His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of Northern Lights (1995) (published as The Golden Compass in North America), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000). This is a list of the fictional races and creatures in the novels.
122-521: The panserbjørne are large polar bear -like creatures that have opposable thumbs on their front paws. Despite their large digits and immense strength they have remarkable dexterity . This, together with an innate gift for metallurgy , makes them exceptional metalsmiths , and they are capable of creating and repairing metal items far beyond the capabilities of human smiths. While they mainly speak English, they are shown to be able to speak other languages. Bears are very difficult to deceive. One exception
244-487: A decline in sea ice , giving the polar bear less access to its favoured prey and increasing the risk of malnutrition and starvation. Less sea ice also means that the bears must spend more time on land, increasing conflicts with people. Polar bears have been hunted, both by native and non-native peoples, for their coats, meat and other items. They have been kept in captivity in zoos and circuses and are prevalent in art, folklore, religion and modern culture. The polar bear
366-495: A " Roman nose ". They have 34–42 teeth including 12 incisors , 4 canines , 8–16 premolars and 10 molars . The teeth are adapted for a more carnivorous diet than that of the brown bear, having longer, sharper and more spaced out canines, and smaller, more pointed cheek teeth (premolars and molars). The species has a large space or diastema between the canines and cheek teeth, which may allow it to better bite into prey. Since it normally preys on animals much smaller than it,
488-744: A 'home base' in – "Eastern Anglia", the counterpart in Lyra's world, of East Anglia in our world. They are divided into large families , the heads of which make up the Gyptians' Council, which is ruled by John Faa , the King of the Western Gyptians, the Council also includes Farder Coram . Gyptians sometimes gather in a "byanroping (sometimes called a roping), a summons or muster of families". Their society, while widely dispersed geographically,
610-500: A 2011 study concluded that living polar bear populations derived their maternal lines from now-extinct Irish brown bears. Later studies have clarified that gene flow went from polar to brown bears rather than the reverse. Up to 9 percent of the genome of ABC bears was transferred from polar bears, while Irish bears had up to 21.5 percent polar bear origin. Mass hybridization between the two species appears to have stopped around 200,000 years ago. Modern hybrids are relatively rare in
732-419: A bear spots a seal hauling out on the sea ice, it slowly stalks it with the head and neck lowered, possibly to make its dark nose and eyes less noticeable. As it gets closer, the bear crouches more and eventually charges at a high speed, attempting to catch the seal before it can escape into its ice hole. Some stalking bears need to move through water; traversing through water cavities in the ice when approaching
854-588: A carcass when they see an adult male approaching, though are less likely to if they have not eaten in a long time. Whale carcasses are a valuable food source, particularly on land and after the sea ice melts, and attract several bears. In one area in northeastern Alaska, polar bears have been recorded competing with grizzly bears for whale carcasses. Despite their smaller size, grizzlies are more aggressive and polar bears are likely to yield to them in confrontations. Polar bears will also scavenge at garbage dumps during ice-free periods. Polar bear mating takes place on
976-476: A combination of flame throwers and catapults , against human enemies and outcasts. In Lyra's world, witches are exclusively female and live in the far north. They worship their own gods and goddesses of nature and the earth; they also understand the Judeo-Christian concept of " Mother Eve ". Every witch who appears is described as very beautiful, as they stay young for their entire lives, but attain
1098-473: A combination of both. The inside of these shelters can be around 1.5 m (4.9 ft) wide with a ceiling height of 1.2 m (3.9 ft) while the entrance may be 2.1 m (6.9 ft) long and 1.2 m (3.9 ft) wide. The temperature of a den can be much higher than the outside. Females hibernate and give birth to their cubs in the dens. Hibernating bears fast and internally recycle bodily waste. Polar bears experience delayed implantation and
1220-405: A day are more common during the former. The species is generally diurnal , being most active early in the day. Polar bears sleep close to eight hours a day on average. They will sleep in various positions, including curled up, sitting up, lying on one side, on the back with limbs spread, or on the belly with the rump elevated. On sea ice, polar bears snooze at pressure ridges where they dig on
1342-762: A different position than those of our animals, with a single limb (in the Tualapi's case, a wing) at the front; a pair (legs) at the middle; and a single limb (again in the case of Tualapis, a wing) at the back. Although they are similar to birds, they do not fly. Instead, they use their wings as sails and rudders to navigate rivers, and emerge onto dry land when attacking the Mulefa. Polar bear Ursus eogroenlandicus Ursus groenlandicus Ursus jenaensis Ursus labradorensis Ursus marinus Ursus polaris Ursus spitzbergensis Ursus ungavensis Thalarctos maritimus The polar bear ( Ursus maritimus )
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#17327765177511464-436: A distance. Tualapi are almost always seen in groups. Father Gomez , a human from Lyra's world who entered the Mulefa world, was able to repel a Tualapi attack after killing one of them with his rifle. The Mulefa have no defence against Tualapi other than retreating inland during their attacks. Tualapi attacks generally result in the destruction of Mulefa habitats. Like most animals from the universe of Mulefa, their limbs are in
1586-676: A female, a male will try to isolate and guard her. Courtship can be somewhat aggressive, and a male will pursue a female if she tries to run away. It can take days for the male to mate with the female which induces ovulation . After their first copulation, the couple bond. Undisturbed polar bear pairings typically last around two weeks during which they will sleep together and mate multiple times. Competition for mates can be intense and this has led to sexual selection for bigger males. Polar bear males often have scars from fighting. A male and female that have already bonded will flee together when another male arrives. A female mates with multiple males in
1708-407: A friendship with the Gyptians. This friendship was born from the relationship between Serafina herself and Farder Coram: Farder Coram once saved Serafina's life, and became her lover and father of her son. Spectres of Indifference, commonly shorted to Spectres are beings of spirit escaped from the void between universes. Most commonly, a Spectre is created from each new window between worlds opened by
