Polar Bear is the Largest Carnivore – Is the Polar Bear the Largest Bear?

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Polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is the largest carnivorous land mammal living today. The only other bear nearly the size of polar bear is her close relative Kodiak brown bear. Scientists aren’t sure which one is bigger. Biologists also refer polar bear as a marine mammal because the bear spends so much of its time in water. Polar bears love to swim and they are outstanding swimmers. Unlike any other bear species, arctic bears can swim for days without stopping. In this article we are going to compare the polar bear’s size with some of the largest land mammals such as Siberian tiger and Kodiak brown bear.

Polar Bear is the Largest Carnivorous Mammal

Siberian tigers are some of the biggest carnivores with the maximum weight of about 465 kilograms. Yet another terrestrial species is Kodiak brown bear that weighs up to 751 kilograms. Siberian tigers and Kodiak bears are one of the largest mammals in the animal kingdom but polar bear exceeds all of them in weight. The largest male polar bear weighs as much as 1,002 kg (2,209 lb) kilograms which qualify it as the largest terrestrial land mammal.

Tallest Mammal

The large Kodiak Brown reaches the height of about 9 ft 8 in. whereas polar bears can have the height of about 11 ft 1 in. A male Siberian tiger is 11 feet tall. The maximum shoulder height of adult polar bears is 5 ft 3 in while Siberian tigers are only 50 inches in shoulder height. The Kodiak bears are extremely close to the polar bear’s height at about 4.9 feet at the shoulder.

polar bear is the largest carnivorous land mammal
An adult male polar bear is twice the size of an adult female polar bear. Polar bear is the largest carnivorous land mammal. Photo by Natural Habitat Adventures

Polar Bears are Extraordinarily Powerful

Unlike any other terrestrial carnivorans polar bears are super powerful. The polar bear’s skull and neck are strong enough to pull 600 pounds prey out of water. This implies that icy bears are so much muscular that they are able drag the prey nearly the size of their own. No other mammal—not even the Siberian tiger or Kodiak brown bears are comparable in strength to the polar bear’s powerful neck. Although the brown bear’s skull is greater than that of polar bear’s yet the latter possess narrower skull because it allows her to reach the prey hidden into the sea ice.

Polar Bears possess Strongest Claws

Kodiak brown bears are quite closer to polar bears in strength but they are overshadowed by the arctic bears in terms of claws’ strength. Polar bears have arguably the strongest claws which are stronger than the Kodiak bears and heavier than the black bears.

Polar Bear is teh

waleed

Through this blog I am not only going to initiate the debate over polar bears—in fact I’ll be looking forward to initiating genuine wisdom and perspective on polar bears. The polarbearfacts.net is a project which is designed to educate just about everyone including teachers, scholars, students, kids, and laymen but, above all, the polar bear lovers!

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