Curious facts about polar bears. Facts about the polar bear Interesting information about the polar bear
The polar bear is rightfully one of the unique and amazing animals on the globe. The animal manages to survive in the harshest climatic conditions. Quite often they even have to go hungry and withstand strong winds and snow. However, polar bears are excellent fishers and find food under a thick layer of snow. Next, we suggest reading more interesting and amazing facts about polar bears.
1. Bears are considered quite intelligent animals.
2. To eat the bait, the bear can roll a stone into the trap.
3. The life span of bears is about 30 years wildlife.
4. The oldest bear in the world lived for more than 47 years.
5. These furry animals have crooked legs.
6. Bears use bow legs to provide balance and better traction.
8. A bear's tongue reaches more than 10 inches in length.
9. A polar bear can reach speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
10. Depending on the type of bear, the shape of the claws of this animal differs.
11. Only polar bears have long and straight claws.
12. More than 40 beats per minute is a normal heart rate polar bear.
13. The normal pulse of a bear during hibernation is a pulse with a frequency of more than 8 beats per minute.
14. Bears can distinguish colors.
15. A polar bear can jump out of the water 2.4 meters.
16. The stomach of a polar bear holds 68 kg of meat.
17. Termites are the favorite food of sloth bears.
18. Almost everything can be eaten by bears.
19. About 90% of all polar bears live in Alaska and America.
20. Polar bears can swim up to 100 miles without rest.
21. As good as people see polar bears.
22. A bear’s sense of smell is 100 times stronger than a human’s.
23. At a distance of up to 32 km, a bear can sense its prey.
24. Under a three-meter layer of ice, a bear is able to smell a deer.
25. An unconscious bear was found in Seattle in 2004.
26. Bright brown, means “bear” in English.
27. The bear is the symbol of the United Russia party.
28. The constellation Ursa Major is considered the third largest.
29. A distant relative of dogs is the bear.
30. The polar bear is considered the biggest bear in the world.
31. A male polar bear can weigh 1500 kg.
32. An adult bear can reach more than 10 pounds.
33. The polar bear is considered a marine mammal.
34. The color of polar bear fur varies from white to light beige.
35. A polar bear has black skin.
36. B North America Almost a third of all bears on the planet live.
37. More than 28,000 bears live in North America.
38. About 20 million years ago the first bears appeared on earth.
39. Polar bears have never lived in Antarctica and Australia.
40. There are 9,677 hairs per square inch of area of a bear.
41. Most polar bears are born without fur.
42. Only people born with thin white fur can polar bears.
43. Most bears have bare feet.
44. To reduce heat loss on ice, fur covers the spaces between the toes.
45. Bears place their entire foot on the ground when walking.
46. The claws on the front paws of a bear are larger compared to the hind paws.
47. Bears regularly eat both plants and meat.
48. Bears’ teeth are different in size.
49. Bears do not defecate during hibernation.
50. A newborn bear weighs less than one pound.
51. Asian people use bear organs for medicinal purposes.
52. Among all the bears, the most big ears at the black bear.
53. There are about a thousand pandas in the wild.
54. Polar bears are excellent swimmers and can swim for hours.
56. A polar bear can weigh more than 700 kg.
57. A polar bear can swim more than 700 km without stopping.
58. At a distance of more than 1.6 km, a polar bear can sense its prey.
59. Sea hares, seals and seals are a common menu for polar bears.
60. Polar bears rarely attack people.
61. The sloth bear has the longest fur.
62. Rings on a cut of a bear's molar can reveal its age.
63. Polar bears have two layers of fur.
64. The brown bear is more common throughout the world.
65. A bear attacked a Canadian in 2008.
66. The fur of a polar bear is colorless.
67. The hairs of a polar bear are transparent and hollow inside.
68. Pregnant female polar bears always remain in their dens.
69. Female and male polar bears differ in weight.
70. A newborn bear cub weighs about 450 grams.
71. Polar bears often suffer from overheating in the Arctic.
74. After eating, bears clean their bodies for 20 minutes.
75. Bears can have angry outbursts from time to time.
76. Indians consider bears to be the human race.
77. Bears are the most similar to humans in their psychology.
