travel

December 19, 2025

White Giants: Time with the Largest Land Carnivores

By Jeff Daum, Ph.D., PPA and IP (Itinerant Photojournalist)

As an itinerant photojournalist I believe Annie Leibovitz said it best “I wish that all of nature’s magnificence, the emotion of the land, the living energy of place could be photographed.”

Some of you know my wife and I are enthusiastic globe-trotters and have had the good fortune to visit more than one hundred countries. Part of our motivation to travel has always been to see new flora, and wildlife, and to experience cultures that are different from our own. Unfortunately, some might not be around in the future for a variety of reasons.

We just returned from a trip to observe the Polar Bears[1] just outside of Churchill Manitoba along the Hudson Bay in the southern part of the Arctic Circle.  It was truly an amazing experience seeing these Ursus maritimus (literally ‘Maritime Bears’ because they spend so much time in the sea or sea ice), which are the largest land carnivores, in their milieu.  The males are generally between 550 to 1700 pounds and are eight to ten feet while the females are between 200 and 700 pounds at six to eight feet. 

Though they are carnivores eating primarily the Ringed seals they catch in the sea ice, they also eat grasses and berries. But I am getting ahead of myself- how did we get here?

This adventure was part of a small group Tauck Tour, who made all the arrangements including flying us from Winnipeg to Churchill Manitoba, staying at the Lazy Bear Lodge, engaging a local naturalist guide and providing excursions on Lazy Bear’s custom Arctic Crawler™ Tundra vehicles.

The exploration began with checking into the Lazy Bear Lodge.  The real log cabin Lodge was built by owner Wally Daudrich from reclaimed trees, taking him over a decade to complete.  Wally’s son Deacon served as our highly knowledgeable and most congenial naturalist guide and Arctic Crawler™ Tundra vehicle driver.

[1] Commonly called Arctic Polar Bears, but since they only occur in the Arctic, they are properly called Polar Bears.  Their scientific name is Ursus maritimus.

Following check-in, we headed out of Churchill to board the custom-built Lazy Bear Arctic Crawler™ Tundra vehicle. It is enormous: about forty-seven feet long, eleven- and one-half feet wide, over thirteen feet tall with nearly six feet high tires and wheels, tipping the scales at twenty-one tons! The large tires help distribute the weight to minimize damage to the tundra. We ‘crawled’ at maybe four or five miles per hour out to Hudson Bay.  At this time of year, Polar Bears typically amble about until the bay freezes and they can go out onto the ice to hunt and feed.  The Bears congregate at this point around the Bay because it is the first area to freeze and the Ringed seals have a pupping nursery area not far offshore. Unfortunately, because of climate change, the bay is freezing later each year.  It used to freeze in September, but now it was not cold enough even at the beginning of November.

We searched for quite a while before seeing a Polar Bear, and when we did it was in the distance near the shoreline.  Since darkness was setting in, we headed back to the lodge. I was a bit disappointed but clearly understood these Bears operate on their own schedule and there is no guarantee.

The next morning, we headed off again in the Arctic Crawler™ Tundra vehicle accompanied by a beautiful sunrise. 

Shortly thereafter we spotted a Polar Bear again near the shore.  Apparently we were more interesting than his search for seaweed or grass to eat and he started to amble over toward our vehicle. Because of their size, they don’t appear to be moving very fast, but in fact with his large stride he covered about a quarter of a mile (ok, since he was in Canada, he covered about 0.40 kilometers 😊) in just a few minutes.

He appeared to be curious about our vehicle, and particularly the corner red marker flags.  After carefully studying it, he stood up and swiped one of the flags.  He examined it and decided to leave it on the ground.  Once the Polar Bear walked away, Deacon carefully climbed down and retrieved the flag, so as not to leave it in the protected area.

As the day progressed, more Polar Bears appeared.  Most were by themselves, but several ended up joining one another.  In those cases, there were displays of jostling and sparing.  This included pushing, cuffing and some biting.  But in no case did one Bear hurt the other or drew blood.  These interactions could last ten to fifteen minutes, and a couple of times forty-five or more minutes.  The longer sessions typically had ‘breaks’ where one Bear would walk a short distance away, or both would lay down next to each other, before resuming the tousling.

Based on what I observed, along with talking to our local guide, and to renown polar bear expert Matthias Breiter, they are highly curious, basically gentle giants.  They do not roar even when jostling.  Polar Bears don’t normally attack people but do go after opportunistic food caches and because of these present problems around towns.

Females will aggressively defend their cubs who tend to stay very close to the mother for two to three years.  However, they will not interfere with the cubs if they are fighting one another.

