Curious facts about polar bears. Polar bear Information about polar bears the most interesting

Many of us have known about the largest animals of the northern latitudes - polar bears - since childhood. Let's read additional interesting facts about polar bears.

Since the polar bear's paws are equipped with membranes, according to the classification it belongs to marine mammals.

The largest recorded polar bear weighed one ton. The size and weight of male and female polar bears vary greatly. Large males are almost twice as large and heavier than females, their length is up to 3 meters in length, and their weight reaches 800 kilograms.

These largest predators of the North are capable of swimming 150 kilometers at a speed of 10 km/hour.

Unlike their relatives, polar bears do not spend part of their time hibernating. The only exception is their pregnant females.

The habitat of polar bears is the coast and ice of the Arctic.

Speaking about interesting facts about polar bears, it is necessary to note the amazing sense of these animals. They are able to detect the smell of a seal in an ice hole at a distance of a kilometer, and a seal located on ice at a distance of 30 kilometers.

Polar bear hunting is successful only 2 percent of the time.

It is worth noting that the polar bear owes its decent life expectancy of 25 years to the lack of rivals. Of course, if you do not take into account the person.

The polar bear, which gives birth to 1 to 3 cubs at a time, bears them for 8 months. The babies are born in the den between November and December. And already at the end of March - beginning of April, the female and cubs get out of the den.

The weight of a newborn bear cub does not exceed a kilogram.

During a mother bear's hunt, the cubs wait for her in one place. Interestingly, polar bears mate between March and July, but the development of the fertilized egg begins only in September.

The Inuit people of Canada traditionally have great respect for the polar bear, calling it "nanook".

Polar bears are classified as carnivores, as their main menu includes fur seals and various fish.

Interestingly, polar bears can be called excellent builders - they build multi-room dens in the snow, even providing them with an exhaust hood.

Polar bears' ability to swim in icy water without their fur getting wet is due to the fact that it is covered in fat. This ensures its water-repellent property.

Polar bears' thick fur, lubricated with fat, retains heat so well that they are able to overheat even in low arctic temperatures. To prevent overheating, bears usually move slowly, allowing a long time to rest.

Polar bears are considered big clean people. These animals spend 15-20 minutes daily on hygiene procedures, while thoroughly cleaning themselves from any remaining dirt and food particles. This is very important for them, since contaminated bear fur loses its insulating properties.

Interesting video about a man and his pet... A polar bear!

Without a doubt, polar bears are some of the most amazing animals to ever roam our planet. For the mere fact that these magnificent creatures manage to survive in extreme climatic conditions, they are already worthy of admiration. Polar bears are formidable predators, but they can also be irresistibly cute, incredibly intelligent, and surprise again and again. We invite children and adults to read interesting facts about polar bears to see these extraordinary animals in a new light!

Born sailors

Interesting facts about polar bears tell us that although these animals are born on land, they spend a considerable part of their time traveling at sea. No wonder their scientific name sounds like Ursus maritimus and means “sea bear”. These powerful animals are excellent swimmers, capable of covering distances of more than 100 km in water and swimming for longer than a day. In this they are helped by large paws (up to 30 cm wide), which they use like oars.

Polar bears can swim at a speed of 10 km/h, which is almost twice as fast as the famous competition record holders. Even Olympic champions show results of 6 km/h. However, this is still not enough to catch a seal in open waters. Therefore, the bear prefers to lie in wait for prey on a hard surface, where it has an advantage in speed and agility.

On land, the polar bear prefers to move at a leisurely gait at a speed of about 5 km/h. But this predator cannot be called slow: when it wants, it can accelerate to 40 km/h.

But this is not all the interesting facts from the life of polar bears. Go ahead.

Rare, but accurate

With luck, polar bears usually catch prey every four to five days. If fortune turns away from a predator, its subcutaneous fat acts as a backup energy storage system. The icy expanses of the Arctic cannot be called rich hunting grounds. But a bear’s keen sense of smell helps him find prey. The animal can smell a seal that has crawled out onto the ice 20-30 km away.

Like ten people

Want to learn more interesting facts about the polar bear? This polar animal is the largest land predator on our planet. It doesn't even have natural enemies. And no wonder: an adult male, armed with sharp fangs and claws, usually weighs from 351 to 544 kg, which corresponds to the weight of 5-7 people.

But there are also real giants. The largest polar bear ever recorded, living in northwest Alaska in 1960, weighed about 1000 kg!

Males reach their maximum size between 8 and 14 years of age, while females reach their maximum size at 5-6 years. The latter weigh half as much as their cavaliers - up to 290 kg.