1830-462: A great impact on the lives of local residents because by that time they were getting iron for their needs from whalers , Peary and later from Thule trading post . A fourth large piece of the meteorite, 3.4 tonne Savik I, was discovered in 1913 on the promontory Saveqarfik, 10 km east of Woman-Dog location, but had evidently also been known to previous generations of Eskimos , since basaltic hammer stones were located around it. Due to World War I it
1952-491: A group of American glaciologists who surveyed the glacier flowing from Blue Ice Valley into the Moltke Glacier . The meteorite was resting as a boulder between gneissic boulders on a nunatak protruding through the glaciers which are heading for Wolstenholme Fjord . The meteorite has the shape and size of a resting goose, measuring 35 x 30 x 20 cm in the greatest dimensions and weighing 48.6 kg. Its distinctive feature
2074-485: A legal duel, and any other bear may kill him without punishment or censure. Duels are ceremonial occasions to bears, and they do not usually end in death. When a bear knows he will be defeated, he is obliged to signal his submission to the victor. On rare occasions, however, an issue may be so important that there is no other option than to kill one's rival. One such case is the duel between Iorek Byrnison and Iofur Raknison, which ends with Iofur's death and Iorek reclaiming
2196-436: A light of no apparent source shining on them, and, like the witches, appear to be both young and old at the same time. Angels are arranged in a hierarchy, according to their level of power, which also determines how luminous they are; the low ranking angels cannot be seen by the naked eye during the day, and are seen best at half light. The only way for humans to see them clearly is when they are enveloped in smoke. Angels long for
2318-538: A look of wisdom. Some witches live to be over 1,000 years old. They dress in ragged black silk and are always barefoot. Witch queens usually wear a crown that they have created for themselves. Serafina Pekkala wears a band of everlasting, red Arctic flowers and Ruta Skadi wears a tiara of Siberian tiger teeth. Their crowns (like their dæmons which are always birds) reflect the witch queen's personality. Witches are renowned for their excellent marksmanship, and carry bows with them wherever they go. They lower their bows to
2440-512: A man and woman on horseback to flee and look after the young in the case of a Spectre attack. They are normally not air-borne, so air travel over Cittàgazze is the only safe means possible for an adult to cross the city. Cittàgazze , a city infested with them, is bereft of adults and filled with gangs of children. When the effects of a Spectre attack on a human are explained to Will , he hypothesises that they, or similar creatures, may also exist in his world and may cause mental illness. This opinion
2562-441: A marine environment, some taxonomists, such as Theodore Knottnerus-Meyer, have placed the polar bear in its own genus, Thalarctos . However Ursus is widely considered to be the valid genus for the species on the basis of the fossil record and the fact that it can breed with the brown bear. Different subspecies have been proposed including Ursus maritimus maritimus and U. m. marinus . However these are not supported and
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#17327765177512684-742: A medieval Norse farm in the modern day Nuuk area in 1976 revealed an arrowhead made of iron from the meteorite . Its presence is evidence of the connections between Greenland Norse and northern Greenland. Other pieces of Cape York meteoritic iron dating prior to 1450 (i.e. before the Little Ice Age ) have been found throughout the Arctic Archipelago and on the North American mainland, and are evidence of an extensive Thule culture trade network which supplied iron to First Nations peoples prior to European contact. In 1818,
2806-494: A mid-sized seal out of the water or haul a beluga carcass for quite some distance. Polar bears only occasionally store food for later—burying it under snow—and only in the short term. Arctic foxes routinely follow polar bears and scavenge scraps from their kills. The bears usually tolerate them but will charge a fox that gets too close when they are feeding. Polar bears themselves will scavenge. Subadult bears will eat remains left behind by others. Females with cubs often abandon
2928-533: A more efficient circulatory system . The polar bear's thicker coat is the result of more copies of genes involved in keratin -creating proteins. The polar bear is the largest living species of bear and land carnivore , though some brown bear subspecies like the Kodiak bear can rival it in size. Males are generally 200–250 cm (6.6–8.2 ft) long with a weight of 300–800 kg (660–1,760 lb). Females are smaller at 180–200 cm (5.9–6.6 ft) with
3050-856: A rare metal collected from meteorites which the bears discover on, or buried in, the ice. Although the magical metal described in Pullman's works is fictional, the native peoples of the Arctic do value meteorites (particularly the Cape York meteorite ) as a source of iron for toolmaking. Sky-iron is described as being very durable, and has only been seen to be damaged by the Subtle Knife, which cuts through it with ease. A bear's primary weapons are his immense strength, savage jaws, and razor-sharp claws. He uses these in close combat or when fighting duels with other bears. However, bears use fire hurlers, which are
3172-418: A result of Gyptians having little other recourse in society, as they are described as having little standing in law. Some Gyptians and half-Gyptians, such as Bernie Johansen , take up employment on land, although it appears that these are a minority. Some hide their gyptian heritage while still reporting information back to the gyptian leaders. Serafina Pekkala's witch clan, who are based at Lake Enara, share
3294-418: A season and a single litter can have more than one father. When the mating season ends, the female will build up more fat reserves to sustain both herself and her young. Sometime between August and October, the female constructs and enters a maternity den for winter. Depending on the area, maternity dens can be found in sea ice just off the coastline or further inland and may be dug underneath snow, earth or
3416-723: A soft pulsing call, is made by mother bears presumably to keep in contact with their young. During the breeding season, adult males will chuff at potential mates. Unlike other animals where chuffing is passed through the nostrils, in polar bears it is emitted through a partially open mouth. Cubs will cry for attention and produce humming noises while nursing. Teeth chops, jaw pops, blows, huffs, moans, growls and roars are heard in more hostile encounters. A polar bear visually communicates with its eyes, ears, nose and lips. Chemical communication can also be important: bears secrete their scent from their foot pads into their tracks, allowing individuals to keep track of one another. The polar bear
3538-411: A spine: they have four legs, short horns, and a prehensile trunk that functionally takes the place of hands. Signing with the trunk is an integral part of Mulefa language. They form close-knit communities, one of the reasons for the closeness may be that – lacking hands – it usually requires two or more Mulefa trunks working together to accomplish complex tasks like tying knots. A feature of