Polar Bears are frequently misunderstood, often the result of being portrayed as growling ferocious bears in movies, and they are needlessly shot and killed.

This Polar Bear is looking across the bay hoping for ice as the sun is rising.

Just ambling along, possibly drooling thinking about seals.

Making sure his nails look good.

Jostling to assess one’s skills.

Just resting.

Not all Arctic Polar Bears are white.

Coming to get a closer look at me.

At the end of day, once again checking for ice.

The following day our Deacon took us to different part in the Churchill Wildlife Management area[2] of Hudson Bay and we were fortunate to see a number of Polar Bears.  Additionally, we were treated to hawks, Willow Ptarmigans, ducks, Grouse and other birds.  While we did not see any Arctic Foxes (theorized to be disappearing because of the impact of global warming here) we did see one Red or Cross Fox, and several Arctic Hares.

[2] This is a limited access permit only area designed to protect and preserve the Polar Bears natural habitat.

We did not come upon mothers and their cubs any day until the third day, when the sun was setting and we were heading back on a road near the forest.  At that point a female with one cub pretty much hidden by the trees, were spotted heading back into the woods.

Our last day in Churchill we were treated to a visit with renowned dog musher, “Big Dog” David Daley.  He shared an overview of dog sledding, care, treatment and training of the dogs.  Then we were off for an invigorating sled ride for the IDIDAMILE (not to be confused with the Iditarod).  But that story is for another time…

For a teaser of the dog sled ride see https://youtu.be/uTvFXeF5PEA

Additional Bare Facts about (Polar) Bears 😊 from Matthias Breiter[3]

  • Polar bears often close their eyes when walking. They are not sleeping, however. Rather, they are focusing on their most advanced ability, their sense of smell.  They have an articulated nose.  The enlarged nasal cavity is a heat exchange chamber.  It helps heat cold air on inhale and cool down on exhale.  You won’t see a plume of moisture when they exhale even in below zero temperature and this helps prevent dehydration resulting from breathing.

[3] From a talk and discussion Matthias Breiter had with our Tauck group

  • They don’t have to pee to get rid of amino acids like we do, because they are able to recycle amino acids.
  • Tag or tags in ears means the bear has been caught around town and detained in bear “jail.”
  • Life span is fifteen to eighteen years, though some have lived over thirty years.
  • World population is estimated at 25,000 living in the circumpolar arctic region.
  • Mid-November to end of July they are out on the sea ice hunting seals.
  • Polar bears typically mate from March to May.
  • Pregnant females go to the dens in the forest in early October and typically give birth to cubs in late November or December, returning with the cub(s) to the sea ice in February or March.  The average litter size is 2.1 cubs.  If they have three, one is a runt and typically won’t make it to be a Yearling. They don’t go into the dens until there is snow on the ground.  There are about 600 dens under the tree roots and they are very stable.  They are reused.  About 300 of the dens are active.
  • While males do wander the females stay close to and return to the area where they were born.
  • Healthy females can live off their fat for nine months without eating.  They only lose about five percent of their muscle mass in hibernation.  In bears, muscle mass and the rebuilding of the mass is separate from the actual use of the muscles.  During hibernation they drop their metabolic rate by half.
  • Their big paws help distribute their weight and enable them to be exceeding good and very fast swimmers.
  • The big problem they have is thermal regulation and overheating.  If you scanned them with an infrared camera you would hardly see any indication of heat because of their subcutaneous fat layer and insulating fur.  The only places that they can dissipate heat are their arm and leg pits.  They will prostrate themselves on the snow or ice to cool down after a sprint or chase.
  • Polar bears are social, typically by gender. Aggression is rare, except as noted with females protecting their cubs. 
  • The biggest problem is that polar bears get shot needlessly in defense of property around the town by people who don’t understand how to control bears.  If you run from them, they may chase after you.  Movement toward the bear will normally cause them to back up.
  • Polar bears basically gain all the weight they need in six weeks to two-month period.  They then maintain that weight or lose a little for the rest of the year.
  • However, without the sea ice and the seal pups there would not be any polar bears surviving.  Now unfortunately the ice isn’t forming as early as it used to.  Sometimes you don’t have sufficient ice until December.  In the past, the ice formed in September. 
  • When he Matthias started working in Hudson Bay there were around 1600 polar bears, now there are 612.

