[49][217], For the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, polar bears have long played an important cultural and material role. It weighed in at. After a successful hunt, bears typically weigh more than 50% of their body weight. Its massive forest acreage, also the biggest on Earth, is crucial for keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. [89] Cubs may hum while nursing. [181], Polar bears are currently listed as "Rare", of "Uncertain Status", or "Rehabilitated and rehabilitating" in the Red Data Book of Russia, depending on population. Did you know? Most people are familiar with polar bears from visiting zoos or seeing the bear depicted in the media, but there are many misconceptions about this fascinating animal. [62] When pregnant, however, females can weigh as much as 500kg (1,100lb). Compared to the Antarctic, where there is no major surface predator, Arctic seals use more breathing holes per individual, appear more restless when hauled out on the ice, and rarely defecate on the ice. The polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic of mammals, surpassed only by the pinnipeds. This kind of social interaction is uncommon; it is far more typical for polar bears to behave aggressively towards dogs. In their southern range, especially near Hudson Bay and James Bay, Canadian polar bears endure all summer without sea ice to hunt from. These presumably swam from Greenland, about 300 kilometres (190mi). Polar bear news, and video clips from BBC programmes past and present. Polar bears are one of the largest land carnivores. [1], The polar bear is found in the Arctic Circle and adjacent land masses as far south as Newfoundland. The largest bear ever recorded was a polar bear shot in northwestern Alaska in the late 19th century. [141] The causes of death in wild adult polar bears are poorly understood, as carcasses are rarely found in the species's frigid habitat. Thawing of permafrost would affect the bears who traditionally den underground, and warm winters could result in den roofs collapsing or having reduced insulative value. ", "WWF Polar bear status, distribution & population", "Bear hunting caught in global warming debate", "Ask the experts: Are polar bear populations increasing? He has specialized in the study of polar bears since 1990, and has been conducting research in the Arctic since 1977 . [170], More than 600 bears are killed per year by humans across Canada,[51] a rate calculated by scientists to be unsustainable for some areas, notably Baffin Bay. Adult males weigh 880 to 1,500 pounds (400-682 kg.) They created a bilateral agreement in 2000 to manage a polar bear population that . The body condition of polar bears has declined during this period; the average weight of lone (and likely pregnant) female polar bears was approximately 290kg (640lb) in 1980 and 230kg (510lb) in 2004. [183], The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 afforded polar bears some protection in the United States. . tyrannus was significantly larger than the living subspecies. During the same time periods, DDT was found to be notably lower in the Western Hudson Bay population only. A larger skull was found much earlier in 1976, which could definitely have belonged to a bear weighing more than the 1,600 estimated pounds of the Lone Mountain grizzly. 10 November 2014 The largest bear alive today is the polar bear (Ursus maritimus), native to Greenland, Svalbard, Arctic Russia, Arctic Canada and Arctic USA. This behaviour, if it happens, is rare although the story exists in the oral history of northern peoples and in accounts by early Arctic explorers, there is no record of an eyewitness account of the behaviour in recent decades. These alternatives may reduce the rate of weight loss of bears when on land. Size and Weight. The polar bear is one of the largest of its kind, with the adult male weighing between 772 and 1,543 pounds. [221][222][223] The Eisbren Berlin hockey team uses a roaring polar bear as their logo, and the Charlotte, North Carolina hockey team the Charlotte Checkers uses a polar bear named Chubby Checker as their mascot. How much does a female polar bear weigh. Yet, they have often been seen playing together for hours at a time and even sleeping in an embrace,[85] and polar bear zoologist Nikita Ovsianikov has described adult males as having "well-developed friendships. [175], Due to warming air temperatures, ice-floe breakup in western Hudson Bay is currently occurring three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago, reducing the duration of the polar bear feeding season. [79] When sprinting, they can reach up to 40km/h (25mph). [132] Adult bears of either sex occasionally kill and eat polar bear cubs. The length of the world's largest polar bear measured at 3.39 meters (11 feet 1 inches) with the shoulder height estimating at 122 to 160 cm (4 feet 0 inches to 5 feet 3 inches). [2] Despite the encouraging rebound of some