78. Bears have a universal digestive system.
79. A bear can digest food of both animal and plant origin.
80. A bear's hibernation can last 195 days.
81. Only pregnant female polar bears hibernate.
82. The running speed of bears can be compared to the speed of horses.
83. Polar bears have an excellent appetite.
84. Polar bears can throw different objects among themselves.
85. Polar bear liver is rich in vitamin A.
86. The female chooses her partner a year before breeding.
87. The average life expectancy of polar bears is about 40 years.
88. The average polar bear can weigh about a ton.
89. Bears have good movement and coordination.
90. The average running speed of a bear is about 55 km per hour.
91. Brown bears are listed in the Red Book as an endangered species.
92. Polar bears are considered very playful.
93. Bear cubs wait for their mother when she is hunting.
94. The bear comes to land almost dry after swimming.
95. The Arctic is the habitat of polar bears.
96. K marine mammals include polar bears.
98. The first priority for a polar bear is washing and cleaning its fur.
99. Polar bears spend more than an hour a day washing themselves.
100. A female polar bear predominantly weighs 300 kilograms.
1. Polar bears are undoubtedly one of the most amazing animals on our planet, because these majestic animals manage to survive in one of the most extreme and cold places on Earth.
2. The polar bear is also called the northern bear or the polar bear, and the northern peoples call it Nanuk or Oshkui.
3. The polar bear is not only the largest land predator in the northern latitudes, but an intelligent and resourceful predator that has managed to adapt and survive in such a harsh polar climate.
4. The polar bear is the largest warm-blooded predator on the planet. The weight of a polar bear can reach 1,000 kg, and its length is 3.5 - 4 meters.
5. Previously, another subspecies of polar bear lived in the Arctic - the giant polar bear. It weighed 1,200 kg and reached a length of more than 4 meters.
6. Due to its habitat in remote places from human civilization - above the Arctic Circle, the polar bear maintains a larger range of its habitat than any other predator. But despite this, it is listed as a vulnerable species, as its population is only between 20,000 and 25,000 individuals worldwide.
7.The closest relative of the polar bear is the brown bear. Both species evolved from the same ancestor approximately 600 thousand years ago.
8.Brown and polar bears can interbreed and produce hybrids due to the fact that they are related species and had common ancestors.
9. A polar bear, giving birth to 1 to 3 cubs at a time, carries them for 8 months. The cubs are born in a den between November and December. And already at the end of March - beginning of April, the female with the cubs gets out of the den.
10. 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.
11. Polar bears have never lived in Antarctica and Australia.
12. About 90% of all polar bears live in Alaska and America.
13. Due to the fact that the polar bear’s paws are equipped with membranes, according to the classification it belongs to marine mammals.
14. If a polar bear cannot catch food for more than 7 to 10 days, its metabolism slows down and it begins to burn its fat reserves until it finds food.
15. They are also very smart and resourceful. When hunting seals (their most common prey), polar bears use a wide range of dexterous techniques. It is believed that they even cover their black noses with their paws to avoid being seen in the snow.
16. Due to their exceptional biological structure, polar bears are unusually warm-blooded animals. Their body temperature never drops below 31 degrees Celsius. They sometimes even avoid running and other physical activities to avoid overheating.
17.Adult polar bears lead a solitary lifestyle, but friendly relationships can arise and be maintained between them.
18. The largest representatives of the polar bear population live in the Barents Sea, and the smallest in Spitsbergen.
19. Even though polar bears are usually born on land, they spend most of his time at sea. Their scientific name Ursus Maritimus means "sea bear".
20. The polar bear is an excellent swimmer and can often swim for several days. One bear swam continuously for 9 days in the cold Bering Sea, covering a distance of 687 kilometers to reach ice far from land. They typically swim at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour. The polar bear has webbed feet that help it swim.