Pregnancy for later

A remarkable biological process known as delayed implantation ensures that polar bears give birth to their cubs at the most favorable time of year, when their chances of survival are greatest. The mating season for these animals lasts from April to May, but the development of embryos is inhibited at an early stage and continues only in the fall, when the female has gained enough weight and is ready to set up a winter den.

But the interesting facts about the polar bear did not end there.

The size of a kitten

Polar bears almost never hibernate like their brown relatives. The only exception is pregnant females, who are forced to build dens and spend time in them until February-March. After all, their cubs, like those of other bears, are born very small and helpless, and they have to be protected from the harsh conditions of the Arctic. It is curious that at birth the largest land predators on the planet have a body length of about 30 cm and weigh only half a kilo, almost like a guinea pig.

Mother bears typically give birth to a pair of cubs. However, it happens when there is only one baby or three of them.

Until the offspring gets stronger, the bear remains in the den in a state of hibernation: she does not eat or drink anything. The cubs then remain with their mother for about two years, during which time they learn the skills necessary to successfully survive in the harsh Arctic.

Close relatives

Over time, new interesting facts about the polar bear in the Arctic are becoming clear. For example, in 2006, an unusual animal was discovered in this region, which turned out to be only half a polar bear.

Geneticists claim that the polar bear must have become isolated as a species hundreds of thousands of years ago. Relevant studies show this. But, despite this, it turned out that polar bears are capable of having joint offspring with and this offspring will be fertile, unlike other offspring of interspecific crossing (for example, mules). Such hybrids appear both in the wild and in captivity, but very rarely.

The first such animal to be born in the wild was discovered in 2006. However, by that time, scientists already had the opportunity to observe an animal similar to it in captivity, at the Osnabrück Zoo in Germany, where polar and brown bears lived in the same enclosure. As of 2010, 17 hybrid bears were already known. And as of 2012, there were five reports of sightings of such hybrids in the wild.

Black polar bears

Polar bears look white, but as folk wisdom goes, appearances can be deceiving. The bear's fur (called guard hair) and its undercoat are actually almost transparent. But the fact is that inside each guard hair there is a cavity filled with air. Thanks to such a complex structure, light waves of any length are reflected well from the hairs. As a result, the polar bear appears white.

However, depending on the time of year and the position of the sun, animals may look yellowish or even brown. Sometimes, in an unusually warm climate, bears even turn green thanks to algae settling in their fur.

However, if you shave the bear's fur, an amazing sight will reveal itself: in fact, the polar bear has black skin. It effectively absorbs solar heat, helping the animal maintain a stable body temperature even in the severe arctic cold. Now, the next time you see a polar bear's black nose, remember some interesting facts about the polar bear: this is actually its true color.

The polar bear is one of the largest predators living on land. Its height at the withers (from the ground to the neck) is 1.5 m, the foot size is 30 cm in length and 25 in width; Male polar bears weigh 350-650 kg, some even more, females 175-300 kg. A bear lives 15-18 years.

Polar bears live in the Arctic - at the North Pole.

The color of the fur of this animal is from snow-white to yellowish, thanks to this the bear is almost invisible in the snow, but the polar bear’s skin is black, but it is not visible through the thick fur, except very slightly on the nose. Polar bears are very resilient and can cover long distances at a brisk pace. Their feet are covered with fur, which gives them greater stability when moving on ice and snow. Polar bears can run, but they usually walk.

Polar bears are excellent swimmers; they jump into the water head first or slide off an ice floe, and swim using their front paws. They dive with closed nostrils and open eyes. They know how to fish. After coming ashore, they immediately shake off the water.

Polar bears spend much of the year on ice-bound shores along the coast. As a rule, they hunt alone. They search for food both day and night. Polar bears hunt seals by lying in wait at holes through which the seals breathe air, or by approaching animals lying on the ice. Polar bears have a very sensitive sense of smell. They are able to smell seals lying in a shelter under the snow.

These animals are very curious and intelligent. While tracking a seal, a polar bear covers its black nose with its paw, blocks the prey's escape route, or even pretends to be an ice floe floating by. A bear can experience emotions from rage to joy: after a successful hunt and a hearty lunch, he sometimes begins to frolic like a kitten.

In winter, when there is severe frost and polar night, the bear can hibernate. The she-bear also lies down for the winter in an ice den along with her cubs. For five months she does not eat any food and at the same time feeds the born cubs, usually two, with milk. The cubs, covered with sparse whitish fur, are born helpless, blind and deaf. Their length is 17-30 cm, and their weight is 500-700 g. Mother bear warms with her body. And in the spring, the grown cubs leave the den. Bear fathers do not take any part in raising children. And they themselves can pose a serious threat to them.

