Polar Bear Cam is the the Bald Eagle Cam of Fall 2011

Bob Anderson of the Raptor Resource Project in Decora, Iowa has been treating online video watchers and orniphiles to a live stream and unadulterated look into the domestic lives of a family of bald eagles since he set up a series of cameras 85 feet up in the air back in March.

The Bald Eagle Cam was the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam of 2011 and is now the self-proclaimed “#1 Most Viewed Live Video of All Time,” with a view count on Ustream of over 211 million(!!!) and counting. But a new contendor in the category of animal-oriented live streams may pose a challenge to the Bald Eagle Cam’s viewership title.

The Polar Bear Cam (which is officially dubbed The Tundra Buggy Cam because, as the name would suggest, the cameras are attached to a vehicle that can handle the polar bears’ natural terrain) is a live, daylight-hours feed that captures migrating polar bears on film as they travel through the small Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba. Hundreds of bears follow the trail every year on their way to the Hudson Bay, where they gather and “wait for the ice to form so they can return to their seal-hunting grounds.”

The feed comes courtesy of a $50,000 grant and Explore.org, a website which showcases “philanthropic based media to champion the selfless acts of others, create a portal into the soul of humanity and inspire lifelong learning.”

Check it out. You won’t see baby bear cubs exploring the snow, but you will get an incredible look at one of the most endangered polar bear populations in the world (which is increasingly threatened by rising global temperatures) go about what scientists call a “walking hibernation.” If you feel so moved, you can even take some action.