3660-420: A thick layer of fat. It is more slender than the brown bear, with a narrower skull, longer neck and lower shoulder hump. Its teeth are sharper and more adapted to cutting meat. The paws are large and allow the bear to walk on ice and paddle in the water. Polar bears are both terrestrial and pagophilic (ice-living) and are considered marine mammals because of their dependence on marine ecosystems . They prefer
3782-452: A time and travel an average of 154.2 km (95.8 mi). They can dive for as long as three minutes. When swimming, the broad front paws do the paddling, while the hind legs play a role in steering and diving. Most polar bears are active year-round. Hibernation occurs only among pregnant females. Non-hibernating bears typically have a normal 24-hour cycle even during days of all darkness or all sunlight , though cycles less than
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3904-405: A total mass of 58 tonnes have been recovered, the largest weighing 31 tonnes (31 long tons; 34 short tons). The meteorite was named after Cape York , a prominent geographic feature located approximately 30 miles (48 km) west of the east coast of Meteorite island and the nearby peninsulas in northern Melville Bay , Greenland , where the first meteorite fragments were discovered. The date of
4026-467: A weight of 150–300 kg (330–660 lb). Sexual dimorphism in the species is particularly high compared with most other mammals. Male polar bears also have proportionally larger heads than females. The weight of polar bears fluctuates during the year, as they can bulk up on fat and increase their mass by 50 percent. A fattened, pregnant female can weigh as much as 500 kg (1,100 lb). Adults may stand 130–160 cm (4.3–5.2 ft) tall at
4148-425: A weight of around 600 g (21 oz). Their eyes remain closed for a month. The mother's fatty milk fuels their growth, and the cubs are kept warm both by the mother's body heat and the den. The mother emerges from the den between late February and early April, and her cubs are well-developed and capable of walking with her. At this time they weigh 10–15 kilograms (22–33 lb). A polar bear family stays near
4270-534: A wider frequency range than expected given that their prey mostly makes low-frequency sounds. The nasal concha creates a large surface area, so more warm air can move through the nasal passages. Their olfactory system is also large and adapted for smelling prey over vast distances. The animal has reniculate kidneys which filter out the salt in their food. Polar bears inhabit the Arctic and adjacent areas. Their range includes Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Russia and
4392-608: A year, while drifting ice allows them to move further. Depending on ice conditions, a bear can travel an average of 12 km (7.5 mi) per day. These movements are powered by their energy-rich diet. Polar bears move by walking and galloping and do not trot . Walking bears tilt their front paws towards each other. They can run at estimated speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph) but typically move at around 5.5 km/h (3.4 mph). Polar bears are also capable swimmers and can swim at up to 6 km/h (3.7 mph). One study found they can swim for an average of 3.4 days at
4514-439: Is [ˌpʰænˀsɐˈpjɶɐ̯n] , but the pronunciation used in the radio plays and the audio book readings of the trilogy (by Pullman himself) is / ˈ p æ n s ər b j ɜːr n ə / . In the 2007 film The Golden Compass , they are also known as "ice bears". Panserbjørne are generally solitary creatures, but have a loose society centred on Svalbard . They are governed by a king ; Iofur Raknison and Iorek Byrnison are
4636-482: Is Iofur Raknison ; the bear-king emulates humans by drinking spirits, wearing expensive clothes, and wanting a dæmon. His gullibility is attributed to his failing to act like a bear. Bears' livers are poisonous – as in real life – due to a high concentration of retinol (Vitamin A). The word " panserbjørne " means "armour-bears" in Danish . The Danish pronunciation of the word "panserbjørn" (singular)
4758-486: Is Latin for ' sea bear ' . Carl Linnaeus classified the polar bear as a type of brown bear ( Ursus arctos ), labelling it as Ursus maritimus albus-major, articus in the 1758 edition of his work Systema Naturae . Constantine John Phipps formally described the polar bear as a distinct species, Ursus maritimus in 1774, following his 1773 voyage towards the North Pole . Because of its adaptations to
4880-620: Is a hypercarnivore , and the most carnivorous species of bear. It is an apex predator of the Arctic, preying on ice-living seals and consuming their energy-rich blubber . The most commonly taken species is the ringed seal , but they also prey on bearded seals and harp seals . Ringed seals are ideal prey as they are abundant and small enough to be overpowered by even small bears. Bearded seal adults are larger and are more likely to break free from an attacking bear, hence adult male bears are more successful in hunting them. Less common prey are hooded seals , spotted seals , ribbon seals and
5002-500: Is a 130,000- to 110,000-year-old jaw bone, found on Prince Charles Foreland , Norway, in 2004. Scientists in the 20th century surmised that polar bears directly descended from a population of brown bears, possibly in eastern Siberia or Alaska . Mitochondrial DNA studies in the 1990s and 2000s supported the status of the polar bear as a derivative of the brown bear, finding that some brown bear populations were more closely related to polar bears than to other brown bears, particularly
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5124-414: Is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear , and the two species can interbreed . The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land carnivore , with adult males weighing 300–800 kg (660–1,760 lb). The species is sexually dimorphic , as adult females are much smaller. The polar bear is white- or yellowish-furred with black skin and
5246-468: Is an old Dutch word meaning "land-walker"; it is also a derogatory term meaning 'tramp' , which the Gyptians use disparagingly to refer to someone who is not a Gyptian. An additional source of inspiration for Pullman's creation of the Gyptians may have been the subculture of cargo narrowboat operators that grew up in the British Isles in the 18th century, in the period between the development of
5368-443: Is derived from the word ' Egyptian '. Gyptians are water-travellers, they live mainly aboard boats traversing the canals and rivers of 'Brytain'. The Gyptians' primary source of income appears to be through trading as they travel. Lyra describes them as "coming and going with the spring and autumn fairs" . Gyptians are said to pride themselves on their ability at card games. John Faa's group of Gyptians come from – and have
5490-458: Is formed by the case of his mother, who seems to be suffering from paranoia and other symptoms of a disorder similar to schizophrenia . Spectres cannot be killed by any physical means, although numerous methods of countering their attacks exist. Angels can neutralise Spectres and ghosts are able to hold them in combat. Humans whose dæmons have been removed from them via intercision can pass them without being attacked and humans can repel them with
