I can’t say I’ve ever had a polar bear family peek at me through a window while I scrambled eggs. This happened to Katarzyna Kudłacz, though, and we bet she’ll never forget it. Three polar bears became very curious about what was going on inside a research station in Svalbard, Norway, when they peered in a window and pressed their paws and noses to the glass.
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Kudłacz is a meteorologist who was on duty at the Stanisław Siedlecki Polish Polar Station on the Hornsund Peninsula when the polar bears came to say hello.
“While preparing breakfast, I saw from the kitchen our majestic guests looking with interest at the windows,” she told The Guardian.
She snapped a photo and alerted her fellow researchers to the bears’ presence.
The team decided to fire a signal gun to make some noise and encourage the bears to move on.
“They were not aggressive,” Kudłacz said. “However, we preferred, by making noise and firing a signal gun, to scare them away.”
A Good Year for Svalbard Polar Bears
Daniel Kępski, the leader of the polar expedition, told The Guardian that the team typically has 20 polar bear sightings per expedition, but this year, they’ve already had nearly 40. The expedition started in June and has three months left, so there will be even more sightings before it’s over.
“So far, we have not observed any clearly emaciated individuals,” Kępski said. “This year is probably a good year for Svalbard’s polar bears because there is a lot of sea ice here compared to recent years.”
Polar bears rely on sea ice to hunt seals and other prey. Thankfully, they do not eat scrambled eggs, but it appears possible that they like the smell.