21. Also, a record swim of more than 600 km was made by a bear who swam across the Bosphorus Sea from Alaska to the pack ice in search of food.
22. Despite their impressive size, polar bears can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h when running on land. But he cannot run at such speed for long, as he may overheat.
23.Bears have an excellent sense of smell. They can smell the scent of a seal that has climbed onto the ice at a distance of 32 kilometers.
24. Polar bears do not freeze; a thick subcutaneous layer of fat, 13 centimeters thick, helps them do this.
25.Female polar bears from southern parts Arctic females raise their cubs for 2 years, while females from the colder part care for their cubs for 3 years.
26. Polar bears are believed to have evolved from their common ancestor with brown bears approximately 5 million years ago. They have evolved unique features that help them survive in the very cold Arctic region.
27. Some researchers believe that the intelligence of polar bears may be as high as that of monkeys due to their ingenious hunting methods, ingenuity and ability to change their behavior depending on changing environmental problems.
28.The heaviest polar bear ever recorded weighed a whopping 1,002 kilograms. It was a male shot in northwest Alaska in 1960.
29.The ability of polar bears to swim in icy water without their fur getting wet is explained by the fact that it is covered with fat. This ensures its water-repellent property.
30. Due to melting ice caps, scientists predict that two-thirds of the current population of these amazing animals will disappear by 2050.
31. The average life expectancy of polar bears in the wild is about 30 - 35 years.
32. A record for the life expectancy of a polar bear was recorded in captivity. The world's oldest bear lived for more than 45 years.
33. The female and male polar bear differ in weight. The weight of a male can reach 700 – 800 kg, and a female polar bear predominantly weighs 300 kg.
34.Polar bears often travel on drifting ice floes.
35.Brown bears dig dens in the ground, and white bears dig dens in the snow, and such a den usually has several rooms and even an exhaust hood.
36. The skin of a polar bear is black, this helps them retain heat.
37. Polar bears hibernate for the winter for 50-80 days, and then only pregnant females in order to produce offspring.
38. The female’s pregnancy lasts 230-240 days, after which tiny cubs weighing 400-750 grams are born.
39. Even though the two bear species have been separate species for a very long time, polar bears can still breed with brown bears and produce fertile grizzly-polar bear hybrids. This phenomenon occurs both in the wild and in captivity, but is very rare.
40. Although the polar bear is the most large predator in the world, its adorable polar bear cubs are born even smaller than human children. However, they are more intelligent because they quickly learn to remain absolutely still while their mothers hunt so as not to spook the prey.
41. Arctic foxes are typically preyed on by polar bears, but a strong friendship between the two animals has been documented in Canada. They played together and the giant bear even shared his food with his little fox friend.
42. Quite often they even have to go hungry and withstand strong winds and snow. However, polar bears are excellent fishers and find food under a thick layer of snow.
43. Polar bear hunting is successful only 2 percent of the time.
44. The tongue of polar bears is also highly pigmented and, partly due to the fact that a lot of blood flows to it, is sometimes even dark blue in color.
45. During periods of severe frost, when a polar bear goes to sleep, it covers its nose with its paw, which serves as the only heat generator.
46. The most characteristic feature of a polar bear is its completely white fur, but it is not quite what it seems. In fact, their hair follicles are transparent, hollow tubes. This allows their fur to reflect the light around them.
48. A polar bear comes to land almost dry after swimming.
49. The claws on the front paws of a polar bear are large compared to the hind paws.
50. Polar bears' fur can sometimes look a little yellowish or greenish. The yellowing is caused by age and dirt, while the greenish color is caused by algae that can grow in a polar bear's fur in unnaturally warm and humid conditions.
The message about the polar bear can be used in preparation for the lesson. A story about a polar bear for children can be supplemented with interesting facts.
Report on the topic “Polar bear” 4th grade
The polar bear is one of the largest predators on Earth. These are inhabitants of the harsh and snowy expanses of the Arctic zone; their southern border of habitat is the tundra zone.
Description of a polar bear
The polar bear has a heavy, massive body and large, powerful paws.