5612-530: Is in danger and by her effect on Mary Malone's dreams to help her wake up gradually and accept her presence. Her dæmon is also shown to have the ability to unfasten padlocks with a combination of snow and his breath. Witches have a legendary sense of direction and can remember the way to a distant place that they have been to only once before. On his journeys through Lyra's world, John Parry ( alias Stanislaus Grumman ) catalogued 9 witch clans. The witch clans often warred amongst themselves. Some witches even helped
5734-1086: Is one of eight extant species in the bear family, Ursidae, and of six extant species in the subfamily Ursinae . Giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) [REDACTED] Spectacled bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ) [REDACTED] Sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus ) [REDACTED] Sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ) [REDACTED] Asian black bear ( Ursus thibetanus ) [REDACTED] American black bear ( Ursus americanus ) [REDACTED] Polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) [REDACTED] Brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) [REDACTED] Giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) [REDACTED] Spectacled bear ( Tremarctos ornatus ) [REDACTED] Sloth bear ( Melursus ursinus ) [REDACTED] Sun bear ( Helarctos malayanus ) [REDACTED] Asian black bear ( Ursus thibetanus ) [REDACTED] American black bear ( Ursus americanus ) [REDACTED] Polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) [REDACTED] Brown bear ( Ursus arctos ) [REDACTED] Fossils of polar bears are uncommon. The oldest known fossil
5856-469: Is the "neck and head," a narrow extension of the massive meteorite, measuring about 10 x 3 x 10 cm. It appears that it was formed by fragmentation and sculpturing during the atmospheric flight. After the local people had been encouraged to report any unusual boulder in the Cape York area, in 1961 a small, complete mass of 7.8 kg, Savik II, was discovered at the coast 1 km east of the site of Savik I. It
5978-489: Is the only thing armour should be made of. Iorek Byrnison defeats Iofur towards the end of the first book and returns the bears to their traditions. Later in the series, however, he begins to feel human feelings such as doubt, especially in connection to the Subtle Knife. Armour is extremely important to the panserbjørne ; they consider it the equivalent of a dæmon or soul , albeit one that they consciously make for themselves. A bear fashions his own armour using 'sky-iron',
6100-459: Is the primary hunting method from winter to early spring. Bears hunt walrus groups by provoking them into stampeding and then look for young that have been crushed or separated from their mothers during the turmoil. There are reports of bears trying to kill or injure walruses by throwing rocks and pieces of ice on them. Belugas and narwhals are vulnerable to bear attacks when they are stranded in shallow water or stuck in isolated breathing holes in
6222-403: Is thought to signal their fitness to females. The outer surface of the hairs has a scaly appearance, and the guard hairs are hollow, which allows the animals to trap heat and float in the water. The transparent guard hairs forward scatter ultraviolet light between the underfur and the skin, leading to a cycle of absorption and re-emission, keeping them warm. The fur appears white because of
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#17327765177516344-666: Is tightly knit. Gyptian children are extravagantly loved and looked after by other members if they stray. Their ethnic group is small enough for all Gyptians to know each other by name, yet large enough to gather 170 men to travel north on a rescue mission. Gyptians have a distinctive physical appearance, which Lyra attempts to assume. They also have a distinctive accent and vocabulary containing "Fens-Dutch" words. The Gyptians' Dutch-ness also shows itself in their preference for drinking "jenniver" (Dutch jenever ), in their Dutch names (Dirk Vries, Raymond van Gerrit, Ruud Koopman) , and their use of Dutch terms such as "landloper". Landloper
6466-465: Is too specialized for animal matter, though they have been recorded eating berries, moss, grass and seaweed . In their southern range, especially near Hudson Bay and James Bay, polar bears endure all summer without sea ice to hunt from and must subsist more on terrestrial foods. Fat reserves allow polar bears to survive for months without eating. Cannibalism is known to occur in the species. Polar bears hunt their prey in several different ways. When
6588-429: Is when they first interacted with the wheel-pod trees, an event captured in a story that is their creation myth . The Mulefa see this event in a very positive light. The period of 33,000 years coincides with the time frame given in the books for the awakening of human consciousness in other worlds, as evidenced by Mary Malone's anthropological research regarding Dust . Mulefa are also able to see Dust directly without
6710-473: The ABC Islands bears of Southeast Alaska . A 2010 study estimated that the polar bear lineage split from other brown bears around 150,000 years ago. More extensive genetic studies have refuted the idea that polar bears are directly descended from brown bears and found that the two species are separate sister lineages . The genetic similarities between polar bears and some brown bears were found to be
6832-706: The Geological Museum of the University of Copenhagen , Denmark . Tunorput mass was found in September 1984 by Jeremias Petersen, a hunter from the settlement Savigsivik , on the east coast of the Meteorite island near the Ahnighito mass original location . It is probably the first meteorite ever to be found in the ocean. It was lying very close to the shore, and was exposed at low tide. Surveys of
6954-542: The Russian Far East ) and Eastern Basin (Greenland east to Siberia). The polar bear is dependent enough on the ocean to be considered a marine mammal . It is pagophilic and mainly inhabits annual sea ice covering continental shelves and between islands of archipelagos . These areas, known as the "Arctic Ring of Life", have high biological productivity . The species tends to frequent areas where sea ice meets water, such as polynyas and leads , to hunt
7076-466: The Subtle Knife . Stanislaus Grumman uses his skills as a shaman to control one and send it onto a church zeppelin to attack the pilot, causing the craft to crash. Mrs Coulter convinces a group of Spectres that following her command would give them more access to prey and is thus able to control them, and is able to make them "forget that they were earthbound" (so that they can fly). Consequently at
7198-705: The Svalbard Archipelago of Norway. Polar bears have been recorded as close as 25 km (16 mi) from the North Pole . The southern limits of their range include James Bay and Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada and St. Matthew Island and the Pribilof Islands of Alaska. They are not permanent residents of Iceland but have been recorded visiting there if they can reach it via sea ice. As there has been minimal human encroachment on
7320-442: The backscatter of incident light and the absence of pigment. Polar bears gain a yellowish colouration as they are exposed more to the sun. This is reversed after they moult . It can also be grayish or brownish. Their light fur provides camouflage in their snowy environment. After emerging from the water, the bear can easily shake itself dry before freezing since the hairs are resistant to tangling when wet. The skin, including
