Polar Bears
by Wendy AronPolar bears are the largest members of the bear family. They are also the largest carnivores in the world that live on land. Polar bears can be found roaming five countries in the far north—Alaska in the United States, the northern part of Canada, Greenland, some islands off Norway and Russia. They are also found on the frozen Artic ice cap.
The male polar bear can stand up to ten feet tall on its hind legs and weight over 1,000 pounds. These powerful animals have shorter arms and legs than other bears, but they have tremendously strong muscles. Also their heads and ears are smaller than most bears and they have relatively small tails. This adaptation allows them to stay warm in the frigid artic climate. The polar bear’s paws are very large and are used as powerful weapons for attacking prey. They have black pads on the bottom of their paws that are as course as sandpaper. This is to keep the bear from slipping on the ice and snow. The polar bears front paws are webbed like a duck’s feet. These paws act like flippers and help the bear to swim. Artic bears are as comfortable on water as they are on land. They are excellent swimmers and can stay underwater for one or two minutes. Artic polar bears often need to swim in the summer when the ice they are on melts away and they need to get back to shore. They can swim at a speed of six miles per hour and can dive as deep as fifteen feet below the water’s surface. On land, the polar bear usually walks slowly—about three miles per hour. It can run up to twenty-five miles per hour but usually tires and overheats quickly. This is because it has thick fur on the outside and a layer of blubber on the inside to protect it from the cold.
What do Polar Bears Eat?
To survive in the Artic, polar bears have to be good hunters. They have longer snouts than most bears, and they have a superb sense of smell. They sometimes hold their noses high in the air while standing on their hind feet to sniff out prey that may be miles away. Their eyesight is sharp and their hearing excellent. Polar bears also have longer, sharper teeth than most bears and sharp curved claws for capturing and killing prey. Polar bears eat more meat than any other bears. The polar bear’s favorite food is the ringed seal, the smallest seal in the Artic. The seals use sharp nails on their flippers to scratch out holes in the ice, where they come up for air. They swim up to these openings, or, breathing holes and poke their heads up for air every five to fifteen minutes. This is when the polar bears try to catch them with one quick swipe of their powerful paws. A polar bear is usually only successful in one out of twenty attempts to catch a seal.
Polar Bears Feeding
A polar bear may seem like a sloppy eater, getting blood and fat all over it as it feeds. But when it’s finished eating, it spends time cleaning itself. It might wash itself by jumping into the water, or it might lick itself clean in much the same way that a cat does. This neatness isn’t just to make the polar bear’s fur look good. If the polar bear’s fur gets wet or matted down with dirt, it can’t protect against the cold. The fur needs to be as clean as possible at all times.
Baby Polar Bears
Baby polar bears are generally born in the winter, eight months after the female polar bear has mated. At birth, the baby polar bears are only about as big as a kitten and weigh about one pound. They have pink bodies with just a thin coat of short, white hair. Their eyes are closed and they cannot see or hear. The baby polar bears are also born without teeth. They depend on their mother for food and warmth and in just the first month after their birth, the cubs grow to more than four times their birth weight. In spring, when they are about three months old, the baby polar bears are ready to come out of the den with their mother. The female polar bear is a very good mother and protects her offspring fiercely if they are threatened. There are many dangers in the cold north, including starvation, disease and attacks by other animals. Many baby polar bears do not live past the first year. For two to three years, the cubs drink their mother’s milk and they begin to eat meat that the mother has hunted. Eventually, the mother will teach the cubs how to hunt for themselves. When the cubs have reached age two or three, the mother chases them away or abandons them to fend for themselves in the wild.
As the result of global warming, hunting and oil exploration, the polar bear’s way of life has been threatened. Thousand of years ago, there were many more polar bears than there are today. In 1972, there were only about 8, 500 polar bears left. The polar bear was close to becoming extinct. The good news is that due to efforts of concerned people, as of 2001 there were approximately 24, 000 polar bears in the wild. With the continued effort of conservation groups the public can be apprised of information on polar bears and we can be assured of the presence of these majestic animals for years to come.