Its weight ranges from 300 to 800 kg, and its length can reach up to three meters. The color of the fur coat can range from white to yellowish. In summer, the fur may turn yellow due to constant exposure to sunlight. Wool stores subcutaneous fat and protects well from the cold, so animals do not freeze either on land or under water. The tail of a polar bear is very short, ranging from 7 to 13 cm in length and is almost invisible under its dense fur.
Interestingly, the bear’s skin under its fur is black, as is its nose.
Their feet have an unusual elongated shape, which allows them not to fall under the snow and cover distances of 30 kilometers. Thanks to the partitions between the toes, animals swim well and hunt underwater.
What do bears eat?
They feed on fish, seals, and sometimes baby walruses. Bears can go without food for a long time, but when they catch prey, they eat up to 10 kg of meat at a time. In summer they can eat plants. Predators are very agile, despite their enormous weight and thick skin. They have a well-developed sense of smell and vision. They can see and smell their prey from kilometers away. And having tracked down the prey, they stun it with a blow of their paw.
Polar bear lifestyle
Basically, these animals are solitary, but in the spring they pair up to create offspring. In small families they master new territory, but do not stay on it for long. While carrying cubs, female polar bears almost never leave their shelter and lose 2 times their weight. After the birth of babies (usually one or two), the bear spends several more months with them in a specially dug den, because they are not yet adapted to the cold. Newborn cubs are taught by their mother to hunt and survive in difficult conditions.
White bears (
The ancient Romans were very fond of sports associated with bloodshed. Although gladiator battles are the most famous of ancient Roman entertainments, crowds also enjoyed watching animals die. These bloody displays (venationes) usually pitted the hunter (venatores) against a range of deadly animals. However, to make these shows more exciting, the Romans also pitted animals against other animals in the arena, in a real-life version of Animal Face-Off. Lions fought with tigers, bears with bulls, and the excitement increased even more with the participation of endless crocodiles, pythons, hippos and greyhounds.
However, not all the couples in the arena were fair fights. According to records left by the Roman poet Calpurnius Siculus, the Romans filled the amphitheater with water and then released seals into it. Then they released polar bears into the water. The result was a one-sided, literal bloodbath that would probably leave the bears asking, “Are you bored?”
10. Polar bears aren't really white.
Polar bears certainly look white, but as the old saying goes, appearances can be deceiving. The outer hairs of polar bears' fur (also known as guard hairs) are actually transparent and their undercoat is also colorless. So why do polar bears look white? This happens because they have a pocket of air inside each guard hair. When sunlight hits a bear's guard hairs, all wavelengths of light reflect off these air pockets, giving polar bears their white coloration. But even this classic look can change. Depending on the time of year and the position of the sun, polar bears can appear yellow or even brown. Sometimes captive polar bears can even turn from white to green due to algae growing in their guard hairs (but green bears wouldn't look as good on soft drink cans as white bears).
However, if you shave off all the fur (which we definitely don't recommend doing), you will reveal the true color of polar bears. Beneath their shaggy, colorless coat, the skin of polar bears is actually black. This black skin absorbs heat from the sun's rays and keeps bears living in arctic climates warm. So the next time you see a polar bear's nose, remember that this is its true color.
9. Polar bears can swim for a whole week without stopping. 
Polar bears have truly amazing swimming skills that would put Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte to shame. Their huge webbed feet are ideal for cutting through ocean waves at speeds of 10 kilometers per hour. Now compare this result with the pathetic Olympic swimmers, who, at best, swim only at a speed of 7 kilometers per hour. It doesn't matter how many gold medals you have when you can still end up being a polar bear's breakfast.
In addition to being able to reach great swimming speeds, they can actually swim an average of 100 kilometers without stopping. And although some polar bears have been seen as far as 321 kilometers from the coast, the record for the longest swim was broken in 2011. Due to melting ice floes, which are a natural hunting area for bears, a polar bear and her cub set sail across the Beaufort Sea in search of a new home. The bear swam 680 kilometers in nine days, which is equivalent to walking from Washington to Boston. Unfortunately, her cub died along the way, and when she finally reached dry land, she had lost 22 percent of her body weight. It was an impressive feat and a testament to the toughness of polar bears, but it is also a reminder of the challenges these marvelous animals face as they lose their habitat.
