Polar Bears
Habitat
Polar Bears live in the Arctic Circle, at the North Pole (yes, Santa Claus does live there too). It's covered in frosty white ice, which is slowly melting away forever because of Global Warming. The dark seas are extremely cold, and have so much more sea life other than polar bears in their deep, icy depths.
Diet
Polar Bears eat a range of different foods that live out there on the ice. The main things are seals, including ice seals, ringed seals, bearded seals, harp seals, hooded seals, and an occasional ribbon seal. They also eat some other stuff such as whales like beluga whales, grey whales, bow-head whales, narwhals, and sometimes an extremely rare walrus. Also, when their main foods are unavailable, they will eat muskox, reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, shellfish, fish, eggs, kelp, berries, and even human garbage. Sad, huh?
Description
Polar Bears look almost exactly like any other bear, except they're white! They have large paws with sharp claws and black padding so that they don't slip on the ice. Also, they don't have tails (any other bear doesn't either), just a little blob of white fur. They are also the second biggest bear on Earth, next to the Grizzly, who's the biggest. I wouldn't want to meet one of those guys!
Types
Polar Bears come in one type: the Polar Bear. There aren't any special species of polar bear.
Fun Facts
- Polar bears' fur isn't actually white. It's translucent, or clear. You can see right through it! However, when it's so close together it looks like it's white. Also, it traps heat against the polar bear's skin to keep it warm.
- Polar bears are on the endangered list. Because of Global Warming, their icy home is slowly melting away for good, so many polar bears are dying because of it.
- Polar bears do not hibernate. Instead they all den. The male dens to avoid bad weather and the female dens to care for her cubs.
- Some female polar bears build dens with multiple rooms, a roof, and even a ventilation system. Fancy!
- Female polar bears prefer to build their dens with old snow from the last year instead of new, fresh snow. Nobody yet knows why this is.