Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are able to reach the speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph) in short bursts. This is the top speed of a polar bear. Ice bears cannot maintain a speed of 40 kilometers per hour for longer periods because if they do they’ll become overheated. The average speed of polar bears is far less than the top speed. They are not generally known for their speeds nor do they rely on speed for hunting. Polar bears get tired too quickly and give up in long chases. However they can be threatening to most arctic mammals especially when they charge at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour. You might like to learn more about how fast can a polar bear runin the Arctic habitat.
How Fast Do Polar Bears Run? – Polar Bear Top Speed
The typical speed at which the polar bear travels within the home range is 0.5–2.1 km/h which is quite high in comparison to other terrestrial mammals. Polar bears are mostly most active from May to the end of July. During this period they are often seen running on the sea ice. Young bears regularly play and try to run with as much speed as possible but they remain close to the parents. As the sea ice becomes thin the bears go more active and their movements increase manifold.
They will charge at the speed of about 40 km/h however the usual speed running speed is 30 km/h. Unlike arctic wolves, polar bears lack stamina. They cannot retain the speed of 30 kilometer per hour or above for more than few minutes. The thick coat and the dense fur prevent the bear from running. During running the metabolism rate goes high and the bear is exhausted.
Polar bears are well adapted to running on the thick ice. Thanks to their pads that are extremely well developed and help the bear to have a firm grip on the surface. Brown bears are able to outrun polar bears with the maximum speed of about 56 km/h. However brown bears cannot outrun polar bears on the icy surface; they can only run fast on land.
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are generally known for their excellent swimming abilities. They are highly powerful swimmers for they can swim hundreds of miles across the bays. Ice bears are thought to swim for hours or even days without stopping. They will swim at a speed of about 10 km/h (6 mph). The unique adaptations of swimming and numerous hunting techniques make polar bear the deadliest predator in the Arctic Ocean. However what makes it the all-round predator is that the bear is equally good on land. Over the past recent years they have adapted to hunting on land by devising creative ways during warmer months. Let us learn more about how fast can a polar bear swim?
How Fast Can a Polar Bear Swim?
Polar bears never hesitate to swim as a matter of fact they love spending hours in water. There is a reason why they are also called marine mammals. They will cover 100 kilometers (62 miles) in a single journey with ease. One of bears holds the highest record in which it covered as much as 400 mi (687 km) in a single venture. She swam in the icy cold water of the Bering Sea. After taking rest for few hours she resumed her journey and covered another 1,100 miles (1,800 km). This shows that polar bears are no less than other marine mammals in their swimming traits.
Polar bears possess the amazing ability to swim in the right direction even in darkness. This is quite handy because the darkness prevails as long as six months in the Arctic Circle.
Scientists also observed swimming records of several female polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea. Researchers couldn’t estimate the timing of male bears because their necks were too thick to be fit in GPS-equipped collars. They recorded the maximum duration of 354 kilometers (220 mi) but most bears could swim for about 155 kilometers (96 mi) in one voyage.
Polar bears are almost marine mammals for they enjoy swimming as much as dolphins or whales do. How fast can a polar bear swim? Photo by Daily Express.
How Long Do Polar Bears Swim without Stopping?
Polar bears spend half of its life in swimming and one cannot cast doubts on how much time it takes in swimming. They are unarguably strong swimmers. White bears will swim for 7 – 10 hours a day. Scientists recorded the maximum time ever taken by a polar bear were 9 days. A female bear swam for about 9 days (or 216 hours) in the Bering Sea without resting.
How Deep Do Polar Bears Dive? | How Long can a Polar Bear Hold its Breadth?
Polar bears typically dive 3 – 4.5 m (9.8 – 14.8 ft.) deep into the water and they can remain submerged for as long as three minutes. Normally they swim near the surface so that their nose remains exposed out of water. They don’t really swim underwater except in rare situations when they must follow seals or ice floes.
How Deep Can a Polar Bear Dive?
Researchers still need to study how deep polar bears actually dive into the sea. One of the researchers claimed that an individual bear dived as deep as 6 m (20 ft.) which might be the deepest dive for an arctic predator.
The longest dive duration in polar bear’s dive is estimated at 3 minutes and 10 seconds and it covered a distance of about 45 to 50 m (148–164 ft.)
