Bear Care: Polar Bear Facts
Bear Care: Polar Bear Facts
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Habitat
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Polar bears live in the circumpolar (Arctic) regions of the world. There are only 5 countries on the planet: the US (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Denmark (Greenland), and Norway. They live in snow and ice year round, and swim from ice floe to ice floe in their search for food. However, because their habitat is melting, some bears have been forced to take up residence in areas inhabited by humans. This is dangerous for both the people and the bears.
Anatomy and Social Life
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Adult male polar bears can be up to 10 ½ feet tall when standing up, and can weigh anywhere from 550 to 1,700 pounds. That’s almost a ton! Female adult bears are smaller, usually 6 to 8 feet tall and only weighing between 200 and 700 pounds. A full grown male’s paw can measure up to 14 inches long and 6 inches across. In the wild polar bears usually live to the age of 18. In captivity, they can live to be 30. The oldest polar bear in the world was 41, and lived in the London Zoo. Currently, there is another 41 year old bear living in Winnipeg, Canada. Polar bears are solitary animals, and only meet up to fight and mate. A mother bear will stay with her cubs until they are about 2, but otherwise they don’t ever travel in groups.
Baby Bears
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After a female becomes pregnant, she digs herself a maternity den in the fall. This den is a large cavity 6 feet underground. They dig them in snow banks along hills and mountains near the sea ice, and sometimes on the ice itself. After feeding heavily for several days, she crawls in and enters a deep sleep much like hibernation. The cubs are then born in November or December, and the family will remain underground until April or May. Baby polar bears are only 12 inches long when they’re born. Their eyes are closed, have no teeth, and are covered in short, soft fur. Cubs are entirely dependent on their mothers for food and warmth. The cubs grow very quickly in the den, mostly due to their mother’s rich milk (the milk is 31% fats).
Diet
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Polar bears are 100% carnivorous. They mainly eat seals, particularly ringed and fur seals. IF the hunting is especially good, the polar bears will eat only the fat from the seal and leave the rest of the carcass for scavengers including arctic foxes, ravens, and younger bears. They’ve also been know to eat birds, bird eggs, walruses, beluga whales, short legged reindeer, and beached whales.
Other
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· Worldwide, the scientific community recognizes 19 distinct populations of polar bear, but no subspecies
· The closest relative of the polar bear is the brown bear
· It’s estimated there are 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears
· Polar bears are the largest of the 8 bear species
· Their scientific name, Ursus martimus, means sea bearScientific Classification
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Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species: Ursus maritimus
Facts taken from PolarBearsInternational.org
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