:quality(80))
Polar Bear
"Polar bears can smell their prey from up to a kilometre away and up to a metre beneath the snow."
Discover in real lifeHabitat
North Pole
Food
seals, seabirds, berries, fish and whale carcasses
Lifetime
25 to 30 years old
Weight
150 to 300 pounds (females) / 300 to 800 pounds (males)
Number of youngsters
1 to 4 young, but usually 2
Wear time
7 to 9 months
IUCN Status
fragile
EEP?
yes
No food without ice
Polar bears are excellent swimmers. They can swim for days at a time, without coming on land. But unfortunately, they can’t hunt in the water. Polar bears mainly eat ringed seals, which they catch from the ice. They patiently wait at an air hole until a seal comes up to breathe. Because of climate change there is less and less ice around the North Pole. This makes it increasingly hard for polar bears to hunt for seals.
:focal(1436x737:1437x738):quality(90))
Theme area: A Matter of Taste
You can see the Polar bear in the ‘A Matter of Taste’ themed area. Here, you can delve into the world of food: how animals find food, hunt, or avoid being eaten.
Sharing a meal
Polar bears are solitary animals. That means that they mostly live alone. The only places where polar bears come together are places where there is a lot of food available. Like at a rubbish dump or at the carcass of a beached whale. As soon as the food is finished, all of the polar bears go off on their own again.