Polar bear

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Walking & Running Polar bears have more problems with overheating than they do with cold. That's why they typically walk at a slow pace. They can run for a short distance—but quickly overheat. Sleep Habits Just like people, most polar bears sleep 7-8 hours at a stretch—and they take naps, too. Polar bears nap just about anywhere, any time, and especially after feeding on a seal! Napping helps them conserve energy, since their entire existence centers around hunting, eating, and conserving energy. Where They Sleep In winter, polar bears sleep in shallow pits they dig in the snow, putting their sides or backs to the wind. They can sleep right through blizzards. The snow piles up on top of them like an insulating blanket. Sometimes they stay curled up under the snow for several days until the storm passes. In summer, polar bears curl up on the sea ice, sometimes using a block of ice or a paw as a pillow. Landlocked bears sleep on the tundra or dig sleeping pits in the sand or gravel ridges along the shore. Staying Clean Polar bears like to be clean and dry because matted, dirty, and wet fur is a poor insulator. After feeding, polar bears head for open water and spend up to 15 minutes washing off, licking their paws, chests, and muzzles. They then dry themselves by shaking off excess water and rubbing their fur in the snow. In winter, polar bears clean themselves with snow (and with water, when available). They also rub their heads in the snow, push forward on their tummies, a...

From a love of blubber to enormous paws, polar bears are remarkable animals, with many unusual adaptations that help them thrive in the Arctic. As we count down to International Polar Bear Day on February 27th, we wanted to share ten of our favorite facts about what makes polar bears tick. 1. For a polar bear, home is on the sea ice. Polar bears rely on Arctic sea ice for their survival, a habitat that is literally melting away as the planet warms. They use the ice as a platform to hunt seals, to breed, to roam, and sometimes to den. Polar bears range across the circumpolar Arctic, in five “polar bear nations”: Canada, the U.S. (Alaska), Russia, Norway (Svalbard), and Denmark (Greenland). Canada is home to the most polar bears, approximately 2/3rds of the global number. (And, by the way, polar bears don’t live in Antarctica. Penguins do!) 2. Polar bears are BIG. In fact, they are the largest four-legged predator. Adult males normally weight 350 to more than 600 kilograms (775 to more than 1,300 pounds). Adult females are smaller, normally weighing 150 to 290 kilograms (330 to 650 pounds). Scientists usually refer to how tall bears are by measuring them at the shoulder when on all fours. Those heights are typically 1-1.5 meters (3.3-5 feet) for adult polar bears. An adult male may reach over three meters (10 feet) when standing on its hind legs! 3. Polar bears are champion travelers. Polar bears are one of the most mobile four-legged animals, if not the most. They can trave...

• Scientific Name: Ursus maritimus • Other Names: Nanook or nanuq, Isbjørn (ice bear), umka • Basic Animal Group: Mammal • Size: 5.9-9.8 feet • Weight: 330-1500 pounds • Lifespan: 25 years • Diet: Carnivore • Habitat: Arctic Circle • Population: 25,000 • Conservation Status: Vulnerable Description Polar bears are easily recognizable by their white fur, which yellows with age. Each hair on a polar bear is hollow, and the skin beneath its fur is black. Compared to Polar bears are excellent swimmers. sergei gladyshev / Getty Images Polar bears are extremely large animals. While both sexes look alike, males are about twice the size of females. An adult male ranges from 7.9 to 9.8 feet in length and weighs 770 to 1500 pounds. The largest male polar bear on record weighed 2209 pounds. Females measure 5.9 to 7.9 feet in length and weigh between 330 to 550 pounds. However, females can double their weight when pregnant. The mother polar bear remains inside the den with the cubs until mid-February to mid-April. For the first couple of weeks after she breaks out of the den, she feeds on vegetation while the cubs learn to walk. Finally, the mother and her cubs walk to the sea ice. In some cases, the female may have fasted for eight months before she returns to hunting seals once again. Polar bears face multiple threats, including pollution, various impacts from oil and gas development, hunting, habitat loss, conflicts from ships, stress from tourism, and climate change. Hunting is reg...