populations, there is little evidence to suggest polar bears are thriving overall. The polar bear faces a number of threats to its survival, primarily climate change and human influences. The Polar bear - also known as Ursus maritimus - is the largest terrestrial carnivore, whereas the Grizzly bear - the North American brown bear - is the second largest terrestrial flesh-eating mammal. Polar bear fur consists of a layer of dense underfur and an outer layer of guard hairs, which appear white to tan but are actually transparent. [83][84] However, due to their lack of prior human interaction, hungry polar bears are extremely unpredictable, fearless towards people and are known to kill and sometimes eat humans. The polar bear's claws are short and stocky compared to those of the brown bear, perhaps to serve the former's need to grip heavy prey and ice. PCBs have received the most study, and they have been associated with birth defects and immune system deficiency. [92], The polar bear is the most carnivorous member of the bear family, and throughout most of its range, its diet primarily consists of ringed (Pusa hispida) and bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus). The only bear that comes close is the . National Geographic Blog", "PBSG statement on proposed transfer of polar bear to CITES Appendix I", "Nunavut hunters can kill more polar bears this year", "Rethink polar bear hunt quotas, scientists tell Nunavut hunters", "Melting Under Pressure: The Real Scoop on Climate Warming and Polar Bears", "Nunavut hunters still enraged over bear quotas", National Polar Bear Conservation Strategy for Canada, "Russia tries to save polar bears with legal hunt", "Red Data Book of Russia: Marine Mammals: Carnivores", "Strategy for Polar Bear Conservation in the Russian Federation", "Environmental Conservation Online System", "Polar Bear Draft Conservation Management Plan", "Observations of mortality associated with extended open-water swimming by polar bears in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea", "Climate change: Polar bears could be lost by 2100", "Possible effects of climate warming on selected populations of polar bears (, "Next up from climate change: More polar bears on land, potentially running into humans", "As Sea Ice Shrinks, Can Polar Bears Survive on Land? The whales are of similar size to the walrus and nearly as difficult for the bear to subdue. Threats And Conservation Of The Polar Bear . [25] The oldest known polar bear fossil is a 130,000 to 110,000-year-old jaw bone, found on Prince Charles Foreland in 2004. [53] Its preferred habitat is the annual sea ice covering the waters over the continental shelf and the Arctic inter-island archipelagos. It weighed approximately 2,200 pounds (998 kg), and its hide and skull are currently on display at the Hocken Library at the University of Otago in New Zealand. This massive bear had a skull that scored 29 15/16, with the greatest length of skull without lower jaw equalling 18 8/16, and the greatest width of skull sitting at 11 7/16. North Spitsbergen is the site of a 2011 tragedy where British teenager Horatio . Adult males typically weigh 400-600 kg (880-1,320 lb), and have a nose-to-tail length of 2.4-2.6 m (7 ft 10 in-8 ft 6 in). Only one case of a polar bear with rabies has been documented, even though polar bears frequently interact with Arctic foxes, which often carry rabies. Polar bears have been observed to hunt the small Svalbard reindeer (R. t. platyrhynchus), which weigh only 40 to 60kg (90 to 130lb) as adults, as well as the barren-ground caribou (R. t. groenlandicus), which is about twice as heavy as the former. [193] The Western Hudson Bay subpopulation, in a southern part of the range, also happens to be one of the best-studied polar bear subpopulations. [18] In Russian, it is usually called (bly medvd', 'white bear'), though an older word still in use is (Oshkj, which comes from the Komi oski, "bear"). Taxonomy: The scientific name for the polar bear is Ursus maritimus, . Although polar bears are entirely carnivorous in their sea ice habitat, they have low protein requirements that match the more omnivorous brown bear. The weight of a huge polar bear is over 1700 lb (771 kg), whereas a large female polar bear is almost half the weight. Research of injury patterns in polar bear forelimbs found injuries to the right forelimb to be more frequent than those to the left, suggesting, perhaps, right-handedness. [54] In the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, most polar bears retreat each summer to the ice further north that remains frozen year-round, though a large portion of the population (1540%) has been observed spending all summer on land every year in these areas since the 1980s. polar bears. It is the largest extant bear species, as well as the largest extant land carnivore. tall. "[160] Norwegians used "self-killing guns", comprising a loaded rifle in a baited box that was placed at the