In summer, bears' food is more varied: small rodents, polar foxes, ducks and their eggs. Polar bears, like all other bears, can also eat plant foods: berries, mushrooms, mosses, herbs.

There are not very many polar bears left on earth and hunting for them is limited.

Questions about the report about the polar bear

1. What does a polar bear look like?
2. Where do they live?
3. What do they eat?
4. How do they reproduce?

1. The biggest bear. As the largest land predator, the polar bear can weigh 700 kg and reach three meters in length. Only brown bears of the Kodiak subspecies, living on the island of the same name, can be of the same size. 2. Record swim. A polar bear is capable of swimming 687 km without a rest break. The bear completed such a record swim for polar bears in 9 days in the Beaufort Sea. The reason for this forced record was climate change on Earth. Polar bears are known to swim throughout their lives from drifting to fast ice in search of prey and resting places. But as sea ice rapidly melts due to rising temperatures, polar bears must travel ever greater distances, risking the health and lives of their cubs. Using a GPS collar, researchers who studied this bear for two months were able to track her throughout her “journey.” When the female finally reached the ice, it turned out that she had lost 20% of her weight (about 48 kg) and her one-year-old cub, for whom this swim was too much for her. 3. Excellent sense of smell. The polar bear has a very good sense of smell. So, he can detect prey located at a distance of 1.6 km from him or under a layer of snow about one meter thick. Most often, ringed seals and sea hares become its prey. 4. Proper nutrition. Adult bears usually feed on the high-calorie skin and subcutaneous fat of seals, while young bears eat red meat, rich in protein. 5. Curious animal. Being curious animals, polar bears often explore landfills and sample garbage. They consume almost everything they can find there, including hazardous substances. For example, plastic, hydraulic fluid and motor oil. Interestingly, the landfill in the city of Churchill in the Canadian province of Manitoba was closed in 2006 precisely because of polar bears, or more precisely, in order to protect them from consuming harmful “food”. Waste previously disposed of at this landfill is now recycled or transported to the Town of Thompson. 6. Attacks on people. Well-fed polar bears rarely attack people. This only happens if the animal is angry. Among the cases of a polar bear attacking a person, the incident with the Japanese photographer Michio Hoshino is well known. During his expedition in northern Alaska, he encountered a hungry polar bear. The latter chased the man, but Hoshino managed to get to his car. Before the photographer drove away, the bear was able to tear off one of his car doors. Michio Hoshino was subsequently killed by a brown bear while on a business trip in Russia. 7. Polar bear games. Adult polar bears lead a solitary lifestyle. However, there are many cases where these animals were seen playing with each other and even sleeping “in an embrace.” Polar bear researcher Nikita Ovsyanikov claims that there can be friendly relationships between adult male polar bears. In turn, the games of young individuals serve as practice for them before competition during the mating season. 8. Polar bear and dog. In 1992, near Churchill, a series of photographs were taken of a polar bear playing with a Canadian Eskimo dog about a tenth the size of the bear. The pair played every day for ten days straight. Moreover, neither the bear nor the dog received any damage during these games. According to scientists, the bear may have tried to demonstrate friendliness to the dog with this behavior, hoping to get the opportunity to feed with it. However, such behavior is not typical for a polar bear. Typically these animals behave aggressively towards dogs. 9. “Hibernation” of a polar bear. In autumn, when there is little ice, all pregnant female polar bears dig a shelter in the snowdrifts with a narrow tunnel that leads to 1-3 chambers. When the den is built, the female enters a state similar to hibernation there. It is not continuous sleep, but the bear's heart rate slows down to 46 - 27 beats per minute. The female bear's body temperature does not decrease during this period, as it would with any other hibernating mammal. From about November to February, the cubs are born and remain in the shelter with their mother until about mid-February or April. 10. Rescue of a predator. Concerns about the survival of the species led to restrictions on polar bear hunting in various countries as early as the mid-1950s. For example, the USSR banned polar bear hunting in 1956, Canada began introducing hunting quotas in 1968, Norway adopted a number of strict restrictions from 1965 to 1973, and then completely banned hunting of these animals. And in 1973, five countries, including Canada, Denmark, Norway, the USSR and the USA, signed the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears. The countries agreed to impose a number of restrictions on polar bear hunting and conduct further research on them. In Russia today, poaching poses a serious threat to the population of these animals. Hoping to eliminate the problem, the Russian government introduced a ban on hunting this animal in 2007. Only local residents of Chukotka can hunt polar bears using traditional methods. 11. How many are left? The International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that the global polar bear population ranges from 20 to 25 thousand individuals, and its numbers are gradually decreasing. The USGS projects that two-thirds of the world's polar bear population will disappear by 2050, largely due to loss of sea ice caused by climate change.

