- Polar bears are the biggest and most powerful animals in the Arctic pack ice. The fear no other animal. None are larger enough to challenge the polar bear. Polar bears belong to the bear family. They are closely related to brown bears. Polar bears are as comfortable on land as in the water. They spend a lot of time on land and use the sea as a feeding ground.
- Polar bears are covered in thick, creamy white fur. This fur keeps them warm and gives them good camouflage in the snowy landscape. An average male polar bear weighs over 1,000 pounds and is around ten feet long. Female polar bears are smaller, about about eight feet long. Some Alaskan polar bears have weighed well over 1,500 pounds.
- Polar bears are found only in the Arctic pack ice. When the ice melts in the summer, the bears move north. They return to the southern limits of the pack ice in the winter. Polar bear populations live in five countires: the United States, Canada, Greenland, the Soviet Union, and Norway. The governments of all these countries have forbidden the hunting of polar bears.
- Polar bears are curious animals. They often stand up on their hind legs to get a better look or sniff things. They will follow the tracks of snow vehicles for miles. Like all animals, they have to rely on their senses to find food and fend off suprise attacks. Polar bears do not have very good eyesight. Luckily their sense of smeill is excellent. Polar bears can smell a tasty seal from far away!
- Polar bears hunt alone. Their favorite food is seal meat, and they are especially fond of ringed seals. Polar bears stalk seals quietly and carefully. They crawl after them on their bellies, slipping in and out of the water between ice floes. Polar bears have to attack on land because the seals are much too quick for them in the water. Polar bears only eat part of the seals. They leave the rest for Arctic foxes to eat.
- Polar bears are carnivorous, or meat-eating. In the summer months they sometimes eat leaves and berries, but they prefer meat. Polar bears eat about 8 pounds of meat each day. They eat all kinds of seals, fish, and other smaller sea mammals. Polar bears sometimes attack walus herds. The walruses run to the sea for safety. Any that are left behind become easy prey for the polar bear.
- Polar bears are very strong swimmers. They can keep up a steady speed of 6 M.P.H. over long distances. Polar bears use their front legs to propel themselves through the water. Their huge front paws make good paddles. The back legs are dragged behind to steer them. Polar bears can make shallow dives underwater and stay there for two minutes. They do not normally dive deeper than six feet.
- Polar bear cubs are born in the winter. A female polar bear normally has twin cubs every two or three years. The cubs are only 7 to 12 inches long when they are born, and they weigh under two pounds. Polar bear cubs are born in a den that their mother has dug under the snow. The female and her cubs stay together inside the den for about three months. The cubs feed on their mother’s rich milk.
- The polar bears leave the den for the first time in the spring months of March or April. The cubs are now strong and healthy. They weigh about 20 pounds. The mother bear is hungry. She did not eat all the time she was in the den and is half her normal weight. Now the mother bear needs food, and she will teach her cubs to hunt. They love to play in the snow! A year later the cubs are big enough to look after themselves.