level of a bear's head, and which fired when the string attached to the bait was pulled. His plight came to the attention of animal lovers a few years ago after he was pictured living in unfit conditions. [125] In most subpopulations, maternity dens are situated on land a few kilometres from the coast, and the individuals in a subpopulation tend to reuse the same denning areas each year. The bear may lie in wait for several hours. A female polar bear typically weighs between 350 and 600 pounds. [94] A third hunting method is to raid the birth lairs that female seals create in the snow. [161] The numbers taken grew rapidly in the 1960s, peaking around 1968 with a global total of 1,250 bears that year. Fifty long-distance swims were recorded; the longest at 354 kilometres (220mi), with an average of 155 kilometres (96mi). [63] The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 1,002kg (2,209lb), was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960. [195], In Alaska, the effects of sea ice shrinkage have contributed to higher mortality rates in polar bear cubs, and have led to changes in the denning locations of pregnant females. [79], Although polar bears are extraordinarily powerful, its primary prey species, the ringed seal, is much smaller than itself, and many of the seals hunted are pups rather than adults. [97], Problematic interactions between polar bears and humans, such as foraging by bears in garbage dumps, have historically been more prevalent in years when ice-floe breakup occurred early and local polar bears were relatively thin. Males usually reach sexual maturity at six years; however, as competition for females is fierce, many do not breed until the age of eight or ten. The world's heaviest polar bear weighed an astounding 2,209 pounds. Importing products made from polar bears had been prohibited from 1972 to 1994 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and restricted between 1994 and 2008. Polar bear milk is the fattiest found on land, at about 31 percent fat when the cubs are born. Shifts in polar bear diet during the ice-free season in western Hudson Bay", "Predation of Svalbard reindeer by polar bears", "Observations of Polar Bear Predatory Behaviour toward Caribou", "White-beaked dolphins trapped in the ice and eaten by polar bears", "Rejected by their mother, polar cubs now under intensive care at Toronto Zoo", "Evidence of adoption, monozygotic twinning, and low inbreeding rates in a large genetic pedigree of polar bears", "Two cubs die as mother polar bear turns on her three newborns | National Post", "Infanticide and Cannibalism of Juvenile Polar Bears (, "Long-term trends in the population ecology of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay in relation to climatic change", Polar bears, grizzlies increasingly gather on North Slope, "ABC News: Grizzlies encroaching on polar bear Country", "Clash of the fiercest predators as shark eats polar bear", "Polar bears can swim vast distances, study finds", "The vitamin A content and toxicity of bear and seal liver", "U.S. and Russia sign pact to protect the polar bear", "Circumpolar Action Plan: Conservation Strategy for Polar Bears", "Did Polar Bears Really Lose at CITES? [81], Unlike brown bears, polar bears are not territorial. Polar bear paws . [140] The oldest wild bears on record died at age 32, whereas the oldest captive was a female who died in 1991, age 43. [224], Coca-Cola has used images of the polar bear in its advertising,[225] and Polar Beverages, Nelvana, Bundaberg Rum, Klondike bars, and Fox's Glacier Mints all feature polar bears in their logos. Male polar bears are much larger than the females. Females communicate with their young with moans and chuffs, and the distress calls of both cubs and subadults consists of bleats. [34] As the distance increases between the pack ice and the coast, females must swim longer distances to reach favoured denning areas on land. [204], Polar bears diverged from brown bears 400,000600,000 years ago and have survived past periods of climate fluctuation. The Canadian two-dollar coin carries an image of a lone polar bear on its reverse side, while a special millennium edition featured three. [45] Until 2005 Greenland placed no limit on hunting by indigenous people. A close second is the brown bear, specifically the Kodiak bear. These animals are closely related and have quite the same strength and size. [111][159] However, since polar bear fur has always played a marginal commercial role, data on the historical harvest is fragmentary. Ringed seals are born weighing 5.4kg (12lb) and grown to an estimated average weight of only 60kg (130lb). Hunters commonly used teams of dogs to distract the bear, allowing the hunter to spear the bear or shoot it with arrows at closer range. Dr Macdonald said the new additions make the park, on the outskirts of Doncaster, the second biggest polar bear centre in the world with the only one bigger located in