THE 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES

Date:

The Olympic Games start on the 8th of August, 2008 and finish on the 24th of August, 2008.

Country:
The Olympic Games are in Beijing, in China.

Sports:
There are 28 sports in Beijing.
Mascots:
There are five Olympic mascots.
Their names are:

• Beibei;
• Jingjing;
• Huanhuan;
• Yingying;
• Nini.

Polar Bear Drawing Competition!

Enter the 'Umky Patrol' drawing competition!

WWF Sweden and WWF Russia are inviting children up to 15 years of age to send in drawings of polar bears and their habitat.

For more information, and a downloadable form, CLICK HERE (Word document).
WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracker

THREATS TO THE POLAR BAR

Threats

The main threats to the survival of polar bear populations are:

Global warming (especially the melting of sea ice, and changes to marine food supply);

Contamination of food supply by toxic chemicals such as persistent organochlorine pollutants (DDT, dieldrin, dioxins, etc.) and heavy metals such as mercury;

Marine oil pollution and disturbance associated with increased industrial and shipping activities in arctic waters;

Disturbance to key habitats from industrial explorations and developments (e.g., denning concentrations in oil-gas rich areas); and

Over-hunting.

SAVE OUR PLANET!

Polar bears are in DANGER!

What can YOU do?

Polar bear threatened

The polar bear is under threat from climate change. There are more than 20,000-25,000 polar bears in the Arctic, but this could change if the Arctic continues to warm at twice the rate as the rest of the world.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists the status of the polar bear as "vulnerable" on its Red List of Threatened Species.