The white bear or ursus marítimus, also known as polar bearis the most imposing predator that inhabits the Arctic. It is a carnivorous mammal of the bear family and is, without a doubt, the largest land carnivore on planet Earth.
Despite the obvious physical differences with the brown bear, the truth is that they share large genetic traits that would allow, in a hypothetical case, the reproduction and fertile offspring of both specimens. Even so, we must emphasize that they are different species, due to morphological, metabolic and social behavior differences. As ancestor of the white bear we highlight the Ursus maritimus tyrannus, a large subspecies. To learn more about this wonderful animal, don't miss this article on our site, where we talk about the characteristics of the polar bear and share incredible images.
Where does the polar bear live?
The polar bear habitat is the permanent ice of the polar cap and the frigid waters that surround the icebergs and broken plains of the arctic ice floe We find on the planet six specific populations that are:
- The community of western Alaska and Wrangel Island, both belonging to Russia.
- Northern Alaska.
- In Canada we find 60% of all white bear specimens in the world.
- Greenland, autonomous region of Greenland.
- The Svalbard archipelago, belonging to Norway.
- Franz Joseph Land or Fritjof Nansen Archipelago, also Russia.
- Siberia.
Polar Bear Characteristics
The polar bear, along with the Kodiak bear, is the largest species among the bears. If you're wondering how much does a polar bear weigh, males weigh over 500 kg, although there are reports of specimens that weighed more than 1000 kg. The females weigh just over half that of the males and can measure up to 2 meters in length. The males reach 2, 60 meters.
The structure of the polar bear, despite its large size, is more slender than that of its relatives, the brown and black bears. Its head is much smaller and tapered towards the snout than the other bear breeds. Likewise, tiny eyes stand out, black and shiny as jet, as well as the sensitive snout with enormous olfactory power. The ears are small, hairy and very rounded. This very specific facial configuration is due to a double reason: camouflage and the possibility of avoiding as much as possible the loss of body heat through the aforementioned facial organs.
The enormous body of the white bear is confused, thanks to the snowy mantle that completely covers it, with the surrounding ice that constitutes its habitat, and consequently its hunting territory. Thanks to this perfect camouflage, it crawls across the ice to get as close as possible to ringed seals, its most common prey.
Continuing with the characteristics of the polar bear, we can say that under the skin the white bear has a thick fatty layer that insulates it perfectly of the ice and the frigid arctic waters through which it moves swimming and also hunting. The legs of the polar bear are much more developed than those of the other ursids, since they have evolved to walk many kilometers through the vast boreal ice and to swim great distances.
Polar Bear Feeding
The white bear feeds mainly on young specimens of ringed seals, prey that it hunts either on the ice or under the waters of exceptional way.
The polar bear has two typical ways of hunting: Get as close as possible with your body flat on the ground to a resting seal on the ice, to get up suddenly and after a brief run launch a dazzling claw at the seal's skull, to finish it off with a bite to the neck. The other type of hunting, and the most common of all of them, consists of lying in wait next to a seal vent. These vents consist of holes that the seals make in the ice to come out cyclically to breathe during their fishing incursions in the waters covered by an ice cap. When the seal sticks its nose out of the water to breathe, the bear from above gives it a brutal blow that fragments the prey's skull. With this technique it also hunts belugas (marine cetaceans related to dolphins).
Polar bears also spot Seal Pups hidden in galleries dug under the ice. When they locate the exact position by smell, they launch themselves with all their strength against the frozen roof of the den where the baby is hiding, falling on top of it. During the summer they also hunt reindeer and caribou, or even birds and eggs in the nesting areas.
For more details, don't miss the article on "Polar Bear Feeding".
Polar Bear Behavior
The polar bear does not hibernate, as its conspecifics of other species do. White bears store fat during the winter and lose it during the summer in order to cool their bodies. The females during the breeding period do not eat food, losing up to half of their body weight.
As for the reproduction of the polar bear, between the months of April and Mayis the only period that females tolerate males due to their heat. Outside this period, the behavior between both genders is hostile. Some male polar bears are cannibalistic, eating cubs or other bears.
Polar Bear Conservation
Unfortunately, the polar bear is in serious danger of extinction due to the human factor. After evolving for more than 4 million years, it is currently estimated as very likely that the species could disappear by the middle of this century. Oil pollution and climate change seriously threaten these magnificent animals, whose only antagonistic predator is the human being.
The main problem currently facing the white bear is the effect caused by climate change on its ecosystem. The gradual rise in temperature in the Arctic Ocean causes a more accelerated melting of the Arctic sea ice (extensive area of floating ice) that constitutes the bear's hunting area polar. This premature thawing is the reason why the bears are unable to accumulate the necessary fat reserves to correctly carry out the transit from station to station. This fact influences the fertility of the species, which in recent times has decreased by 15%
Another problem is the pollution of its environment (especially oil), since the Arctic is an area rich in this pollutant and finite resource. Both problems push polar bears to make incursions into human settlements to feed on the garbage produced by their inhabitants. It is sad that a being as majestic as this apex predator is forced to survive in this way due to the detrimental action of man on Nature.
Curiosities
- Polar bears don't actually have white fur, it is translucent and the optical effect makes it appear snowy white during the winter, and of a more ivory tone in the summer period. These hairs are hollow and filled with air inside, which causes enormous thermal insulation, ideal for living in the radical climate of the Arctic.
- Polar bear fur is black, so it better absorbs solar radiation.
- The white bear does not drink water, since the water in its environment is s alty and acidic. Polar bears obtain their precise fluids from the blood of their prey.
- The life expectancy of polar bears ranges from 30-40 years.
