areas.

Appearance

Polar bears are known to have white fur to blend in with the snow and ice that surrounds them.
They have longer necks than other bears and narrow heads. They have large paws so they are able
to swim quicker through the water. The average male polar bear weighs 450 kg whereas the female
polar bear weighs about 150 – 250 kg. A female polar bears height is at 2 meters when they are on their
hind legs and a male's height is at 1.3 meters to their shoulders.

Habitat

Polar bears are located in places that are around the arctic circle, including, Norway, Russia,
Greenland, Canada, The United States as in, Alaska and the Arctic Circle itself. Polar bears prefer
being on the annual sea ice covering, as there is a good amount of seals to feed on. The problem with
this is that its melting away due to global warming, which is causing the polar bear population to
decrease.

Behaviour

A female polar bear eats a lot of food in summer and fall so she can survive the denning period, the
denning period, most den’s are dug on land where the snow is thick (denning is when a pregnant
female polar bear digs a hole and gives birth in it, she stays in it for 3 months) The season of the
denning is usually in Autumn, it may seem like a hibernation but unlike other bears polar bears don't
hibernate, they don't get a drop in heart rate or anything that signals a hibernation. The female polar
bear will give birth to a cub, sometimes two, that weighs one pound. Once the cub/s weigh 20 or 30
pounds the mother will take them out into the wild and then after 2 years the mother will leave her
cub/s. A polar bear has one of the lowest reproductive rates as, In one lifetime a female polar bear can
only produce 5 litters of cubs.  

Diet
Polar bears will travel extremely large distances when the prey is scarce, a polar bears diet consists

mainly of seals but when none are found they will scavenge on, walrus, beluga whale and bowhead
whale carcasses. They also sometimes eat bird’s egg’s, and very very rarely they will eat vegetation.

Polar bears are very quickly becoming extinct, so quickly that no one is having any time to think about
what's happening with global warming, did you know that half of the reason global warming is getting worse
is because of us? With less and less trees the world has less oxygen which is causing the ice to melt,
where are polar bears going to go when it's all gone?

Reflection...

I enjoyed making this because I like writing about animals and bringing awareness to the people who may not know about what is happening to the polar bears, our goal was to write a good piece of writing that explains everything you would need to know about the animal. I think I achieved that goal 

Our New Genuis Hour

Iceland Genius Hour

Rubbish

Rubbish is the predator that's killing most of our underwater life and causing the dolphins to be
endangered. It may not seem like much when you have it in the palm of your hand but if you fail to
bring it to the rubbish bin it could become the reason for an animals death. Even when you do put it in the
bin it seems to go nowhere better, I encourage you to try and use as little plastic as possible. The rubbish
that gets put in the bin mostly goes to a landfill. Maybe if this continues then underneath our feet will
always be a pile of rubbish underground.

Firstly rubbish is killing our ocean wildlife. Turtles may mistake plastic bags for jellyfish, dolphins may
mistake a chip packet for a fish, and its not only our ocean wildlife,Our beaches are also being hurt by
rubbish being washed up on the beach from the ocean. One day maybe all of our beaches and under
the earth we stand on will be rubbish, what will the world do by the time that there is no more room for
more landfills?

Secondly, Our beaches and our grassy fields and forests are also being hurt by rubbish, for beaches
the rubbish is being washed up on the beach from the ocean. Our land is just being dug up so that
trucks full of rubbish can come and dump it in them. One day maybe all of our beaches and under
the earth we stand on will be rubbish, what will the world do by the time that there is no more room
for more landfills?

lastly it's also killing our land animals. Not only our ocean wildlife are being harmed by rubbish, our
native birds are eating it and dying, plastic doesn't help them survive possums and other threats that
the world has for them, so why do we need to make it worse for them? Our native birds and animals
need to be able to feel at least a little bit safe in their homes.                                                                                                          

Each year we use more and more rubbish so each year more and more landfills will need to be
created, more and more rubbish will fly away into the ocean and more and more of our beaches will
end up being polluted and unable to be explored. Help stop this beautiful world we live in become one
big city and landfill.

Reflection : I like this project but I have been writing the same things for a long long time and its getting
sort of boring
What I found easy : Writing the main thing because I have written about it heaps
What I found hard : Trying to find NEW ideas 

My Term 1 Reflection