Polar bear facts are fascinating. The polar bear has a scientific name of “Ursus maritimus”, which means bear of the ocean. They live usually within the arctic circle and the arctic sea. Due to reducing amounts of ice in the arctic, which it needs to hunt, they are having challenging times currently and some populations are reducing. However compared to other carnivores, it is still found throughout a greater amount of its original habitat than any other.
The polar bear is the largst meat-eating animal found on land, and also equal largest bear with the kodiak bear. Females are typically about half the size of males.
The closest relative is the brown bear and if the two species mate they can produce live young. However neither species can live successfully in the other’s habitat.
There are probably less than 25,000 of them left alive today and they could become extinct within the next 90 years especially if the sea ice continues to reduce in their hunting areas. Their sense of smell is much better than a human’s . . . they can smell a seal (which is their main food) a mile away. However their hearing is no better than a persons.
A polar bear will get too hot if the temperature is more than ten degrees centigrade because of their thick layer of body fat which they need to survive in the arctic.
Most of the lifetime of a polar bear is spent on the sea-ice hunting seals. They can swim about twice as fast as their usual walking distance and will swim very long distances such as several hundred miles. While their main food is seals, they will also sometimes eat beluga whales or walrus (which are up to twice their size). They can go for several months without eating anything when they need to.
For more interesting facts on polar bears, and for some beautiful photos of them, see our other blog posts . . .