7442-475: The seals that make up most of its diet. Polar bears travel in response to changes in ice cover throughout the year. They are forced onto land in summer when the sea ice disappears. Terrestrial habitats used by polar bears include forests, mountains, rocky areas, lakeshores and creeks. In the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, where the sea ice breaks off and floats north during the summer, polar bears generally stay on
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#17327765177517564-412: The usurper king of Svalbard for most of Northern Lights . Iofur tries to force the bears to become more human-like, to build palaces and universities , decorate their armour, and even acquire dæmons . Even the marble used to build the palace is offensive to the bears' way of life. Decorating armour is an even worse affront, because they think sky-iron (which seems to only be available at Svalbard )
7686-650: The British First Ross Expedition (led by Captain John Ross ) made contact with Inuit on the northern shore of Melville Bay , who stated they had settled in the area to exploit a nearby source of iron. The Inuit loosely described the location of this iron as Sowallick (probably this refers to Savilik which in Greenlandic means ‘with knife’), but poor weather and sea ice prevented Ross from investigating further. Ross correctly surmised that
7808-513: The Magisterium at Bolvangar, though most switched sides when they learned the truth. In the world Lord Asriel sets as his base for war, an altogether separate race of witches is shown to exist, which has both males and females, who live only as long as most humans. In the trilogy, angels were originally the result of condensing Dust , although it seems that other conscious beings can also become angels. They appear as nude winged humans with
7930-860: The Mulefa have no real defence against (save retreating further inland). The Mulefa also appear to lack any sort of organised government; they appear to live in village groups with little or no contact between settlements. The Mulefa's less advanced technology may be due to their limited trunks – the versatility and dexterity of hands giving humans an advantage. The fact that their natural environment supplies them with everything they need may also preclude any need for further development. By their own admission – to Mary Malone – Mulefa have much slower thought processes than humans, and do not easily visualise abstract concepts such as those in mathematics, or easily establish links and patterns. They do however have an extraordinary race memory, remembering all of their history starting from 33,000 years previously, which
8052-403: The Mulefa is their use of large, disc-shaped seed pods from their world's enormous "seed-pod trees" in locomotion ; the pods fit neatly onto a spur on their front and rear legs when each zalif has grown enough to use it. They propel themselves using their other two legs, like a cyclist without pedals . In their world, ancient lava flows, which solidified into smooth rivers of rock running across
8174-615: The Mulefa's civilization is reminiscent of humanity in the Stone Age . Mulefa live in wattle-and-daub villages and use simple tools – there is no evidence of any form of mechanisation in their world. They do not use metal for any purpose other than ornaments. Reference is made to their domestication of the grazer herds, their non-intrusive use of trees to make lacquer, and their distilling of acid from rocks. One of their few natural enemies are huge white birds called tualapi which regularly destroy settlements with chilling ferocity, and which
8296-618: The Subtle Knife . They appear in the second and third volumes of the trilogy The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass . Before such openings, there were fewer or no spectres. Spectres feed upon the Dust that makes up a person's soul: their attack leaves a person in an immobile, zombie-like state, indifferent to all stimuli. They are invisible to and do not harm pre-adolescents, as Dust has not yet settled upon them. When travelling, all human groups in Cittàgazze are required by law to contain
8418-636: The Tent ). The curious name “Ahnighito” was given to the meteorite by Peary’s daughter during a “baptizing” ceremony. Her middle name was Ahnighito, which is likely an anglophile version of the Inuit name Arnakitsoq (the name of the daughter’s nanny). Peary sold this specimen for $ 40,000 (equivalent to $ 1.47 million in 2023 ) to the American Museum of Natural History in New York , where all three of
8540-600: The aid of an instrument such as the amber spyglass. The oil from their pods allows them to "grow up", making them more self-aware and able to see Dust. In the TV series, the Mulefa's heads are shown to be giraffe -like with elephant-like trunks and they have hippopotamus -like feet. The Tualapi are the only known enemies of the Mulefa , destroying the Mulefa's villages and causing the loss of many seed-pods. They are described as large, white birds whose wings look like ship sails from
8662-449: The alarm of anyone who has never seen a person or dæmon separated from one another. If a witch has a branch of a special cloud-pine tree, she can use it to fly. A human cannot fly this way, although a witch can carry another person up on their cloud-pine if they need to, but they usually lift no one bigger than a child. In large numbers, witches and their cloud-pines can tow an airship with no directional engine and can have some control over
8784-564: The annual sea ice but live on land when the ice melts in the summer. They are mostly carnivorous and specialized for preying on seals , particularly ringed seals . Such prey is typically taken by ambush; the bear may stalk its prey on the ice or in the water, but also will stay at a breathing hole or ice edge to wait for prey to swim by. The bear primarily feeds on the seal's energy-rich blubber . Other prey include walruses , beluga whales and some terrestrial animals. Polar bears are usually solitary but can be found in groups when on land. During
8906-454: The area with a magnetometer in 2012 and georadar in 2014 found no evidence of further large iron fragments on Meteorite island, either buried or on the surface. Numerous other small meteorite fragments have been found over the past century, as well as a variety of meteoritic iron artifacts. Most of the finds are not precisely coordinated and are not particularly useful for determining the expected meteorite strewn field , but they do reflect
9028-608: The bears' remote habitat, they can still be found in much of their original range, more of it than any other large land carnivore. Polar bears have been divided into at least 18 subpopulations labelled East Greenland (ES), Barents Sea (BS), Kara Sea (KS), Laptev Sea (LVS), Chukchi Sea (CS), northern and southern Beaufort Sea (SBS and NBS), Viscount Melville (VM), M'Clintock Channel (MC), Gulf of Boothia (GB), Lancaster Sound (LS), Norwegian Bay (NB), Kane Basin (KB), Baffin Bay (BB), Davis Strait (DS), Foxe Basin (FB) and
9150-558: The breeding season, male bears guard females and defend them from rivals. Mothers give birth to cubs in maternity dens during the winter. Young stay with their mother for up to two and a half years. The polar bear is considered a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with an estimated total population of 22,000 to 31,000 individuals. Its biggest threats are climate change , pollution and energy development. Climate change has caused
