CLIP 11943

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Living with cold: polar bears

Living with cold: polar bears
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Key Info
  • Living with cold: polar bears
  • Duration: 05:58
  • The town of Churchill has been built directly on an ancient migration route used by polar bears. Every year in the Autumn, polar bears start their journey to reach winter hunting grounds out on the sea ice and have to cross the centre of town. Polar bears are very dangerous animals and have been known to hunt and kill humans but as they are endangered, they cannot be killed. Therefore, the residents of Churchill have had to work hard to ensure that the bears are safely re-directed to their winter hunting ground out on the sea ice and that responsibility falls on the Polar Bear Patrol. Created especially for Class Clips from the BBC series Human Planet, first broadcast in January 2011.
  • Subject:

    Geography

       Topic:

    The Americas

  • Keywords: Change, sustainability, endangered animals, polar bears , predators, migration, endangered, protected by the Government, Polar Bear Patrol, co-exist, HumanPlanet, primaryhumanplanet
Ideas for use in class
  • Prior to watching the clip play the dictionary challenge – who can be the first to find the meaning of migration. Class discussion on why animals migrate. Ask pupils to mind map all the animals that they know are endangered. Unpick what the word ‘endangered’ means. Give pupils the following scenario to discuss in groups: The town of Churchill has been built directly on an ancient migration route used by polar bears. Every year in the Autumn, polar bears start their journey to reach winter hunting grounds out on the sea ice and have to cross the centre of town. Polar bears are very dangerous animals and have been known to hunt and kill humans but as they are endangered, they cannot be killed. Ask them to try to come up with a solution to solve the problem. Groups share their ideas. Watch the clip and then have a class discussion on whether the Polar Bear Patrol is the best solution. Pupils research other examples of humans and animals learning to coexist. Science/Geography enquiry – pupils investigate why the polar bear population is in decline. Give them data that shows that the world is warming up and what impact this is having on the arctic. Pupils use data to write and act out a news report demonstrating what they have found out. More information about the series, images and further clips can be seen on the Human Planet website: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00llpvp.
Background details
  • Clip language : English
  • Aspect ratio : 16x9
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