8. Polar bears resort to cannibalism
Polar bears are not picky eaters, but if you give them a choice between seal and almost anything else, they will definitely choose seal. However, for last years, due to the intensity of climate change, the Arctic menu has decreased significantly. More and more are melting sea ice, gradually robbing polar bears of their natural habitat and rich hunting grounds. Catching seals is becoming more and more difficult, so the bears began to look for other sources of food, including bird nests, but a couple of eggs will not satisfy the hunger of these giants. Therefore, the bears had to resort to a much more terrible option for obtaining food - cannibalism.
Bear hunting is not new. There were always a few furry Jeffrey Dahmers prowling the ice, and polar bears sometimes eat their cubs if they are sick. However, in recent years, experts who study polar bears have noticed an increase in cannibalism, especially among bears that are trapped on land. In 2009, eight male bears devoured cubs in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and in July 2010, photographer Jenny Ross was able to capture several horrifying images of an adult polar bear killing a younger one. As the ice continues to melt, more and more polar bears may be forced to eat their relatives with or without beans.
7. Polar bears remain invisible to infrared cameras 
In addition to being powerful hunters, polar bears also have the magical power of remaining invisible, at least when it comes to observing them with infrared cameras. Scientists discovered this amazing phenomenon during a flight over the Arctic, organized to check the size of the bear population. At first, scientists were almost unable to notice the bears, as they blended into their snow-white habitat. Thinking they had found a great way to track polar bears, the scientists decided to use infrared cameras, but to their surprise, they saw that the polar bears had completely disappeared. Only their noses, eyes and breathing were reflected on the camera.
Scientists decided that polar bears' body fat and fur camouflage them from infrared cameras, hiding their thermal signatures. However, a senior at Berkeley University named Jessica Preciado decided to dig a little deeper. Using cutting-edge technology from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Preciado was able to unravel the mystery of polar bears' invisibility. Infrared cameras detect not only surface temperature, but they also detect radiation emanating from the objects being monitored. According to Preciado's research, the radio-emitting properties of polar bears' fur are similar to those of snow, allowing the bears to remain invisible under infrared light. This skill could be very useful to them if the Predator ever lands in the Arctic.
6. There are hybrids between polar bears and grizzly bears 
In 2006, an American hunter went to the Arctic to hunt for a polar bear. He seemed to succeed. The hunter noticed that the bear he killed looked a little strange, and after DNA analysis, scientists discovered that the creature was half polar bear and half grizzly bear.
This was the first time that a polar bear-grizzly bear hybrid had been found in the wild. However, scientists have already seen a similar Frankenstein creature in the German Osnabruck Zoo, where a polar bear and a grizzly bear lived in the same enclosure and became more than good friends. As of 2010, 17 polar bear-grizzly bear hybrids have been recorded, most of which live in Osnabrück. Therefore, scientists have suggested that in the wild these two species may also mate. But in 2010, the scientific community was shocked when a hunter shot and killed what appeared to be the offspring of a grizzly bear and a polar bear-grizzly bear hybrid. It turned out that, unlike other creatures that are the offspring of interspecific crosses (for example, mules), hybrids of a polar bear and a grizzly bear can have offspring.
These impressive hybrid bears were called grolars, polar grizzlies or nanulaks from the Inuit "Nanuk" (polar bear) and "Aklak" (grizzly bear). Scientists speculate that it is likely that their parents were able to meet and mate because of construction and mining in Canada, which led grizzlies to move further north, and the effects of climate change, which led to melting Arctic ice, forced whites bears go south in search of food. Arctic grizzlies have characteristics of both mothers and fathers. Polar grizzly bears have elongated necks and prominent tails like polar bears, but their heads, shoulders and paws are more grizzly-like, and their fur resembles an odd combination of the two bear species. However, polar grizzlies experience some discomfort in the wild because they cannot swim as well as polar bears and their paws are not designed for walking on ice. However, five polar bears were recorded in the wild in 2012, so it is possible that polar grizzlies will one day become a permanent part of the North American ecosystem.