9272-619: The breeding season. They have been recorded forming stable "alliances", travelling, resting and playing together. A dominance hierarchy exists among polar bears with the largest mature males ranking at the top. Adult females outrank subadults and adolescents and younger males outrank females of the same age. In addition, cubs with their mothers outrank those on their own. Females with dependent offspring tend to stay away from males, but are sometimes associated with other female–offspring units, creating "composite families". Polar bears are generally quiet but can produce various sounds. Chuffing ,
9394-488: The canals and the emergence of the railways. The families of these operators were constantly on the move and their children were seldom educated outside the home, as a result, narrowboat people tended to be regarded with suspicion by landsmen. Gyptians are an honourable people, and appear to owe debts to Lord Asriel for defeating a proposed Watercourse Bill in Parliament, amongst other things. When they are made aware of
9516-401: The children and dæmons escape to the Mulefa world. Mulefa are members of a fictional species of sapient beings who inhabit a parallel Earth in the novel The Amber Spyglass . "Mulefa" is plural, the singular is "zalif" (which is pronounced subtly differently for a male or a female). These elephant -like creatures evolved a distinct anatomy based on a diamond-framed skeleton without
9638-497: The creator. He was an angel like ourselves – the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are, and Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself. Matter loves matter. It seeks to know more about itself, and Dust is formed. The first angels condensed out of Dust, and the Authority was the first of them all. He told those who came after him that he had created them, but it
9760-500: The den for roughly two weeks; during this time the cubs will move and play around while the mother mostly rests. They eventually head out on the sea ice. Cape York meteorite The Cape York meteorite , also known as the Innaanganeq meteorite , is one of the largest known iron meteorites , classified as a medium octahedrite in chemical group IIIAB . In addition to many small fragments, at least eight large fragments with
9882-480: The disappearance of a Gyptian child. At a party held by Mrs Coulter, Lyra states that Gyptians " take kids and sell 'em to Turks for slaves ", although this is likely to be one of Lyra's inventions. The Gyptians believe themselves to be "hit worse off than most" by the spate of child abductions in Northern Lights, and this may be what prompts them to collectively plan a rescue attempt. This could also be
10004-487: The end of The Subtle Knife , Will and Lyra's guard of witches is taken by surprise and most have their Dust consumed by Spectres while flying. During the final battle of The Amber Spyglass , Spectres fight against Lord Asriel's forces, cornering Lyra and Will's dæmons so as to eliminate the children who have been such thorns in Metatron's side, but are held back by the ghosts (including Lee Scoresby and John Parry) while
10126-494: The excesses of the Church researchers at Bolvangar they do their best to stop them. Despite their honourable nature, they are sometimes perceived negatively by mainstream society. Although they trade fairly, they are described as partaking in "incessant smuggling and occasional feuds" in which they may kill other Gyptians. Non-gyptian teenagers, to whom Lyra talks, insinuate that Gyptians steal horses, and that they are unconcerned by
10248-575: The feel of a body, which Mrs Coulter uses to her advantage in The Amber Spyglass . The first, oldest, and most powerful angel was the Authority , worshipped as God. As the angel Balthamos tells Will Parry : "The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Jehovah, Yahweh, El, Adonai, The King, The Father, The Almighty – those were all names he gave himself. He was never
10370-418: The fertilized embryo does not start development until the fall, between mid-September and mid-October. With delayed implantation, gestation in the species lasts seven to nine months but actual pregnancy is only two months. Mother polar bears typically give birth to two cubs per litter. As with other bear species, newborn polar bears are tiny and altricial . The newborns have woolly hair and pink skin, with
10492-518: The first discovered Cape York fragments are still on display. 3.4-by-2.1-by-1.7-metre (11.2 ft × 6.9 ft × 5.6 ft) Ahnighito is the second heaviest meteorite known to date (after the Hoba meteorite in Namibia ) and the heaviest meteorite to have been relocated. It is so heavy that it was necessary to build its display stand so that the supports reached directly to the bedrock below
10614-530: The glaciers had retreated. Presumably, none of the people saw the fall. Although, based on legends told by locals to Western travelers, there are some dubious grounds to assume that the fall happened after the first people, known as the Dorset people , arrived in these places in the 7th and 8th century AD. Later Inuit people referred to the known meteorite fragments under the general name Saviksue (Great Irons). The three most important fragments, according to
10736-551: The ground as a symbol of friendship when necessary. Witches occasionally choose human men who are in some way exceptional to be their lovers. All of a witch's sons will be human and all of her daughters will be witches. To a witch, the lives of sons or lovers are mere instants. Although some regret losing those they love, they accept that they cannot change who they are. They are however wholly unable to forgive anyone whom they love, who does not reciprocate those feelings. Witches can feel cold, but are not affected by it. They can endure
10858-461: The ice and then pokes its head in to catch the pup before it can escape. A ringed seal's lair can be more than 1 m (3.3 ft) below the surface of the ice and thus more massive bears are better equipped for breaking in. Some bears may simply stay still near a breathing hole or other spot near the water and wait for prey to come by. This can last hours and when a seal surfaces the bear will try to pull it out with its paws and claws. This tactic
10980-463: The ice, though a large portion of the population (15–40%) has been observed spending all summer on land since the 1980s. Some areas have thick multiyear ice that does not completely melt and the bears can stay on all year, though this type of ice has fewer seals and allows for less productivity in the water. Polar bears may travel areas as small as 3,500 km (1,400 sq mi) to as large as 38,000 km (15,000 sq mi) in
11102-399: The ice. When stalking reindeer, polar bears will hide in vegetation before an ambush. On some occasions, bears may try to catch prey in open water, swimming underneath a seal or aquatic bird . Seals in particular, however, are more agile than bears in the water. Polar bears rely on raw power when trying to kill their prey, and will employ bites and paw swipes. They have the strength to pull