For the camera enthusiasts: All images were taken with either a Nikon Z7ii using a Nikkor Z Zoom S 100-400 mm lens handheld or a Nikon Z7 with a Nikkor Z Zoom S 24-124 mm lens. The Nikons were carried using a Blackrapid double or single straps system. To ensure I always had enough power, I started each day with five fully charged batteries.  I did not run into any issues with the cold affecting my equipment.  The real challenge was holding the camera and lens steady while out on the observation deck due to high the crosswinds.

A few parting shots (pun intended):

In sum, we would say this Polar Bear experience was right up there with our Gorilla Trek (in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forrest) in terms of unique encounters with the awe-inspiring magnificence of Mother Nature.

If you would like to see my full gallery of Polar Bears click on https://www.daumphotography.com/Nature-Images/Arctic-Polar-Bears

Thanks for joining me on this adventure! Please feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

September 20, 2025

Is it a car, a UFO or…? Part 2:  Inside Aptera’s Innovative Production Facility

By Jeff Daum, Ph.D., PPA

Product & Technology Analyst

Those of you who follow my blog might recall that I ended my initial article on Aptera Motors Corp.1 saying “This is hopefully Part 1 of a multipart Aptera review.  Stay tuned for Part 2: a factory visit and first drive…”  I just returned from Aptera’s production facility and while I did not get the opportunity to drive the Aptera, I did enjoy a ride in a preproduction unit.

My focus here will be on what I’ve learned and not to go over the points discussed in my initial article (link in footnote) other than to reiterate my full transparency statement: I was so impressed with the Aptera, its cutting-edge technology and dual CEO team direction and commitment, that I have placed and received confirmation of a pre order future variant all-wheel drive Aptera.

Our tour- my wife accompanied me being highly curious about the Aptera and why I was excited about it- was facilitated by Will Jarrett from Aptera’s Marketing department.  Aptera Motors intended production facility in Carlsbad California is a bright open space building of approximately 77,000 square feet.

While the formal visitor tour set up is still being developed, parts of it are currently in place including:

  • A preproduction version with the same body shape as the production version, but with a clear glass rear hatch instead of solar panels
  • The front-end light unit from the supplier with its classic smile look
  • A complete body shell
  • A full frame
  • An AGV robot of the type that will be used to automatically move the assembly components around the production line
  • Various solar panels for different sections of the Aptera, all designed and made in-house
  • An earlier version Aptera in striking matt black
  • Gold colored Gamma version
  • More solar panels including those being sold to other companies for non-Aptera applications
  • A pneumatic ‘gun’ for firing pellets at the solar panels for testing durability
  • Aptera bodies with nearly complete interior components
  • A video simulation showing the 14 or so stations that the assembly line will progress through on the AGVs

Not included in the tour were areas of the facility that housed testing rooms, subassembly rooms, etc.

As we walked through the facility, Will explained what we were looking at and responded to my questions.  Here is a summary of our discussions.  The extremely low coefficient of drag body is manufactured in Modena Italy by the C.P.C. Group and is a combination of Carbon Fiber Sheet Molding Compound and Glass Sheet Molding Compound and shipped over as a unit.  Amongst its advantages are the significant strength to low weight ratio and that it has only six structural pieces compared to the hundreds that are used in most cars.  The Aptera safety cage is modeled after Formula 1 cars!

It sits on a custom metallic chassis that is also made in Italy by the Costamp Group, located right next to C.P.C.

The components and Apteras as they are being assembled will be moved around the 14 stations of the production line on AGVs that follow the blue line that can be seen on the facility floor.  The advantage of this AGV technology is flexibility over fixed production lines.  If something happens with one of the AGVs it can be pushed aside and the line will continue to operate.

The cars will be primarily assembled by people, assisted by automation where practical.  After the low-volume production phase, the objective is to produce 20,000 Apteras in this facility per year.

[above three images are screen shots from Aptera’s Media Simulated Production Line video]

The battery assembly will be done in house.  40 KWh unit will provide a 400-mile range.  They will be using LG batteries.

The solar panels are designed and patented by Aptera’s team.  They have also started licensing the technology to others for alternative applications.  Amazingly they are bendable and have a glass surface similar to Gorilla Glass (as used in smartphones).  They can withstand direct hits without breaking.  The design allows for the panels to be replaced if necessary postproduction.  For example, if a section gets damaged, or down the road the efficiency of the solar panels improves so much that it might make sense to swap the older ones out.

The production versions will have a solid trunk lid without glass and be covered with solar panels and use a camera for an unobstructed comprehensive rear view in a center mounted electronic rear view mirror (similar to the one used in the new Corvette for example).  The side mirrors are combination of mirrors and cameras. The mirrors are required to follow existing US NHTSA law.  The cameras show clear views of both sides of the Aptera on two screens directly behind the steering wheel.