5. Eskimos deeply respect polar bears 
While many people consider polar bears to be cute and funny, Eskimos are much more respectful of them. They consider Nanuk, the polar bear, a mysterious, almost humanoid creature who deserves to be treated with respect even in death. After a successful hunt, an Eskimo hunter will definitely honor the polar bear by hanging its skin in his house for several days. The hunter also hangs various tools next to the skin as an offering to the spirit of the bear. Eskimo hunters present male bears with knives and tools for making fire through friction, and female bears with offerings such as skinning tools and sets of needles. It is believed that the polar bear will need the souls of these tools in afterlife and if the hunter treated the bear with respect, Nanook will tell the other bears about the hunter's kindness. Then the other bears will give their lives to the hunter in exchange for the tools. Everyone wins in this ritual.
However, if the Eskimo hunter mistreated Nanook's soul, he would never be able to kill another polar bear. The same applies to the hunter's wife. If she treats the polar bear with disrespect, her husband will never become a great hunter. This was especially problematic for women if their husbands died. There was a very high chance that the widows would remain single, since no Eskimo hunter wanted to marry a woman cursed by Nanook.
4. Polar bear watching is real work.
Are you tired of your job from nine in the morning to five in the evening? Then you should take a look at the government's online job board in Svalbard. They offer some pretty interesting jobs, like being a polar bear watcher.
Only about 2,400 people live on the Svalbard archipelago, which is very small when you realize that about 3,000 polar bears also live there and their number is growing. What is unique about Svalbard polar bears is that their population is constantly growing, while the rest of the world is experiencing severe population decline. This is great news for bears, but also a bit of a problem for scientists working in the wild. Therefore, the Svalbard government recently began looking for people to become polar bear observers in order to be able to keep them within the boundaries of human habitation. According to the job description, candidates must be familiar with wildlife, be proficient in the use of firearms, and have a very booming, loud voice. The observer's main job will be to scare away the bears by yelling at them, firing a flare gun, or banging pots or pans. Shooting bears is a last resort, to be resorted to only if absolutely nothing else has worked.
If this job sounds like something you would like to do, we hasten to disappoint you, they have already found people for it. However, you can check their website periodically. The place can become vacant at any time, because watching polar bears is not the safest job. Moreover, it is impossible to say with certainty when the former observer may lose his job/life.
3. Polar bears were very popular during the Middle Ages
When we think of the Middle Ages, we think of the Crusades, the Black Death, and knights saying "Ni." We don't usually associate the Middle Ages with arctic animals, and yet everyone from peasants to princes thought polar bears were incredibly cool.
Take the Vikings for example. They believed that the polar bear was as strong as 12 men and as smart as 11 men combined. The Viking poets described them using several cool names, such as “seal storm”, “iceberg rider” and “whale death”. In Norse mythology, the gods Heimdallr and Loki took the form of polar bears to fight each other. Even the King of the North, Harold the Fair-haired, had a pet she-bear with cubs. They were a gift from an Icelandic hunter, to whom in exchange for the bears he gave a whole ship loaded with wood.
The British also admired polar bears. In the 1200s, Henry III amassed an impressive collection of exotic animals. Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire sent Henry III three lions as a wedding gift, and King Louis IX gave him a male African elephant. Due to the fact that there was not much room in the king's palace for cannibals and thick-skinned giants, Henry III decided to place his animals in the famous Tower of London(Tower of London), which became London's first zoo.