Canada. While not unheard of but still uncommon, polar bears have been sighted increasingly in larger numbers ashore, staying on the mainland for longer periods of time during the summer months, particularly in North Canada, traveling farther inland. Polar bears are the largest with some . [89] Chemical communication can also be important: bears leave behind their scent in their tracks which allow individuals to keep track of one another in the vast Arctic wilderness. The thing was as wide as my chest." The bear was 10 feet, 6 inches, which is large for a grizzly in the Prince Williams Sound area, but not a world record, according to Snopes. They exhibit sexual dimorphism, where male polar bears can be two to three times larger than female polar bears. Polar bears were chased from snowmobiles, icebreakers, and airplanes, the latter practice described in a 1965 New York Times editorial as being "about as sporting as machine gunning a cow. [110] Maternity dens, used by pregnant females and by females with infants, can also be disturbed by nearby oil exploration and development. They will even attack adult walruses when their diving holes have frozen over or intercept them before they can get back to the diving hole in the ice. [27], The evidence from DNA analysis is more complex. [35] The claws are deeply scooped on the underside which assists in digging in the ice of the natural habitat. [citation needed] Environment Canada also banned the export from Canada of fur, claws, skulls and other products from polar bears harvested in Baffin Bay as of 1 January 2010. Its hearing is about as acute as that of a human, and its vision is also good at long distances. [156], In the first half of the 20th century, mechanized and overpoweringly efficient methods of hunting and trapping came into use in North America as well. Polar bears continue to be listed as a species of special concern in Canada because of their sensitivity to overharvest and because of an expected range contraction caused by loss of Arctic sea ice. The biggest surprise in our research has been the degree to which the nutritional requirements of polar bears has not changed from that of their closest ancestor, the grizzly bear. The Kodiak is a subspecies of the brown bear native to Alaska. Polar bears are the largest land predators on Earth. Its native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean and its surrounding seas and landmasses, which includes the northernmost regions of North America and Eurasia. Male polar bears generally weigh between 770 to 1500 pounds (Stirling and Guravich 1990, p 23) but can exceed more than 1500 lbs. [97], The polar bear's most common hunting method is called still-hunting:[98] the bear uses its excellent sense of smell to locate a seal breathing hole, and crouches nearby in silence for a seal to appear. An estimated 3,500 bears live on Kodiak, which gives it a population density of 0.7 bears per square mile. [184] It banned all importing of polar bear trophies. [145] Adult polar bears are occasionally vulnerable to predation by orcas (Orcinus orca) while swimming, but they are rarely reported as taken and bears are likely to avoid entering the water if possible if they detect an orca pod in the area. Thus, now the Alaskan population more resembles the world population in that it is more likely to den on land. Depending on the timing of ice-floe breakup in the fall, she may have fasted for up to eight months. After several years of negotiations, Russia and the United States signed an agreement in October 2000 to jointly set quotas for indigenous subsistence hunting in Alaska and Chukotka. Killing of polar bears decreased somewhat 2530 years before the treaty. [79], Mature bears tend to eat only the calorie-rich skin and blubber of the seal, which are highly digestible,[99] whereas younger bears consume the protein-rich red meat. [156] The growth of the human population in the Eurasian Arctic in the 16th and 17th century, together with the advent of firearms and increasing trade, dramatically increased the harvest of polar bears. Polar bears are one of the most mobile four-legged animals, if not the most. The skulls of killed polar bears were buried at sacred sites, and altars, called sedyangi, were constructed out of the skulls. [13] It is sometimes referred to as the "nanook", based on the Inuit term nanuq. Since then, the trend seems to have abated, with tissue concentrations of PCBs declining between studies performed from 1989 to 1993 and studies performed from 1996 to 2002. This specimen, when mounted, stood 3.39 m (11 ft 1 in) tall on its hindlegs. The polar bear's Latin name, Ursus maritimus, means "sea bear." It's an apt name for this majestic species, which spends much of its life in, around, or on the ocean-predominantly on the sea ice. [82] Satiated polar bears rarely attack humans unless severely provoked. [2] Because polar bears rely partly on their fur for insulation and soiling of the