Polar Bear Facts

Category: Characteristics

  • How Many Legs Does a Polar Bear have?

    Well, apparently polar bears have four legs as they walk like most other land mammals do. But the front limbs serve more like polar bear arms rather than legs. If that is the case then polar bears have only two legs. However, they don’t walk on two legs do they? Let’s see how many legs does a polar bear have?

    How Many Legs Does a Polar Bear have?

    Like tigers, lions, and other land carnivores, polar bears use their front limbs not only to dig—they also use them to climb. Their front limbs resemble more like human’s arms especially when they use them other than in walk. Horses, zebras, and other ungulates are probably the best examples of animals with four legs because their limbs can only be used in walking or running.

    how many legs does a polar bear have?
    A polar bear uses its forelegs to dig snow. How many legs does a polar bear have? Photo by abc2news

    Polar bear’s front arms become quite obvious when they stand on their hind legs. Polar bears usually stand on two legs when they want to look out for any potential predator or a prey. Nonetheless, their front arms/limbs are called forelegs while rear legs are known as hindlegs. We can therefore conclude that polar bears have four legs just like other land mammals.

  • How Big is a Polar Bear Paw? – Polar Bear Paw

    Like polar bear’s skull, polar bear paws are massive in size. The front paws points inwards as the polar bear walks. It does seem like a pigeon-toed. Polar bears most often walk rather than trot. They do however gallop on their paws. Do you want to know how big is a polar paw as compared to other animal’s paws?

    How Big is a Polar Bear Paw? – Polar Bear Paw

    The polar bear’s paw measures 30 cm (12 inches) in width—almost four times the size of a human’s paw. The Siberian tiger’s paw measures only 15 cm that is only half the size of a polar bear paw. Similarly, African lions have 12.9 wide paws. Clearly, polar bears have got the biggest paws of all land carnivores.

    There are small soft papillae or bumps that cover the paw pads. These bumps essentially play a vital role in providing traction on the ice. The polar bear paws resemble other bear’s paws but the former are surprisingly dexterous.

  • Why Do Polar Bears have Black Skins?

    While polar bear’s white fur camouflages it into the white snowy background its black skin primarily serves to keep the bear warm nearly all the time. The reason why polar bears have black skins is that black color (as you probably know) absorbs heat and sunlight inasmuch as they can. That is why most people usually do not wear dark-colored clothes in summer. Now let us study in detail as to what color skin do polar bears have.

    Why Do Polar Bears have Black Skin?

    Polar bears inhabit one of the coolest places on planet earth. Like most other Arctic mammals, polar bears have quite many adaptations to survive the freezing cold of the North. One such useful adaptation is a bear’s black skin. The polar bear’s skin soaks up as much sunlight as it possibly can and so it keeps the animal warm.

    Read More: Why are Polar Bears White?

    why do polar bears have black skin
    The polar bear’s black skin is quite visible under its white fur. Why do polar bears have black skins? Photo by worldwildlife.org

    Black color generally does not reflect light, it absorbs the light. Polar bears live in Canadian Arctic as well as Denmark, Russia, Norway, and Alaska—places where sun doesn’t shine like in Southern Hemisphere. Thus, it turns out to be extremely effective feature in absorbing the available sunlight.

    Why Do Polar Bears have Black Skin? – Video

  • How Long Do Polar Bears Hibernate?

    Polar bears do not hibernate. They are not true hibernators. They just go into a temporary torpor or dormancy state where their metabolic rate slows down but this is not exactly hibernation. Hibernation is a sort of activity (or maybe inactivity) which enables the bear to save its energy because the ambient temperatures are extremely low that the average body temperature, basal metabolic rate and foraging goes out of the question. All these normal activities turn out to be either impossible or energetically too costly. Let’s see how long do polar bears hibernate or remain inactive in a 365-day period.

    How Long Do Polar Bears Hibernate?

    Polar bears remain inactive for as long as 4 – 5 months in a year. But the polar bear’s hibernation does not mean a continuous sleep. Although their heart rate drops down from 46 to 27 beats per minute they are probably not as dead as rodents. Lately scientists have observed that summers in the Arctic appear to be longer than winters probably due to the global warming.

    This indeed affects the overall behavior of the hibernating animals. Long summers mean less time for polar bears to store considerable energy reserves or fats to go by so-called hibernating months. Polar bears are most likely to face food shortage in the years to come.