Polar bears have probably the best sense of smell throughout the entire animal kingdom. Dogs can detect any object hidden 40 feet underground if they stand right at the top. Polar bears, on the other hand, are able to smell seals 3 feet underneath the ice even if they stand at about 5,249 feet from the source. That is why they rely more on their smelling sense than on hearing or sight. The polar bears hearing sense is nearly equal to that of a normal human.
How Far Can a Polar Bear Smell?
Polar bears use their keen sense of smell not only to find seals but also to pick out the smell of their counterparts. While navigating through the arctic habitats, white bears will sniff on each step. This shows how much alert the bears are not only to the prey but also to any possible threat. This is quite handy during mating season when male bears must find females.
Yes they probably do! Thanks to their remarkable sense of smell polar bears can afford to wait thousands of feet from the prey—letting herself to go unnoticed. The most popular hunting method is still hunting in which the bear crouches with light steps while approaching the seal breathing hole. She can wait for hours in order to allow the seal to swim near the surface. When the seal exhales the polar bear smells it and reaches for the kill.
A polar bear can detect the scent of its prey more than a mile away. How far can a polar bear smell its prey? Photo by: Vladimir Melnik/Shutterstock
Polar Bears Olfactory Nerves
The study of polar bear’s skull shows that the foramen (the opening or passage in the bone) is linked with 12 cranial nerves. The cribriform plate (a sieve-like structure between the anterior cranial fossa and the nasal cavity) supports the olfactory nerves. This is quite common in all animals which have acute smelling sense.
The cranial nerve typically finds its way via optic foramen and punctures the orbitosphenoid bone. The orbital bone lies at the anterior lacerate foramen. The foramen rotundum together with the foramen ovale are thought to puncture alisphenoid bone. Scientists have recently come up with the discovery of another cranial nerve which lies at the olfactory nerve. These nerves assist the bear to locate prey which may be a mile away.
Polar Bears can Smell Humans
While polar bears do not normally eat humans they do however attack if they find one on their way. The olfactory signals help the bear to detect the human sweat. Sometimes it so happens that a hungry polar bear is navigating through the arctic and suddenly she finds hikers or photographers who have set a camp. All of a sudden she finds you as a prey. Furthermore the smell of a carcass can bring the bear near you so beware not to set up a camp near carcass.
Polar bears are shallow divers and they swim in a dog-paddle style. Thanks to its forepaws which serve as propeller and push the animal through water to give it speed. The bear gets the buoyancy from her body fat which she gathers by eating a lot of seals. Bear’s forepaws are extremely helpful in paddling underwater without which the animal would not swim as much.
Arctic bears can gain a speedof 10 kilometers per hour. Polar bears have large feet so that they do not only spread the animal’s weight (during walk) but also offers propulsion during swimming. The feet of a polar bear measure up to 30 cm (12 in) across. They close their nostrils when they dive into the water.
Ours nageant Culture du Dorset moyen Site d’Alamek, région d’Iglulik, Canada Ivoire sculpté Canadian museum of civilization, Gatineau dans l’exposition Upside down, Les Arctiques Musée du Quai Branly
Not only do polar bears navigate through the arctic habitat on their own they also smell food from a mile away. The unique ability to smell prey (hidden 3 feet under the snow) allows polar bear to survive in the world’s most inhospitable environment. Clearly most other carnivores let alone bears would give up hunting in the Arctic habitat. This is what makes polar bears an apex predator in the arctic marine ecosystem.
How Do Polar Bears Hunt Seals?
Polar bears possess many characteristic adaptations that make them rather deadly predator in the arctic ecosystem. The unique hunting strategies, acute sense of smell, powerful long teeth adapted to chewing and crushing seal’s head, exceptional strength, good eyesight, and remarkable hearing—all combine to form formidable polar bears.
In the Arctic Circle polar bears rely on seals for nutrition and why wouldn’t they? There are millions of seals living in the Arctic waters and when they emerge to the surface they become polar bear’s primary prey. Seals come to the surface for two reasons; one is to breathe and the other reason is to relax on the ice float. Polar bears must go after their prey during these times with no exception.
Seals come to the surface for two reasons; one is to breathe and the other reason is to relax on the ice float. Polar bears must go after their prey during these times with no exception.
Seals are the important prey of arctic bears—they love to eat seals all day long. However eating a seal and hunting a seal are two different things. Hunting an animal such as seal is challenging because seals possess equally good sense of smell. As the bear approaches the seal’s hole it (the seal) dives down into the water and escapes. It happens quite often and many polar bear’s attempts go in vain. But there are methods in the polar bear’s attempts. These methods are called polar bear’s hunting methods.
