Animal Facts - Polar Bears
On this page we will look at the Polar Bears.
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Is a polar bear’s fur really transparent?
A polar bear’s fur isn’t transparent, but it is translucent. Transparent objects allow light to pass through whereas translucent objects blur the light, Every hair in the polar bear’s fur is a hollow tube, which creates this light-blurring effect. The polar bear’s outer layer of fur is called guard fur and covers a shorter layer of woolly fur in every place on their body except their footpads, eyes, and big nose. These areas are the same color as the rest of its skin which is black. This black skin absorbs heat from the sun and covers four inches of thick, rubbery blubber, which adds to the other layers of snuggly warmth, but a black-skinned bear on a snowy landscape wouldn’t be able to hide from anything! That’s where the translucent fur comes in: by blurring the light, the fur appears white and allows the polar bear to blend into its arctic surroundings.
The polar bear is a bear native to the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas. It is the world’s largest predator found on land. An adult male weighs around 300–600 kg (660–1320 lb), while an adult female is about half that size. The polar bear is the most carnivorous member of the bear family, and most of its diet consists of ringed and bearded seals. Polar bears hunt primarily at the interface between ice, water, and air; they only rarely catch seals on land or in open water.
The polar bear’s most common hunting method is called still-hunting: The bear uses its excellent sense of smell to locate a seal breathing hole, and crouches nearby in silence for a seal to appear. When the seal exhales, the bear smells its breath, reaches into the hole with a forepaw, and drags it out onto the ice. The polar bear also hunts by stalking seals resting on the ice: Upon spotting a seal, it walks to within 100 yards, and then crouches. If the seal does not notice, the bear creeps to within 30 or 40 feet of the seal and then suddenly rushes forth to attack. A third hunting method is to raid the birth lairs that female seals create in the snow.
5 Unusual Facts About Polar Bears
Here are 5 uncommon facts about polar bears.
- Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are the largest land predators anywhere in the world.
- Polar bears are quite at home out on the ice and will sometimes ride ice chunks from place to place.
- A polar bear’s fur is made up of small hollow tubes which repel water and help to insulate the large animals.
- These bears are at home in the water almost as much as on land and are classified as marine mammals.
- Mother Polar bears will spend a majority of their time and energy caring for their young and teaching them how to hunt.
This video shows a polar bear hunting a walrus.The story of a polar bear’s hunting expedition as he faces off an entire herd of walrus.
Polar bears and dogs playing
A strange relationship between dogs and bears.
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