Polar Bear walking on snow, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

A young polar bear walks along the snow covered barrier islands of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Despite its youth, this bear is well fed and round, its thick body in excellent condition heading into the fall season. The bear's head is down, attention fixed on something near its front paws as it moves across a mix of snow and thin shore ice with a strip of open water in the foreground.

The coastal barrier islands of ANWR serve as a staging area for polar bears each fall. As the Beaufort Sea begins to freeze, bears move along these narrow strips of land, waiting for solid ice to form so they can head offshore to hunt ringed seals. A well nourished bear like this one has done well during the open water season, likely feeding on whale carcasses or other food sources along the coast. That body condition matters. It is the energy reserve that will carry the bear through the long winter hunting season on the ice.

Walking on snow and ice is what polar bears are built for. Their wide, furred paws distribute weight across thin surfaces and provide grip on ice that would send other animals sliding. This photo captures the bear mid step in warm sidelight, the blue sky and soft horizon behind it giving a sense of the vast, flat landscape these animals call home along Alaska's Arctic coast. Photo © copyright by Carl Donohue.

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