The journey of Sky, Amber and Scout: Disney Nature's "Bears".

After "Earth", Disney amazes again with an extraordinary documentary about the life of an Alaskan bears family and their incredible habitat. 

The journey of this mama-bear and her two cubs starts at the end of winter in the mountains, going down to the coast looking for food, facing the thousands of troubles and threats of the wild life. 

This documentary also shows the life of the other Alaskan bears and of other species surrounding them like wolves, American eagles, salmons ecc. 

I strongly recommend to watch it to all the people who (like me) are spellbound in front of the uncontaminated nature and the magical shows that it can give. 

When the victims become victimizers.

75% of the terrestrial mammal predators (over 15 kilos) are at risk of extinction. This is a serious problem for the environment and the ecosystems as the herbivores and the smaller predators are becoming too numerous. 
The great carnivores are vulnerable as they are few and scattered over large territories; they also have a low reproduction rate and they are often hunted by man, who considers them as a threat. 

In Australia, in the grazing areas the wild dogs dingo have been killed and this provoked an explosion in the number of kangaroos, which damage the grass, and of foxes, that exterminated small marsupials. 

In Alaska, the disappearence of 90% of sea otters, killed by the killer whales, is causing serious problems to the algae prairies because the sea urchins (once hunted by the sea otters) are devastating them. 

In Yellowstone there were too many deers beacuse there were no predators and this problem was solved by the return of wolves. 

Man can try to solve the excess of herbivores with hunting, but he will never be an efficient predator like the natural ones as he often kills young specimens instead of the old and sick ones. 

(Thanks to Lorenzo S. for helping me writing this post)

Swedish Big 5: the Wolf.

Wolves were once extinct in Sweden but they are now recovering. The number of wolves living in Sweden is not precise, but it seems to be around 400-500 specimens. 
They are shy and well camouflaged animals and often move during the night so it is very hard to see them. They prefer to live in the forests, far from human beings. In Sweden there are no wolves in the northern part and also in the very southern part; they can be found in the central part of the country, where almost every forested area is part of the wolves territory. 

The wolf lives in a family where there are two parents, often called the alpha pair and the cubs. Most of the cubs leave the family before they become sexually mature. The ones who don't are seen by the parents as baby sits for the younger cubs. A wolf family is often called for a pack. 
The wolves defend their marked territory against trespassing wolves and fights between them are not uncommon. 
Wolves do not go in hibernation, they remain active all winter long. 
A home territory usually measures from 800 to 1000 km2 and the determining criterion in the choice of where to live is considered to be the access to food. 

Wolves' most common preys are roedeers, mooses and raindeers but they also prey on deers, badgers, hares, rodents and beavers. They can survive in all types of habitat as long as there is enough food and little risk of being hunted. 
If you are planning to go to Sweden and absolutely want to see a wolf, Wild Sweden could be right for you. Here you can find two links of the website:
http://www.wildsweden.com/short-tours/wolf-tour-in-summer/
http://www.wildsweden.com/short-tours/wolf-tracking-day/