One of Henry III's most unusual animals was a polar bear, given to him by King Haakon of Norway. Henry III received not only the bear, but also a Norwegian overseer of the animal. The sheriffs of London had to pay for his food, but the bear had too voracious an appetite. The sheriffs were unable to collect enough taxes to pay for his food, so Henry III ordered his overseer to fashion a muzzle and an iron chain. Then the overseer took him to the Thames, where the polar bear could swim and catch his own fish. Unlike the prisoners who were kept in the Tower of London, the polar bear did not have such a bad time there.
2. Polar bears are sometimes imprisoned
By a strange coincidence, the city of Churchill, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, has the honor of being the polar bear capital of the world. Every spring and summer, the icy bay near Churchill melts, leaving polar bears without their prime hunting grounds. Approximately 1,000 hungry bears, unable to catch seals, approach the town in search of food. And these bears are not picky at all. They can eat anything from garbage to dogs.
Despite the danger, the people of the town of Churchill were able to adapt to the annual bear invasion. For example, people traditionally leave their houses unlocked in case someone is being chased by a polar bear and needs somewhere to hide. To prevent bears from entering the house and following the smell of something being cooked in someone’s kitchen, the doors of houses are equipped with special “welcome mats” made of plywood studded with nails. Curious bears quickly understand what's what. During Halloween, children are escorted from house to house by armed adults, and no one is allowed to dress up as a ghost to avoid being confused with a polar bear. The city even has a dedicated polar bear hotline (675-BEAR, in case you need the number). If you call this number, a conservation team armed with firecrackers and rubber bullets (and real ones if necessary) will come to flush the intruders out of town.
However, if a polar bear doesn't take the hint and keeps returning to town, it could end up spending several months in a polar bear prison. Repeat offenders are given sleeping pills and transported to a prison that was once an airplane hangar. When the bear wakes up, he finds himself in one of 28 cages, in which he has approximately two meters to move. Polar bear prison is a pretty cruel place. The bears are not fed at all and are only given snow to drink. The idea is to make their stay in Churchill so unpleasant that they never want to come back. It may sound cruel, but it is a better alternative to killing bears (or killing people with bears). When the bay refreezes in the colder months, the bears are released and hoped they have learned a valuable lesson about Manitoba fairness.
1. Polar bear liver can kill you
Just as the Plains Indians butchered buffalo, the Eskimos used every part of the polar bear...except the liver. This is not because polar bear liver tastes bad, but because eating it can kill a person. In 1596, a group of European explorers experienced this the hard way. After a delicious polar bear dinner, the explorers fell ill with a terrifying illness. The man became drowsy and irritable. Their vision became blurred, their heads and bones began to ache, and they began to vomit nonstop. Finally, as in one of the scenes in an Eli Roth horror film, their skin began to peel off. Some men are lucky and only have a little skin come off around their mouths. But some of them were very unlucky. Their skin peeled off all over their bodies, from head to toe. Eventually, they fell into a coma and died, all because they chose the wrong food. They ate the polar bear's internal organs, including the liver.
Polar bear liver is so dangerous because it is full of vitamin A. In small quantities, vitamin A helps improve certain body functions. Promotes growth, reproductive health and improves vision, but excess causes human body go into shock. An adult human can only process 10,000 international units of vitamin A, but if you eat just 500 grams of polar bear liver, you will shock your body with 9,000,000 international units of vitamin A. In addition to your skin peeling, you will experience hair loss and your spleen and liver will swell to unimaginable sizes. Therefore, the next time someone offers you to try polar bear liver, it is better to opt for fondue.
The polar bear is, without a doubt, one of the most amazing animals on our planet. This is even evidenced by the fact that these majestic animals manage to survive in one of the most extreme and cold places on Earth. We all know that polar bears and especially cubs can be incredibly adorable, but many people don't know that they are also very smart and resourceful. Exists great amount facts worth learning about these stunning giants. To expand your knowledge about polar bears, we bring to your attention twenty-five interesting and little known facts.
25. Although polar bears are usually born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name Ursus Maritimus means "sea bear".
24. Polar bears are believed to have evolved from a population of brown bears approximately 5 million years ago. They have evolved unique features that help them survive in the very cold Arctic region.