Ecology

Basics:

The polar or polar bear is one of the representatives of the bear family. Currently, it is the largest species of bear. The closest relatives of the polar bear are brown bears ( Ursus arctos).

Although zoologists do not recognize the existence of subspecies of polar bears, 19 subpopulations of these mammals live in nature. Polar bears are descended from the grizzly bears of eastern Russia and Alaska, appearing approximately 200-500 thousand years ago.

An adult male polar bear can weigh between 350 and 545 kilograms and, between the ages of 8 and 14 years, reaches the height of an adult when standing on its hind legs. Adult females weigh half as much as males - from 50 to 295 kilograms and reach their maximum size by 5-6 years.

If a bear stands on four legs, its height can reach 1-1.5 meters in both males and females. Polar bears typically live to be 15-18 years old in the wild, but can live for around 30 years, especially in captivity.

Polar bears have perfectly adapted to the harsh conditions of the north. They have two layers of fur - a smooth water-repellent layer and a dense undercoat, as well as a thick layer of fat - from 5 to 10 centimeters - under the skin, which helps retain heat even in the most severe frosts. They have small ears and tail, which prevents them from losing heat.

The feet of bears are covered with fur, and there are tubercles on the soles, which allows bears to move on smooth ice without slipping. White fur is an ideal camouflage, allowing you to hide from hunters in snowy deserts, as well as sneak up on prey unnoticed.

Polar bears are good swimmers thanks to their webbed feet and can swim tens of kilometers in search of food, staying in icy water for several hours. The polar bear's high percentage of body fat also allows them to float well in the water.

In search of prey, the bear relies on its excellent sense of smell. Mainly hunts ringed seals and seals, especially loves to feast on their fat, which is rich in calories and allows the bear to accumulate its own fat, which helps cope with hunger.

If a polar bear fails to eat for 10 days, its metabolism has the ability to slow down until the animal catches prey again. This allows the bear to survive in conditions of food shortage.

Female polar bears give birth to offspring between the ages of 4 and 8 years and have a very low reproductive rate: in their entire life, female bears are capable of giving birth to an average of 5 cubs.

Gestation period is 8 months. A female bear is capable of giving birth to 1 to 3 cubs at a time in her den. Typically births occur between November and January. The female and her cubs leave the den in late March-April.

Newborn polar bear cubs are very tiny - 30 to 35 centimeters in length and weigh on average 0.5 kilograms. They grow quickly and stay with their mother for 2.5 years.

Only the female, who gives birth to offspring, has a den, since polar bears do not hibernate in winter, like other representatives of the bear family. Instead, they know how to slow down their metabolism.

Where do they live?

Polar bears live in northern Russia, Alaska, Canada, Greenland and the Spitsbergen archipelago, Norway. They live on sea ice where they have easy access to open water to hunt seals. Part of the year is spent on solid ground.

Security status: vulnerable

Biologists estimate that there are between 20 and 25 thousand polar bears living in the wild. At a meeting of polar bear experts in 2009, experts reported that of 19 subpopulations, 8 were in severe decline, 3 were stable, and just 1 was increasing. Data on the remaining 7 populations do not allow us to determine their status.

Research shows that melting Arctic ice due to global warming could lead to two-thirds of polar bears becoming extinct by 2050. Bears also suffer due to oil development and pollution.

In May 2008, the United States announced the inclusion of the polar bear in the Red Book as an endangered species, and Canada and Russia as a vulnerable species.

The largest polar bear ever recorded weighed 1 ton

Although the thermometer in the Arctic may read 45 degrees below zero, bears are more likely to have problems with overheating than hypothermia, especially when running.

A polar bear can smell a seal hole a kilometer away, and if a seal is on the ice, a bear can smell it up to 30 kilometers away!

A bear hunts successfully only 2 percent of the time.

When a mother bear is caring for her cubs in a den, she does not eat, drink or defecate for several months.

The Inuit, the Eskimos of Canada, call the polar bear "nanuk" and treat it with great respect.

The Sami refuse to call the polar bear by name because they are afraid of offending it.

Although the polar bear's fur is white, it has a black skin.