The polar bear is, on average, the largest of the eight species of bears found worldwide. The polar bear is completely covered with fur, with the exception of its nose and the pads of its feet. The coat can vary from pure white to a creamy yellow depending on the time of year and the angle of light.
Typically, the body is stocky, lacks a shoulder hump, and has a longer neck in relation to the rest of the body than other ursids. Other English common names for the species are white bear, ice bear, and Nanuk.
The polar bear has huge, dinner plate sized furry feet that act like snowshoes. They help spread out the polar bear’s weight so that it does not fall through thin ice.
The males weigh between 350 to over 650kg and females normally weigh between 150 and 250kg although this can double when they are pregnant. Polar bears live for 15 to 18 years. They have no natural predators other than humans.
Polar bears are distributed in ice-covered waters throughout the circumpolar Arctic. Nineteen individual populations are currently recognized, varying in size from a few hundred to a few thousand bears in each, with a world population estimate in 2005 of 20,000 – 25,000.
Polar bear's feed mainly on ringed seals but also hunt bearded, harp and hooded seals as well as young walrus. Sometimes, large males capture beluga whales.
Its nose, the sensitive sniffer can smell a seal on the ice from more than a mile away. The nostrils close tightly underwater. That keeps a swimming bear from getting a noseful of icy water.
Polar bears that have continuous access to sea ice continue to hunt throughout the year. Their hunting methods and rates of success change with the seasons and vary in different areas. A polar bear will try many different ways to catch a seal. The most common way is to wait by a seal’s breathing hole in the ice until a seal emerges.
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)