    How long do polar bears hibernate?
    How long do polar bears hibernate?
    • The hibernating animals like bats and rodents enter into a deep sleep so much so that it’s not possible for them to react quickly if the predator is nearby.
    • In case of polar bear’s dormancy (not hibernation) they do not only respond actively even during inactivity they do move around to look for any possible threats outside the den.
    • Polar bears, like emperor penguin or arctic fox, can afford to forage in extreme Arctic chilling for they are not only perfectly insulated—they have stored reasonable energy reserves and they do compete quite successfully for a continuing food source.

    How Long Do Polar Bears Hibernate? – Video

  • Do Polar Bears have Webbed Feet?

    Yes, polar bears have partially webbed feet one that facilitates them in swimming longer distances. However, the polar bear feet are not even close to the penguin’s or duck’s feet. These birds have fully developed webbed feet. The polar bear’s feet are broad and heavy because the bear must run equally fast on land as it swims. The wide feet help the bear to walk on the sea ice rather efficiently. Polar bears are strong swimmers, probably the strongest of all land carnivores.

    do polar bears have webbed feet
    A polar bear learning to swim. Do polar bears have webbed feet? Photo by DailyMail

    Thanks to their powerful wide paws which allow them to propel through water. Siberian tigers are also excellent swimmers but their feet are not so well adapted to swimming and so they can only swim for short distances. Polar bears, on the other hand, can continuously swim for days. They are pretty comfortable in water so much so that scientists are beginning to wonder if they are marine mammals or land mammals. They typically use their feet to steer while front paws are primarily used in swimming.

  • Why Do Polar Bears have Large Feet?

    Polar bears have pretty large feet—they are quite heavy too. Polar bear’s 12-inch wide feet are all covered with dense hairs that are not only meant to keep the bear warm it also provides perfect grip on the ice. The reason as to why polar bears have large feet is that their feet must be large enough to lift the 800-pound-animal. The larger feet also spread the entire weight of a polar bear over deep snow and thin ice to prevent it from falling into the water.

    The large polar bear feet however does not prevent the bear from sprinting in that the bear can achieve the speed of 30 miles per hour in short bursts. Usain Bolt, the fastest human runner, can run at a speed of 27.49 miles per hour so there’s no chance that you can ever outrun a polar bear. While polar bear’s feet appear to be quite different from ours they walk in pretty much the same way as we humans do. This is quite rare in land predators. Let’s find out why do polar bears have such big feet.

    Why Does a Polar Bear have very Wide Large Paws?

    The polar bear paws are designed to assist it not only to carry the massive weight—it also provides an additional grip so that the bear doesn’t slip on the ice. Polar bears can also stand on their paws which they usually do whilst searching for the prey. Their paws also help them to climb up the hill but they are probably not so perfectly designed for climbing as the black bear’s paws.

    Polar bears typically sprint on their paws but they also use it in walking. Unlike most other land carnivores, the polar bears are great travelers—covering as much as 70 to 80 miles on foot. They are thought to cover that much distance in a single day. Thanks to their wide paws and large feet without which they might not be able to walk comfortably on the sea ice.

    Why Do Polar Bears have Large Feet? – Video

  • What Do You Call a Baby Polar Bear?

    A baby polar bear is no different from a baby brown bear, baby black bear, or a baby Kodiak bear. The baby polar bear is called a cub in pretty much the same way as lion’s baby. We often use the term cubs for most mammals’ offspring. Polar bear is just another land mammal. A baby polar bear remains a cub for the first few months since it grows quite rapidly in its initial days.

    Polar bear cubs are way too smaller in comparison to polar bear adults. In fact, they resemble the size of an adult ground squirrel. That is why the mother polar bear keeps a close eye on her cub for as long as it doesn’t reach adulthood. A baby polar bear stays for the most part of its life in a den not only to remain safe from predators—they stay warm inside the den.

  • How Do Polar Bears Protect Themselves?

    Polar bears sit at the top of the food chain in the Arctic—they are the apex predators. Adult bears do not seem to have any potential predators in the wild. Nonetheless, polar bear cubs are quite vulnerable to the dominant male bears. Polar bears do certain things that protect themselves from probable predators. Sometimes aggressive male polar bears eat their cubs particularly when they are starving. We’re going to discuss as to how do polar bears protect themselves from predators.