Polar bears likely consume ringed seals (including pups) more readily as compared to bearded seals. They are thought to hunt in the direction of the wind precisely because bears sniff out all along on the sea ice. April is the ideal month when bear must look out ringed seal’s pups. Polar bears crush and eat the head of a pup if she is too hungry else the bear just leaves the head.
The still-hunting is probably the most familiar and effective hunting method of polar bears. In this method bears rely on their acute sense of smell to search seal breathing hole.
The still-hunting is probably the most familiar and effective hunting method of polar bears. In this method bears rely on their acute sense of smell to search seal breathing hole. The breathing hole is a point where seals show up for breathing. The white bear will crouch in close proximity to the hole as close as she possibly can. It does so without making sound. If the seal doesn’t show for hours the polar bear waits for hours. The predator remains calm, silent, and motionless all during this time. She is a patient hunter.
When the right moment arrives and the bear smells a seal exhaling in its hole she (bear) smashes the ice with her forepaw and pull the seal onto the surface. Now the polar bear will crush the seal’s head and eat it later.
Polar Bear’s Second Hunting Method
Yet another polar bear’s hunting method is stalking. Just like land mammals polar bears stalk seals when they (seals) relax on the sea ice. The bear attempts to reach within 100 yards closer to the prey without getting noticed. If the seal remains unaware the bear inches to within 40 feet of the prey and then it sprints towards the seal for the final attempt. Bears rush for the final attempt when seals show its head again to scan the area.
If the seal remains unaware the bear inches to within 40 feet of the prey and then it sprints towards the seal for the final attempt.
In the past four years studies have photographed that adult polar bears catch and pursue lesser snow geese on land in the mid-summer. This shows a partly change not only in polar bear’s diet but also in her hunting techniques.
Stalking has long proved to be useful for polar bears probably because they camouflage themselves during the hunt. Seals cannot spot bears since the bear’s white color blends with the arctic sea ice. As it turns out polar bears go unnoticed even when they get 5 – 10 meters close to the prey.
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) communicate with each other not only through words but also by actions. They speak to one another just like we humans do. One of their body postures is known as head wagging which is a sign of excitement and suggests that the bear wants to play. Polar bears also communicate through smell, sight, and touch. They will utter growling call or grind their teeth when they are offended. Polar bear cubs are likely to smack their lips which indicate that they are scared.
How Do Polar Bears Communicate?
Adult males often fight in playing and they do so when one of the individuals advances towards the other by lowering down its head; not looking into other’s eyes, with mouth closed and front paws to the side. The first contact is typically made by mouthing and touching the other’s neck. Minutes later they both stand only on hind legs which shows they are ready to play-fight. During play-fight one polar bear will push the other with her forepaws.
How Do Female Polar Bears Communicate with her Cubs?
A female polar bear is known to communicate with her cubs by touching her muzzle, body, and paws. When mother is angry she just touches cubs with her forepaws or utter a low growling sound but when she wants to show affection she might use her muzzle against the cub’s muzzle. In order to give comforts to the cubs the mother mostly nuzzles her snout. When she wants to send warning or threat signal to her cubs then she utters chuffing sound. The cubs respond to her call and get as close to her as possible.
When polar bears growl it means that they are extremely angry. A deep growling may also suggest the mother bear is protecting her food—she is just telling others to stay away. If an intruder doesn’t listen to her warning then she might charge with her heads down and ears back. However apart from that mother usually avoid getting into conflict with adult males and they only do so when provoked. She would also stay downwind of aggressive bears so that it may not smell her.
The Greenland shark is one of the largest shark species reaching a length of about 21 to 24 feet and weighs up to 2,200 pounds. Scientists were surprised to discover that Greenland sharks eat polar bears. They found remnants of polar bears in one of the shark’s stomach which was quite astonishing. However they do not know if shark ate the dead carcass of a bear or she actually pursued the bear and killed it. Besides, the feeding behavior of a Greenland shark has been poorly studied.
Greenland Shark Eat Polar Bear
Greenland shark is also an apex predator but it has never been reported to kill such an unusual prey animal such as this. It might be possible that the shark consumed the polar bear cubs that drowned while swimming. Polar bear cubs are not expert swimmers but they remain close to their mother during swimming. The primary preys of Greenland shark are eels, cod, small sharks, herring, redfish, lumpfish, skates, and squid.