As I write this, my own little cub tears around the house, demanding water and snacks and attention. She’s up and down and up and down and up … I am tired but at the same time can recognize how privileged I am. My daughter has an excellent chance of surviving to adulthood, and I’m fortunate to have all the conveniences of modern life at my fingertips to help me raise her—from grocery stores and indoor heating to FaceTiming with Nana. I can offer books or toys, keep our home safe, and turn on Baby Shark to distract for a desperately needed minute. Plus, so much coffee. Polar bear moms have no such support. Not even close. All moms work hard, but polar bears are undoubtedly some of the hardest working single moms. Here are some key facts about polar bear families: 1. Polar bear moms have one of the longest fasting periods in the animal kingdom. • After feeding all winter, polar bears in seasonal ice areas like Hudson Bay come ashore in the summer. • Females who mated in the spring and are fat enough to sustain a pregnancy build and enter a maternity den in the fall, which is soon hidden under drifts of snow. While in the den, the mother bears don’t eat or drink. Instead, they live off their body fat. • In the late fall or early winter, they give birth to one to three tiny and helpless cubs, nursing them until they are strong enough to leave the den three to four months later. The denning period is considered the most vulnerable time in a polar bear’s life. • Once the cubs ar...

Why subscribe? • The ultimate action-packed science and technology magazine bursting with exciting information about the universe • Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with checkout code 'LOVE5' • Engaging articles, amazing illustrations & exclusive interviews • Issues delivered straight to your door or device As the world warms and Arctic sea ice thins, starving polar bears are being driven ever further south, where they meet grizzlies, whose ranges are expanding northwards. And with that growing contact between the two species comes more mating, and therefore increased sightings of their hybrid offspring. With features that could give them an edge in warming northern habitats, some scientists speculate that the pizzlies, or "grolars", could be here to stay. Related: Polar bear photos: Stunning shots capture Earth's icons of climate change "Usually hybrids aren't better suited to their environments than their parents, but there is a possibility that these hybrids might be able to forage for a broader range of food sources," Larisa DeSantis, a paleontologist and associate professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, told Live Science. Polar bears have longer skulls, which makes them experts at grabbing seals out of the sea, DeSantis said. "But their molars are smaller than is typical for their body size because all they eat is blubber all day. Grizzlies, on the other hand, can eat whatever they want. We don't know yet, but perhaps the intermedia...

Polar Bear Profile The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is a marine mammal that inhabits the sea ice in the Arctic region of the Northern Hemisphere. They are the largest land carnivores on the planet, rivaled only by the Kodiak brown bears that are found in the southwestern portion of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway and Russia. The polar bear sits at the top of the food chain in this cold, harsh environment. Their diet consists mostly of the fat of seals that share the region with them. Polar Bear Facts Overview Habitat: Polar Dens & Edges Of Pack Ice Location: Arctic Circle – Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Russia and Norway. Lifespan: 25 – 35 Years Size: 13 – 18 ft (4 to 5.5 m) Weight: 1,760 – 3,530 Pounds (800 – 1,600 kg) Color: White Fur & Black Skin Diet: Seals, Reindeer, Walrus, Rodents, Birds, Eggs Predators: No Natural Predators, Only Other Polar Bears. Top Speed: 40 kph / 25 mph No. of Species: 1 Conservation Status: Vulnerable An adult male polar bear, known as a ‘boar’ averages between 7 – 10 feet (2.5 – 3 meters) in length, and weighs between 750 – 1,550 pounds (350– 700 kg). An adult female polar bear, are roughly half the size of their male counterparts. The polar bear has many different adaptations that have permitted the species to thrive and survive in the Arctic cold. The fur of the polar bear is thicker than that of any other kind of bear. It even covers their feet, to provide both warmth and traction. Buoyancy and insulation is provided by a thick layer of bl...

Description Polar bears are the largest carnivorous land mammals on Earth. They are about seven to eight feet long, measured from the nose to the tip of their very short tail. Male polar bears are much larger than the females. A large male can weigh more than 1,700 pounds, while a large female is about half that size (up to 1,000 pounds). Bears can weigh about 50 percent more after a successful hunting season than they do at the start of the next; most of this additional weight is accumulated fat. A newborn polar bear weighs only about 1.5 pounds. Many of the polar bear's physical adaptations help it maintain body heat and deal with its icy habitat. The bear's outer layer of fur is hollow and reflects light, giving the fur a white color that helps the bear remain camouflaged. The skin under the polar bear's fur is actually black; this black is evident only on the nose. Polar bears also have a thick layer of fat below the surface of the skin, which acts as insulation on the body to trap heat. This is especially important while swimming and during the frigid Arctic winter. The bear's large size reduces the amount of surface area that's exposed to the cold per unit of body mass (pounds of flesh), which generates heat. The polar bear's footpads have a kind of “non-slip” surface, allowing them to get traction on slippery ice. Polar bears have strong legs and large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes, which helps with swimming and walking on ice. The wide paws p...