    How Do Polar Bears Protect Themselves?

    • Although adult polar bears are strong enough to take down any arctic predator, the subadult bears let alone cubs are not that safe. They ought to choose quite many actions to prevent themselves from predators such as wolves and foxes.
    • Just to let you know that polar bears are not true hibernators. They just enter into a torpor state in which they can recover quickly and actively respond to predators and so they are not really vulnerable even during deep sleep.
    how do polar bears protect themselves from predators
    A Polar bear female is about to give birth any time sooner. How do polar bears protect themselves. Image credits: Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock

    Polar Bears Camouflage

    Polar bears are blessed with a dense white coat that almost makes the bear disappears into the white snowy background of the Arctic. The camouflaging ability is pretty effective not only in polar bear cubs—it also protects the female polar bear from powerful dominant males. The female is only half the size of a male which is why it can barely fight with the mature male.

    Polar Bear Cubs Hide into the Den

    • The female polar bear keeps her cubs not only close to herself—it rarely allows them to get out of the den. Outside the den the cubs do play but under the watchful eye of their mother. Hungry male bears can find out the den and likely kills the cubs.
    • But if the cubs stay inside the den they are relatively safer for male polar bears are too big to get into the den.
    • The cave-like den has several entrances and it’s not possible for a male to get easy access to the cubs.

    How Do Polar Bears Protect Themselves from Predators? – Video

  • How Heavy is a Polar Bear?

    Polar bear is a pretty heavy animal—probably the heaviest of all carnivorous land mammals. Siberian tiger is just about the same weight as polar bear but the latter is slightly heavier. Therefore, polar bears do not have any natural predators in the Arctic. However, when they born they are only as heavy as an adult ground squirrel. Now let us see how heavy is a polar bear in the wild?

    How Heavy is a Polar Bear?

    Mature male bears average 350–700 kg (772–1,543 lb) in weight but most bears weigh 800 – 900 pounds. Adult males are two times heavier than adult females. However during dormancy the female polar bears put on too much weight—reaching the weight of adult males.

    how heavy is a polar bear
    A Polar bear spreads its body weight to prevent herself from falling into the water.
    Photo by DailyMail.

    In the Beaufort Sea, the adult males are reportedly as heavy as 450 kg (992 lb) whereas mature females average 150–250 kg (331–551 lb) in weight. During pregnancy, the female reaches the weight of 1,100 pounds. Many a times it happens that a polar bear spreads its legs while walking on the thin ice. It does so in order to distribute its body weight equally so the bear doesn’t fall into the water. When the Arctic ice is not thick enough to support the bear’s weight, the polar bear cannot hunt for seals because it uses dense ice as a hunting platform. Consequently, the polar bear spends weeks sometimes even months in starvation.

    According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the maximum polar bear weight is recorded at 385 to 410 kg (849 to 904 lb) but conservationists have found polar bears weighing more than 1,000 pounds in the wild. There’s no mass comparison of polar bears with any other ground-dwelling Arctic species—the white bear is clearly the biggest and the heaviest of all Arctic mammals.

    How Heavy is a Polar Bear? – Video showing a polar bear walking on a thin ice.

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  • How Big is a Male Polar Bear? – Male Polar Bear Size

    Polar bears are among the most sexually dimorphic mammals in that the male is twice the size of a female. If you ever visit the Arctic and you’re lucky enough to see a big yellow spot navigating through the Arctic—that would probably be a male polar bear. Adult male polar bear has a shoulder height of about 4 to 5 feet.

    How Tall is a Male Polar Bear?

    The shoulder height of a male polar bear averages 122 to 160 cm (4 feet 0 inch to 5 feet 3 inches). The average length of a male polar bear is 7 feet 10 inches to 9 feet 10 inches. Adult males are not only twice the height of a female bear—they are two times the weight of a female. Mature males will take the advantage of their big size and they likely become aggressive and sometimes eat polar bear cubs. Females, on the other hand are quite vulnerable as they can defend their cubs from any potential predators except for male polar bears. You can watch the National Geographic video below where a male polar bear attacks and eats the polar bear cub while the female bear could do nothing but to escape for her own life.

    How Big is a Male Polar Bear? – Video a dominant and hungry male polar bear kills the cub in front of its mother and eats it. (watch with a heavy heart)

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