• Tagged adrenaline rush, bizarre, brave people, extreme sport, polar bear, polar bear dip, polar bear plunge, polar bear swim

If you are adventurous and like adrenaline rushes, then have you considered starting off the New Year with a polar bear plunge? “Polar Bear Swims”, “Plunges”, or “Dips”, are a New Year’s Day tradition in numerous countries. Thousands upon thousands of brave souls race toward the icy cold water and then make a mad dash back out. In the USA, folks are freezin’ for a reason as most polar bear plunges are to raise money for a charitable organizations. In Canada and the Netherlands, polar bear plunges are associated with New Year’s Day. 36,000 people participated in ‘Nieuwjaarsduik’, New Year’s dive, January 1st 2012 in the Netherlands. Since 1960, every New Year’s Day, at least 10,000 people dive collectively into the icy cold sea water at Scheveningen which is the Netherlands’ main beach resort town. While New Year’s Day is not the only day for taking up such an extreme sport, for some it is Superbowl Sunday, one thing is the same worldwide for people in polar bear swims . . . the look of shocked faces as if they cannot believe the water is that cold or that they took part in a polar bear plunge. Whether it’s brave, stupid, or simply invigorating, kudos to all those folks! [50 Photos]

• Tagged animals, environment, holiday, nature, polar bear, snow, winter

We love polar bears at any time, even sad times like when we did a tribute to superstar Knut, but most of these shots are of polar bears roaming and surviving in the wild. While these polar bears may have nothing to do with Coca-Cola polar bear marketing, the holidays gave us an ‘excuse’ to focus on the world’s largest carnivores and our favorite type of bears. [46 Photos]

• Tagged animals, Berlin, Germany, Knut, photos, pics, pictures, places, polar bear, polar bears, Thomas Doerflein, travel, zoo

When the polar bear cub Knut was rejected by his mother, Berlin zoo keeper Thomas Doerflein took over his care. Knut was an adorable white and fluffy baby which soon skyrocketed Knut to fame. Knut became a superstar polar bear and had a very special relationship with Doerflein. Yet recently Knut was found dead at the Berlin Zoo. He was only a little over 4 years old. Here is a 30 picture tribute in memory to a one-of-a-kind superstar polar bear. R.I.P. Knut.