They’re not the world’s largest carnivores by a long shot. That honor goes to the squid-eating sperm whale, which can grow to a length of 60 feet and a weight of 80,000 pounds.
But on dry (or icy) land, polar bears hold the title, weighing up to 1,320 pounds and stretching as much as eight-and-a-half feet from nose to tail. Find out more!
Their cubs weigh only about a pound at birth
Polar bear cubs are tiny at first, not much more than a foot long, and blind and toothless. They grow fast, however, nourished for at least 20 months by their mothers’ very rich milk. It has a fat content of 31% to 35%, the highest of any bear species (cow’s milk is typically only 3% to 4% fat).
Twins run in their families
Mother polar bears give birth to anywhere from one to three cubs at a time, with twins being the most common. In 2003, Canadian researchers discovered a rare pair of identical twin polar bear cubs.
Their coats aren’t really white
The shafts of hair on a polar bear are hollow and transparent, but they appear white because the air spaces in each hair scatter light of all colors, and our eyes see white when all visible wavelengths of light are reflected. The skin underneath the hair is actually black.
Scientists divide the world’s polar bear population into 19 units or sub-populations
According to the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the polar bear population of one of these irregularly shaped and variously sized units, Southern Beaufort Sea, bordering Alaska and Canada’s Northwest Territories, is in decline.
Their natural habitat range includes portions of five countries
These countries are Canada, the United States (Alaska), Denmark (Greenland), Norway, and Russia. Polar bears are found in areas of these countries that surround the Arctic Circle, representing three continents — North America, Europe, and Asia (far eastern Russia in the latter case).
More than half of the world’s polar bears are Canadian
Some 13 of the 19 sub-populations identified by scientists are found in Canada. These account for 60% of the total global polar bear population.