The gold unit “Gamma” in the following image is the most recent prototype, though they now have Production Validation versions.  This is the one we rode in.

The silver unit is a current Production Validation Aptera called Artemis and is the one that they did the extended Route 66 trip.

There are a few additional things that Will pointed out.  They have built-in fail-safe backups like having buttons behind the large central screen that will allow you to continue to drive the Aptera if the screen fails.

The trunk lid is designed to open part way without flying up so that if you have a low ceiling you don’t have to worry about it hitting it.  You manually open the lid the rest of the way.

There are plans to have several options for the battery pack beyond the standard 400-mile range, including a 250-mile range, 600-mile range and 1000-mile range.  Also having a Level 2 Autonomous driving option.

In the image above, you can see the North American Charging Standard (NACS) port located behind the license plate which slides to the side providing access

While Will is not permitted to discuss the status of funding he said once sufficient capital is obtained it will be about nine months until the first production vehicles are finished and out the door.

My thoughts following the tour and ride

Having driven several all-electric vehicles from different OEMs and currently owning one, I’ve come to expect lots of torque and rapid acceleration from an EV and Aptera doesn’t disappoint.  What I did not expect was that Aptera, a three-wheeler, would feel so rock solid through turns at speed.

The interior is roomy and comfortable, feeling for example very comparable to my Corvette Stingray Coupe (but Aptera has more headroom) with a surprising amount of usable space behind the seats. 

Visibility looking out is very good and supplemented by an electronic rearview central mirror as well as electronic side views on two screens directly in the driver line of sight.

Aptera has lots of ‘coolness factors’ including its slipstream shape, knock on the body to open doors and trunk (no outside handles) and the solar recharging.

I am left with two concerns at this point:  One is a driving practicality issue and the other is whether Aptera will achieve financial fluidity to realize their objectives.

What I mean by driving practicality comes down to how the two “outrigger” front wheel units will survive in real world situations.  They are quite wide at approximately 88” across when the wheels are straight and wider when turned off center.  This width is further compounded by the fact that the tops of the wheel units are low with respect to the Aptera body.  That wheel unit to wheel unit width is greater than many cars and even small trucks on the road today.

Here is why I think this may be a concern: If you backed your Aptera in the center of a typical parking spot in a parking garage, the slot often is only 9 feet or less wide, which leaves about 10 inches or less between the edge of your wheel unit and the edge of the next parking slot.  If a car, or worse a truck, then goes to back in next to you and turns in rather than pulling straight in, what are the odds that they will only glance at the body of your Aptera and not see the outrigger front wheels?  Since the Aptera front wheels contain also the driving motors if they get brushed or hit the damage could be considerable.  Will the wheel units need some sort of pop-up flag or indicator to ensure they are seen and avoided when parked?

This width will also require drivers to maintain better vigilance regarding staying in the center of their lane and not straying on the road compared to driving other vehicles.

Regarding Aptera Motors Corp. viability I did some research on their current financial Issues.  Based on Aptera’s August 27, 2025, Form S-1 filing for listing on NASDAQ here is their estimate of funding still needed for production: “Our production plan for our Carlsbad facility is phased and each phase is contingent upon a specific level of funding. The initial “low-volume” production phase is estimated to require approximately $65 million in capital to fund remaining necessary tooling and validation programs. Following the initiation of low-volume production, a second phase to ramp to high-volume production would require an estimated additional $140-$160 million. This high-volume rate, which we project to be approximately 20,000 vehicles per year at our current facility’s maximum capacity, was a figure determined in consultation with Munro & Associates, a firm specializing in lean manufacturing principles for the automotive industry.”

“Specifically, securing the capital estimated for both initial low-volume and subsequent high-volume production phases is critical. Until this funding is secured, the Company will be unable to predict if and when production will commence.”

Hopefully the listing on NASDAQ and subsequent offers will go well (and rapidly) for Aptera- I am so looking forward to having one in my garage!

P.S., My wife really enjoyed her ride and was impressed with the Aptera 😊.

Marques Brownlee has just posted an informative video based on his driving a preproduction Aptera. You can view it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OvyyVxQjuI He raises some excellent points.

Stay tuned for my next Aptera update! Thanks for visiting and reading. If you have a question or comment, please feel free to enter it below!

  1. https://insight.daumphotography.com/2025/01/19/is-it-a-car-a-ufo-or-first-look-at-the-aptera-the-future-of-electric-solar-vehicles/ ↩︎