Wildlife
Remarkable adaptations allow polar bears to live in the frozen Arctic, but global warming is destroying their habitat and leaving them seriously endangered. Despite being born deaf and blind beneath the snow, cubs eventually grow into the most powerful of all four-legged animals.
Using their incredible sense of smell to track their prey, adult polar bears spend most of their lives alone, wandering over the vast tracts of frozen ice in search of blubber-rich prey such as seals, walruses and even whales. They are also remarkably good swimmers and have been spotted over 60 miles from shore.
Did you know?
Polar bears are the largest living land carnivore.
Scientific name: Ursus maritimus
Rank: Species
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Curiosity can be a risky business around the world's largest land carnivore.
When it comes to members of the bear family, aggression is often greatly exaggerated - except in the case of polar bears. They are one of the few predators on Earth that will actively hunt humans for food, so film crews need to have their wits about them if they're to witness the softer side of the arctic's supreme predator.
Polar bear hunting
Here the team gets a rare chance to observe a polar bear’s hunting technique.
The team gets a rare chance to observe a polar bear’s hunting technique, but ends up having to make a hasty retreat.
Polar bear central
With bears all around, Gordon and Jason have to keep their wits about them.
With bears all around, Gordon and Jason have to keep their wits about them.
Close encounter with a polar bear
Gordon gets shaken up by a hungry polar bear, whilst in the 'ice cube'.
After leaving the 'ice cube' near a seal’s breathing hole, Gordon gets shaken up by a hungry polar bear.
Miki and Luca playing
Lyra assesses when her cubs will be strong enough to leave, whilst they play.
Lyra assesses when her cubs will be strong enough to leave, while they learn life lessons by playing.
The Polar bear can be found in a number of locations including: Arctic, Asia, Europe, North America, Russia. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Polar bear distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Vulnerable
Population trend: Decreasing
Year assessed: 2008
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak bear, which is approximately the same size. A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–700 kg (770–1,500 lb), while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet. Although most polar bears are born on land, they spend most of their time at sea. Their scientific name means "maritime bear", and derives from this fact. Polar bears can hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present.
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with eight of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations in decline. For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect.[citation needed] For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and polar bears remain important in their cultures.
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Helpless young
Adapted to swimming
Camouflage
Carnivorous
Acoustic communication
Hibernation
Kleptoparasitic
Maternal care
Nomadic
Polygynous
Predator
Cold tolerant
Adapted to running
Chemical communication
Sexual dimorphism
Torpor
Viviparous