Size and Weight
Greenland sharks measure up to 6.4 m (21 ft) and 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) but the largest specimens grow as large as 1,400 kg (3,100 lb). Polar bears grow up to 350 – 700 kg. In Greenland sharks males are slightly smaller than the females whereas in polar bears males are twice the size of a female.
Greenland Shark Behavior
The Greenland shark is a deep water diver for it is found at a depth of about 2,200 meters (7,200 ft). Polar bears on the other hand dives in shallow water for they must come to the surface every one or two minutes to breathe.
Polar bears can swim at a speed of about 10 km/h (6 mph) whereas Greenland shark cruises at 2.6 km/h (1.6 mph). The bear’s swimming speed is clearly ahead of a shark’s. Greenland shark cannot attain the given speed because this is the top speed. Sharks mostly cruise when they follow seals. The average speed of a Greenland shark is around 1.3 km/h.
Greenland Shark Lifespan
Greenland sharks are the longest living vertebrates on earth. Recent findings suggest that they can live 270 years to 512 years.
The oldest polar bear died at the age of 42 years. The bear was bred in captivity. Bears have a typical lifespan of about 15 – 25 years. There is virtually no comparison between the two Greenland species—not at least in longevity.
Conservation Status
Polar bears are threatened in much of its range but Greenland sharks are listed as Near Threatened species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
A female polar bear is less than half the size of a male polar bear. She is also much less in weight as compared to their mating partners. A female bear attains maturity in just 4 – 5 years but if the food is abundant she becomes mature in 3 years. Every spring she enters into hibernation sort of state (dormancy) and remains inactive in her den. This is a period of pregnancy and she leaves the den only after the cubs are able to run along with her. The female polar bear is thought to be highly devoted and dedicated mother as she continues to nurse her cubs for as long as 1 – 2 years.
What is a Female Polar Bear Called?
A female polar bear is called sow. Sow remains inactive for almost half of the year. She spends these inactive hours in her den.
How much does a Female Polar Bear Weigh? | Female Polar Bear Weight
Adult females weigh no more than 150 – 250 kg (331–551 lb) with the overall length measuring up to 1.8–2.4 meters (5 ft 11 in–7 ft 10 in). The maximum weight ever recorded in adult females is about 260 kg (573 lb). During pregnancy when they are about to enter den they weigh as much as 500 kg (1,102 lb).
Soon after mating the sows will eat large amount of food in order to store fat reserves. These fat reserves are pretty useful during dormancy. During these days sows put so much weight that they become compatible with adult males.
Denning Behavior
A sow is adaptable to survive many weeks in starvation especially during late summer and early fall. During warmer months when the ice floes break up sows begin to dig maternity dens in which they are going to spend the next four months in hibernation. The den consists of 3 to 4 chambers with a narrow opening. They preferably make dens in drift snows but if the snow is not thick enough the dens may be shifted underground. The underground dens are usually made 2 – 3 kilometers from the coast.
A Female polar bear nursing her cubs. Chelsea Tischler — National Geographic Your Shot
Hunting Seals
She prefers to hunt young bearded or ringed seals because the adult seals are too large to be handled by sow alone. Only mature boars are strong enough to take down adult seals.
How Do Female Polar Bears Communicate with their Young?
When adult females want to communicate to their young they produce a couple of sounds such as chuffs and moans. However the distress or a mayday call consists of bleats. She utters huffs or snorts or growls when she feels threatened or nervous.
Female bears will communicate with adult males by leaving their scents behind so that males follow the track. The verbal communication and chemical composition go side by side in bears.
Affection with her Cubs
Sows are one of the most affectionate mothers in the carnivorous mammals. They never leave the cubs unattended. Many a times it happens that a female polar bear adopts a wild cub and a cub becomes the permanent member of her family unit. She actively guards her cubs against any potential predator including mature bears. The boars are known to kill cubs and sometimes eat them when they are hungry.
Female Polar Bear Lifespan
The maximum lifespan of a female polar bear is 43 years which is of a captive specimen that died in 1991.
Polar bears do not live in Antarctica. They never had. Polar bears live in the Arctic which occurs at the northernmost part of the planet. Antarctica on the other hand lies at the south pole of the Earth. Arctic and Antarctica shares many geographical features. Both regions are the coolest places on earth. But they are opposite to each other. Still many people wonder do polar bears live in Antarctica.