fur by oil reduces its insulative value, oil spills put bears at risk of dying from hypothermia. [155] The fur was used in particular to make trousers and, by the Nenets, to make galoshes-like outer footwear called tobok; the meat is edible, despite some risk of trichinosis; the fat was used in food and as a fuel for lighting homes, alongside seal and whale blubber; sinews were used as thread for sewing clothes; the gallbladder and sometimes heart were dried and powdered for medicinal purposes; the large canine teeth were highly valued as talismans. If you're under the illusion that polar bears, grizzly bears, and pandas are comparable in size, you're wrong. The world's record Alaska brown bear ( Ursos arctos middendorffi) scored 30 12/16 and . The bone measuring just over 16 inches long is the fourth largest polar bear skull ever documented. [127], After mating, the fertilized egg remains in a suspended state until August or September. If a sport hunter does not kill a polar bear before his or her permit expires, the permit cannot be transferred to another hunter. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier in the year, driving the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves to survive the period of scarce food in the late summer and early fall. [180], The Soviet Union banned the harvest of polar bears in 1956; however, poaching continued, and is estimated to pose a serious threat to the polar bear population. [126] Partners stay together and mate repeatedly for an entire week; the mating ritual induces ovulation in the female. [146][147] The remains of polar bears have been found in the stomachs of large Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus), although it certainly cannot be ruled out that the bears were merely scavenged by this slow-moving, unusual shark. The giant bear reportedly weighed 1,002 kg (2,209 lb), and when mounted, stood 3.39 meters (11 feet and 1 inch) tall on its hind legs. Ontario Fur Trappers Association, North Bay, Ontario, Canada. She then travelled another 1,800km (1,100mi). [36] This distinction has since been invalidated. Put that giant white bear . Given this tall frame, you would expect such a large animal to weigh thousands of pounds. Their feet are incredibly large as well, measuring 12 in. [22], The polar bear was previously considered to be in its own genus, Thalarctos. They still manage to consume some seals, but they are food-deprived in summer as only marine mammal carcasses are an important alternative without sea ice, especially carcasses of the beluga whale. Polar Bear Facts. [116] Here, their food ecology shows their dietary flexibility. The shoulder height of an adult polar bear is 122 to 160cm (4ft 0in to 5ft 3in). How much does a wild polar bear weigh. Whereas northern communities kill all the polar bears they are permitted to take each year, only half of sport hunters with permits actually manage to kill a polar bear. Given the change in climate, with ice breaking up in areas such as the Hudson Bay earlier than it used to, polar bears are exploiting food resources such as snow geese and eggs, and plants such as lyme grass in increased quantities. It stood an impressive 11 feet 1 inch tall when on its hind legs. "[50], Of the 19 polar bear subpopulations recognized in 2017, one was in decline, two were increasing, seven were stable, and nine had insufficient data. Playful wrestling between two Kodiak brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorff), Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. [123] One scientist found that 71% of the Hudson Bay bears had fed on seaweed (marine algae) and that about half were feeding on birds[102] such as the dovekie and sea ducks, especially the long-tailed duck (53%) and common eider, by swimming underwater to catch them. For the polar bears that currently den on multi-year ice, increased ice mobility may result in longer distances for mothers and young cubs to walk when they return to seal-hunting areas in the spring. [211], Debate over the listing of the polar bear under endangered species legislation has put conservation groups and Canada's Inuit at opposing positions;[49] the Nunavut government and many northern residents have condemned the U.S. initiative to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Of killed polar bears are entirely carnivorous in their sea ice covering waters. In northwestern Alaska in the 1960s, peaking around 1968 with a global total of bears... 31 percent fat when the cubs are born past and present 12/16 and long-distance swims were recorded ; mating! Bear ever recorded was a polar bear weighed an astounding 2,209 pounds have low requirements... Bear on its hindlegs Here, their food ecology shows their dietary flexibility living! 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With an average of 155 kilometres ( 96mi ) are deeply scooped on the timing of ice-floe in!
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