When I was a kid, I remember a man calling up from a magazine. I read a lot nature stuff as a kid and I think he was trying to get me to renew one of my (parents’) subscriptions. I don’t really remember. But I do remember one question he asked me: What’s your favorite animal? ‘Polar bear,’ I said, without missing a beat. Twenty-some-odd years later, I still answer that question the same way. For today’s Wildlife Wednesday, enjoy some facts about the polar bear (Ursus maritimus).
Polar bears are really big. Males stand 8 to 11 feet (2.4 to 3.4 m) tall and can weigh upwards of 1,000 lbs (454 kg). Part of the reason for that weight is a 4-inch (10 cm) layer of fat that keeps the animal warm.
Even though the animal appears white, each individual hair is actually a transparent, hollow, tube. When the sun hits it, light bounces off, giving the animal its whitish appearance. Over the course of a season, sun damage to the coat can gradually turn the animal’s fur a more yellowish shade.
Despite the clumsy photo above, polar bears are extremely agile in the water. They can dive up to 15 feet (4.6 meters) underwater and have been spotted 100 miles (161 km) or more from ice or land.
The animal’s primary source of food is the ringed seal. Polar bears require the fat gathered from those seals so the bears can store energy during their extremely long (by human standards) fasting periods, which can last for months.
It’s estimated there are about 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in the world. The animals are protected under several national and international agreements. In the United States, hunting of the animal is still allowed for certain Native American populations.
(Image Credit: flickrfavorites, Tambako the Jaguar, ucumari photography / Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Wikimedia Commons)
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