The temperature can drop down to minus 50 degree Celsius in Arctic as well as in Antarctic. One is the frozen desert while other becomes the frozen ocean in winter. More than a century ago scientists possibly tried to introduce polar bears in Antarctica but they couldn’t. As of now the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) discourages any such attempt because it would eventually disturb the ecosystem of arctic and Antarctica. Now let us study why do polar bears not live in Antarctica.
Do Polar Bears Live in Antarctica? – Are there Polar Bears In Antarctica?
They would never live in Antarctica precisely because the evolution of polar bears likely occurred in the northwestern Europe much less Scandinavia. During the late Weichselian and early Holocene period about 10,000 – 15,000 years ago polar bears had begun occupying the lands of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. If they had colonized the southernmost regions they would have occurred in Antarctica beyond doubt.
So, here is the question: Why can’t polar bears live in Antarctica? Polar bears’ absence in Antarctica is not due to their inability to survive the extreme weather. They can and they do go by many days when the temperature falls below 30 degree Celsius. Besides, the polar bear’s dense fur always keeps the animal warm no matter how cold the weather turns out to be. The marine life and the sea ice characteristics in both Arctic and Antarctic are almost similar.
A mother polar bear actively defends her cubs even from a large dominant male polar bear. Polar bears are only found in the Arctic Circle. Do polar bears live in Antarctica? Photo by National Geographic.
Should polar bears live in Antarctica they would have thrived in the same way as they do in the arctic. They would have loved to consume Antarctic fur seals which are fairly abundant. Also, penguins are the permanent residents of the Antarctic; they are the easiest of all marine prey.
Polar bears are not choosy hunters—they are opportunistic predators. It is just that their evolution occurs at far north—opposite end of the pole. One cannot assume that polar bears would migrate all the way to the south just to have the same kind of habitat and prey. Polar bears are bears not arctic terns that they would fly thousands of miles in a year.
Furthermore, during the Holocene periods when polar bears evolved the land between north and the south were not fully covered with sea ice. Therefore the question of connecting southern with northern hemispheres does not arise since polar bears prefer to walk on sea ice.
Arctic is home to millions of seals which is the primary diet of polar bears. About 80% of polar bear’s diet consists of ringed and bearded seals. Bears kill seals because they need blubber in order to pass months in starvation. Antarctic also provides the similar nutritious food sources however in the early 19th and 20th centuries humans have hunted Antarctic fur seals so heavily that seals are becoming redundant in their own habitat.
The quantity of food could have a negative impact on the lifespan of polar bears should they live in Antarctica. Else, both Arctic and Antarctic are appropriate habitats for polar bears.
Yes, polar bears do have tails. However the size is so small that one can barely notice it. It is almost as if the bear lacks one. Arctic bears have tiny tails as is typical of all bears. Unlike other bear’s characteristics, tail appears to be quite irrelevant in polar bear’s behavioral adaptations. It doesn’t seem to be a defining feature of a large, potentially dangerous polar bear. Let’s find out why do polar bears have tails.
Do Polar Bears have Tails?
But…the question is why don’t polar bears have long tails? Studies suggest that millions of years ago polar bears had possessed possess long tails. As the bear evolves it eventually loses the length of its tail so much so that one can easily classify polar bear as a tail-less predator.
Currently, polar bears have only 5-inches-long stubby tails which are in absolute contrast to the massive body size.
Polar bear’s tail not only has an extra blood vessel—it possesses an additional layer of fat which prevents the tail from freezing in extreme temperature. The tail is all covered with furs and its only possible function is to protect the polar bear’s anus.
The bear’s tail is quite visible but it’s probably not the defining feature in polar bears. Polar bears have got the shortest tails of all bear species. Do polar bears have tails? Photo by Polarbearsinternational.org
Researchers believe that bears let alone polar bears lose their tail-length in the process of evolution because they probably didn’t need one. This is quite rare in other land carnivores such as dogs. Dog’s tail serves as an important tool in communication.
Dogs wag tails when they are happy. Similarly macaques use their long tails to balance their bodies while moving between the trees. Cheetah’s tail helps her to steer as well as to stabilize while sprinting at 70 miles per hour.
Polar bears on the other hand prefer to communicate head on. They will stand on hind legs to send specific signals to their counterparts. But polar bears will never use tails in the same way as other mammals do. In fact, ironically perhaps they don’t know if they ever had one on their back.