11224-514: The important role that the Cape York meteorite once played as a major source of iron for local people. It is an iron meteorite (medium octahedrite ) and belongs to the chemical group IIIAB. The main distinguishing feature of meteoric iron is the high nickel content in its composition. There are abundant elongated troilite nodules. The troilite nodules contain inclusions of chromite , sulfides , phosphates , silica and copper . The rare nitride mineral carlsbergite (CrN) occurs within
11346-429: The land, serve as roads. The Mulefa have a symbiotic relationship with the seedpod trees – their use of the pods on the "roads" allows the pods' extremely hard exteriors to crack and the seeds to emerge. These are germinated by the Mulefa, allowing the seed-pod trees to reproduce. As the book notes, the three elements of seed-pod, spur, and rock formation enable the continued existence of the Mulefa. Technologically,
11468-414: The large iron rocks described by the Inuit were meteorites, and purchased several tools with blades made of the meteoritic iron. Between 1818 and 1883, several further expeditions to the area were mounted by Britain, Sweden, and Denmark, which all failed to find the source of the meteoritic iron. Gradually, more and more iron objects were found on the west coast of Greenland. In 1870, Nordenskiöld located
11590-516: The legend told to Robert Peary, were Inuit sewing woman ( the Woman ) with her tent ( the Tent ) and curled up dog ( the Dog ) who had been all hurled from heaven by the evil spirit Tornarsuk . For centuries, Inuit living near the meteorites used them as a source of metal for tools and harpoons. The Inuit would work the metal using cold forging , that is, by hammering the metal with stones. Excavations of
11712-601: The lowest temperatures on earth comfortably. Because they are not burdened by heavy clothing, they can feel the beams of the Aurora on their bare skin. There is a wasteland far north where no dæmon can go. This is the result of a unknown catastrophe. If a girl manages to get through the wasteland, she then becomes a witch. Her dæmon is then able to go extreme distances from them without dying witches. Because all witch dæmons are birds , they can easily fly away to carry messages, spy, or do other tasks for their witches – often to
11834-520: The main source of this iron at Ovifak (Uivfaq) on the south coast of Disko Island . But it soon became clear that this iron mass was of terrestrial origin. As a result at the end of the century the Sowallick irons were discredited as meteorites. Only in 1894 did a Western explorer reach the meteorite: Robert E. Peary , of the US Navy . Peary enlisted the help of a local Inuit guide, who brought him to
11956-571: The meteorite fall is debated, but was likely within the last few thousand years. It was known to the Inughuit (the local Inuit ) for centuries, who used it as a source of meteoritic iron for tools. The first foreigner to reach the meteorite was Robert Peary in 1894, with the assistance of Inuit guides. Large pieces are on display at the American Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Denmark . Presumably
12078-619: The meteorite fell to Earth a few thousand years ago. Some estimates have put the date of the fall as 10,000 years ago. All fragments recovered were found at the surface, partly buried, some on unstable terrain. The largest fragment was recovered in an area where the landscape consists of "flowing" gravel or clay-like sediments on permafrost. There are mainly two hypotheses being discussed: the meteorites fell in an unknown place in Greenland, but were carried by glaciers to their current locations, or they fell directly to where they were found after
12200-407: The migration of the armoured bears because of a situation similar to global warming, and the fox was trying to trade information for its life with a cliff ghast threatening to eat it. Gyptians are a fictional ethnic group in the universe inhabited by Lyra Belacqua ; they are roughly analogous to Romani people . The name 'Gyptian', like 'gypsy', an exonym used by some to refer to Romani people,
12322-478: The more temperate-living harbour seals . Polar bears, mostly adult males, will occasionally hunt walruses both on land and ice. They mainly target young walruses, as adults, with their thick skin and long tusks, are too large and formidable. Besides seals, bears will prey on cetacean species such as beluga whales and narwhals , as well as reindeer , birds and their eggs, fish and marine invertebrates . They rarely eat plant material as their digestive system
12444-523: The museum. During his expedition to retrieve the meteorite, Peary convinced six Inughuit Greenlandic Inuit people ("three men, one woman, a boy, and a girl"), including Minik Wallace , to travel with him in the United States for study at the American Museum of Natural History , where four died within a few months. Later Peary has received significant criticism for his treatment of the Inuit. The removal of meteorites from Greenland did not have
12566-417: The nose and lips, is black and absorbs heat. Polar bears have a 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) thick layer of fat underneath the skin, which provides both warmth and energy. Polar bears maintain their core body temperature at about 36.9 °C (98 °F). Overheating is countered by a layer of highly vascularized striated muscle tissue and finely controlled blood vessels. Bears also cool off by entering
12688-526: The polar bear does not have a particularly strong bite. Polar bears have large paws, with the front paws being broader than the back. The feet are hairier than in other bear species, providing warmth and friction when stepping on snow and sea ice. The claws are small but sharp and hooked and are used both to snatch prey and climb onto ice. The coat consists of dense underfur around 5 cm (2.0 in) long and guard hairs around 15 cm (5.9 in) long. Males have long hairs on their forelegs, which
12810-413: The polar bear is considered to be monotypic . One possible fossil subspecies, U. m. tyrannus , was posited in 1964 by Björn Kurtén , who reconstructed the subspecies from a single fragment of an ulna which was approximately 20 percent larger than expected for a polar bear. However, re-evaluation in the 21st century has indicated that the fragment likely comes from a giant brown bear. The polar bear
12932-524: The power of prophecy, as they foresee the existence of, and identify Lyra as, the second Eve. They have spells and potions for healing, although seemingly only in the right environment and can also keep flowers fresh and prevent corpses from decaying until after a mourner has approached and seen the body. They are also shown to possess some limited form of telepathy , as demonstrated by Serafina Pekkala's ability to know Lee Scoresby's location by giving him one of her crown's flowers with which to invoke her when he
13054-525: The result of interbreeding. A 2012 study estimated the split between polar and brown bears as occurring around 600,000 years ago. A 2022 study estimated the divergence as occurring even earlier at over one million years ago. Glaciation events over hundreds of thousands of years led to both the origin of polar bears and their subsequent interactions and hybridizations with brown bears. Studies in 2011 and 2012 concluded that gene flow went from brown bears to polar bears during hybridization. In particular,
