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.
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.
A hungry polar bear is helicoptered out of a Canadian town after wandering in for food.
After wandering into town on its way back to hunt on the sea ice of Hudson Bay, a hungry polar bear is helicoptered a safe distance away from the Canadian settlement of Churchill.
A polar bear cleverly creeps up on an unsuspecting seal.
Gripping footage showing an intelligent polar bear carefully stalking a seal in the hope of making it his next meal.
The wild polar bears of Svalbard play football!
The polar bears of Svalbard take a break from their meal to have a game of football with the snowball cam!
After months inside a cramped den, a mother and cubs emerge to face the world.
After months inside a cramped den, a mother and cubs emerge to face the world.
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. An adult male weighs around 350–680 kg (770–1,500 lb), while an adult female is about half that size. Although it is closely related to the brown bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrow 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 consistently only from sea ice, which is why they spend much of the year on and near the edge of the frozen sea.
The polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species, with 8 of the 19 polar bear subpopulations in decline. For decades, large scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species; populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect. For thousands of years, the polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and cultural life of Arctic indigenous peoples, and the hunting of polar bears remains important in their cultures.
The IUCN now lists global warming as the most significant threat to the polar bear, primarily because the melting of its sea ice habitat reduces its ability to find sufficient food. The IUCN states, "If climatic trends continue polar bears may become extirpated from most of their range within 100 years." The polar bear was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act by the United States Department of the Interior in 2008.
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