23. However, despite being separate species for such a long time, polar bears can still breed with brown bears and produce fertile grizzly-polar bear hybrids. This phenomenon occurs both in the wild and in captivity, but is very rare.
22. The most characteristic feature of a polar bear is its completely white fur, but it is not quite what it seems. In fact, their hair follicles are transparent, hollow tubes. This allows their fur to reflect the light around them.
21. However, their fur can sometimes look a little yellowish or greenish. The yellowing is caused by age and dirt, while the greenish color is caused by algae that can grow in a polar bear's fur in unnaturally warm and humid conditions.
20. Another amazing color-related fact is that their skin is actually black. This helps them retain heat.
19. Their tongue is also highly pigmented and, partly because it receives a lot of blood, is sometimes even dark blue in color.
18. Due to the lack of human development in its remote habitats (in the Arctic Circle), the polar bear retains more of its original habitat range than any other existing predator. However, despite this, it is listed as a vulnerable species, as its population is only between 20,000 and 25,000 individuals worldwide.
17. Considering that the average male polar bear weighs up to 700 kilograms and grows up to 3 meters in length, he is the largest predator in the world. The heaviest polar bear ever recorded reportedly weighed an incredible 1,002 kilograms. It was a male shot in northwest Alaska in 1960.
16. The polar bear is an excellent swimmer and can often swim for several days. One bear swam continuously for 9 days in the cold Bering Sea, covering a distance of 687 kilometers to reach ice far from land. They typically swim at a speed of 10 kilometers per hour.
15. When walking, a polar bear typically has a lumbering gait and maintains an average speed of approximately 5.6 kilometers per hour. However, despite their gigantic size, they can run at speeds of up to 40 kilometers per hour.
14. Although the polar bear is the largest in the world, its adorable polar bear cubs are born even smaller than human babies. However, they are more intelligent because they quickly learn to remain absolutely still while their mothers hunt so as not to spook the prey.
13. When hunting seals (their most common prey), polar bears use a wide range of dexterous methods. Supposedly, they even cover their black noses with their paws to avoid being seen in the snow.
12. However, their most common method of hunting is still hunting. The bear uses its excellent sense of smell to find the seal's breathing hole and lies down next to it in silence, waiting for the seal to appear. A bear can lie in ambush for several hours. After the seal exhales, the bear notices its breathing, puts its front paw into the hole and pulls it out onto the ice.
11. Polar bears are surprisingly obsessed with their purity. After eating, they spend up to half an hour grooming and cleaning their coat to ensure that no dirt or food remains are left behind.
10. After a good meal and a thorough cleaning, polar bears like to rest, often in funny, almost human-like poses.
9. The polar bear is the only species of bear that does not hibernate. They are active all year round.
8. In fact, due to their exceptional biological structure, polar bears are unusually warm-blooded animals. Their body temperature never drops below 31 degrees Celsius. They sometimes even avoid running and other strenuous physical activities to avoid overheating.
7. Some researchers believe that the intelligence of polar bears may be as high as that of monkeys due to their ingenious hunting methods, ingenuity and ability to change their behavior depending on changing environmental problems.
6. If a polar bear cannot catch food for more than 7 to 10 days, its metabolism slows down and it begins to burn its fat reserves until it finds its next meal.
5. The polar bear has a particularly developed sense of smell. They can track ice-bound seals up to 32 kilometers away, and can sniff out a seal's breathing hole in the ice from more than half a kilometer away, even if the seal is not there.
4. Due to melting ice caps, scientists predict that two-thirds of the current population of these amazing animals will disappear by 2050.
3. Fortunately, efforts to protect these noble animals have led to restrictions on sport hunting, so let's hope the global polar bear population does not decline too quickly. They even set aside an International Day for the polar bear - February 27th.
2. Despite sophisticated hunting methods and careful behavior, only about 2 percent of their attacks are successful.
1. Arctic foxes tend to be prey for polar bears, but in Canada there has been a case of a strong friendship between these two animals. They played together and the giant bear even shared his food with his little fox friend.