5 Fun Facts about Polar Bears!

5 Fun Facts about Polar Bears 🐻‍❄️

Here's some other fun polar bear facts:

1. They are the largest carnivores on earth. Adult males can weight up to 1,500 pounds and be up to 10 feet tall! You wouldn’t want to meet one of those in the wild!

2. They are excellent swimmers. Polar bears have been found swimming more than 60 miles from land. They use their large front paws to paddle, and their back legs to steer.

   Sometimes you can see them swimming on the San Diego Zoo's live cams:

   Polar Cam | San Diego Zoo

3. They have an incredible sense of smell - they have 20 times more smell receptors than humans do. They can smell seals (their primary source of food) from as far as 20 miles away (the distance probably also depends on the wind conditions). They can even smell food hidden under the snow!

   Here's a fun article about the power of their noses:

   animalresearcher.com

4. Unlike other kinds of bears, only pregnant female polar bears hibernate. Baby cubs are really small and vulnerable when they're born - they only weigh 1 pound! So when a female gives birth, she'll stay with her cubs for several months without eating to care for them. In all, cubs will stay with their moms for about 2.5 years while their mothers teach them all the essential survival skills they’ll need to know.

5. And yes, underneath all their fur, they have black skin. But not even their fur is white! They actually have two layers of fur, and their fur is transparent, with a hollow core that reflects light (which makes them appear white) and gives them excellent camouflage in the snow.

Unfortunately, due to ice melting and habitat loss, polar bears are categorized as a vulnerable species. That's why we need to keep working to protect them!