13176-424: The sea ice and during spring, mostly between March and May. Males search for females in estrus and often travel in twisting paths which reduces the chances of them encountering other males while still allowing them to find females. The movements of females remain linear and they travel more widely. The mating system can be labelled as female-defence polygyny , serial monogamy or promiscuity . Upon finding
13298-463: The seal or swimming towards a seal on an ice floe. The polar bear can stay underwater with its nose exposed. When it gets close enough, the animal lunges from the water to attack. During a limited time in spring, polar bears will search for ringed seal pups in their birth lairs underneath the ice. Once a bear catches the scent of a hiding pup and pinpoints its location, it approaches the den quietly to not alert it. It uses its front feet to smash through
13420-670: The sheltered side and lie down. After a snowstorm, a bear may rest under the snow for hours or days. On land, the bears may dig a resting spot on gravel or sand beaches. They will also sleep on rocky outcrops. In mountainous areas on the coast, mothers and subadults will sleep on slopes where they can better spot another bear coming. Adult males are less at risk from other bears and can sleep nearly anywhere. Polar bears are typically solitary, aside from mothers with cubs and mating pairs. On land, they are found closer together and gather around food resources. Adult males, in particular, are more tolerant of each other in land environments and outside
13542-418: The shoulder. The tail is 76–126 mm (3.0–5.0 in) long. The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 1,002 kg (2,209 lb), was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960. Compared with the brown bear, this species has a more slender build, with a narrower, flatter and smaller skull, a longer neck, and a lower shoulder hump. The snout profile is curved, resembling
13664-409: The throne. Normally, an outcast like Iorek would not have been allowed to participate in a duel, but the then-king Iofur is tricked into making an exception. Ordinarily, a bear who kills another in a duel is made an outcast. In the books the bears struggle to maintain their own culture and traditions against the intrusive effects of human society. This is most visible during the reign of Iofur Raknison,
13786-603: The two kings who appear in the books. Some bears occasionally hire themselves out to humans as mercenaries or labourers , but only in the Arctic regions, and it is implied that bears who do this may be shamed in some way. Lands further to the south have little contact with the bears, though their existence is widely known. Becoming an outcast is the worst shame to a bear. The outcast is forced to leave his home and if he approaches Svalbard again, he will be shot down from afar with fire hurlers. Bears consider death by fire hurler to be dishonourable. The outcast may not participate in
13908-416: The vicinity of the island now known as Meteorite island . Peary dedicated three years to planning and executing the removal of the meteorite, a process which required, among other things, the construction of a short "railroad" of heavy timbers. In 1895 he managed to transport two smaller fragments ( the Woman and the Dog ). In 1897, after great effort, he managed to obtain the third and the largest fragment (
14030-556: The water. The eyes of a polar bear are close to the top of the head, which may allow them to stay out of the water when the animal is swimming at the surface. They are relatively small, which may be an adaption against blowing snow and snow blindness . Polar bears are dichromats , and lack the cone cells for seeing medium, mainly green, wavelengths. They have many rod cells , which allow them to see at night. The ears are small, allowing them to retain heat and not get frostbitten . They can hear best at frequencies of 11.2–22.5 kHz,
14152-587: The western and southern Hudson Bay (WHB and SHB) populations. Bears in and around the Queen Elizabeth Islands have been proposed as a subpopulation but this is not universally accepted. A 2022 study has suggested that the bears in southeast Greenland should be considered a different subpopulation based on their geographic isolation and genetics. Polar bear populations can also be divided into four gene clusters : Southern Canadian, Canadian Archipelago , Western Basin (northwestern Canada west to
14274-493: The wild. Analysis of the number of variations of gene copies in polar bears compared with brown bears and American black bears shows distinct adaptions. Polar bears have a less diverse array of olfactory receptor genes, a result of there being fewer odours in their Arctic habitat. With its carnivorous, high-fat diet the species has fewer copies of the gene involved in making amylase , an enzyme that breaks down starch , and more selection for genes for fatty acid breakdown and
14396-399: The winds. Witches, through intense concentration, have the power to be wholly ignored. In the right state of mind, a witch can make herself so unnoticeable that she is almost invisible. Although she is always completely solid, people will glance at her when they see her and move aside to let her pass, without any comment or objection, as if she were merely a part of the wall. Some witches have
14518-440: Was a lie." Seen in The Amber Spyglass , Arctic foxes are partially sapient and mischievous creatures. They can only understand the present tense, a trait which leads to much confusion when they eavesdrop on others. An excerpt of Arctic fox dialogue: "Bear must go south! Swear! Witch is troubled! True! Swear! Promise!" This happened when the fox in question had overheard Iorek Byrnison and Serafina Pekkala's conversation about
14640-544: Was found between gneissic boulders at the foot of a cliff by the Eskimo Augo Suerssaq while on a hunting trip. In 1963, a fifth major piece of the Cape York meteorite was discovered by Vagn Buchwald [ da ; de ] on Agpalilik peninsula. The Agpalilik meteorite [ da ] , also known as the Man , weighs about 20 metric tons (20 long tons; 22 short tons), and it is currently on display in
14762-835: Was given its common name by Thomas Pennant in A Synopsis of Quadrupeds (1771). It was known as the "white bear" in Europe between the 13th and 18th centuries, as well as "ice bear", "sea bear" and " Greenland bear". The Norse referred to it as isbjørn ' ice bear ' and hvitebjørn ' white bear ' . The bear is called nanook by the Inuit . The Netsilik cultures additionally have different names for bears based on certain factors, such as sex and age: these include adult males ( anguraq ), single adult females ( tattaq ), gestating females ( arnaluk ), newborns ( hagliaqtug ), large adolescents ( namiaq ) and dormant bears ( apitiliit ). The scientific name Ursus maritimus
14884-494: Was left at the scene of its discovery until 1923-24 when the mass was brought down from the top of the cliff to the seashore and transported across 25 km of sea ice to the Bushnan Island . Here, open water allowed the ship Sokongen to pick it up and sail with it to Copenhagen where it was unloaded in 1925 and thoroughly described. Thule meteorite was found relatively close to Thule town and Thule Air Base in 1955 by
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