#Who are a polar bears predators skin#

This is the highest calorie meal available to polar bears and helps them build up fat reserves and stay healthy between feedings. If polar bears have a plentiful supply of seals and are in good health, they'll only eat the seal's blubber, according to Polar Bears International. The bears will also sniff out seal dens, then crash through the roof and kill the seals inside. Polar bears will sit by a seal breathing hole waiting for a seal to pop up so they can grab it. Their primary prey are ringed seals ( Pusa hispida), according to the National Wildlife Federation. Polar bears are the most carnivorous bear species and almost exclusively eat meat. Related: Sweating the details: Polar bear hits the treadmill for science What do polar bears eat? Long swims like this put polar bears at risk of drowning, but they may be forced to undertake such great journeys more often as warming temperatures associated with climate change melt sea ice in the Arctic. Polar bears have been recorded swimming for nearly 10 days at a time and traveling up to 427 miles (687 kilometers) in a single swim without stopping to rest, Live Science previously reported. They also have webbing between their toes, similar to ducks' feet, which helps them swim. They paddle through the water with their big front paws and use their back legs as rudders, according to Sea World. Polar bears swim between sea ice and the shore, hunting down prey, searching for mates, or just cooling off.

(Image credit: Paul Souders via Getty Images) This annual sea ice melts in the summer, so polar bears are forced to spend several months on land while they wait for it to freeze over again, according to the IUCN.Ī polar bear swimming in Hudson Bay, Canada. Some polar bears stay on permanently frozen sea ice in the Arctic Basin, but most live on the annual sea ice that forms around the Arctic Basin. They are not found in Antarctica, where penguins live. Polar bears live on the ice-covered waters of the Arctic and countries around the Arctic Circle, including Canada, Alaska in the U.S., Greenland (part of Denmark), Norway, Russia and occasionally Iceland, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Polar bears are heavier and taller on average, but individual Kodiak bears may be larger than average-size polar bears. The confusion is partly due to the way that 'largest' is defined, because the answer varies depending on whether bears are measured by length, weight, or by the largest individual ever recorded, according to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Some sources, such as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, claim that Kodiak bears are the largest bears on Earth. These brown bears can stand over 10 feet (3m) tall on their hind legs and weigh up to 1,500 pounds (680 kg), according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Kodiak bears live on islands in the Kodiak Archipelago off southern Alaska, where they have been isolated from other brown bears for about 12,000 years, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Polar bears are the biggest bear species, but Kodiak bears, a subspecies, or type of brown bear, can grow to about the same size as some polar bears.

#Who are a polar bears predators skin#

Polar bear skin is black and absorbs the heat of the sun, which helps keep the bears warm. Polar bears can also appear yellowish or even brown and gray, depending on the season and light conditions. Their white appearance enables the bears to blend in with their snow-covered, icy environment. Polar bear fur appears to be white but it's actually transparent the white appearance is due to visible light scattering and reflecting back off clear, hollow strands of hair, according to Polar Bears International. Size: 3.5 to 5 feet (1.5 m) tall at the shoulder (all fours)