Trivia TOP 5 FACTS ABOUT POLAR BEARS

[Beatriz9]

1. POLAR BEARS ARE CLASSIFIED AS MARINE MAMMALS​

Because they spend most of their lives on the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean depending on the ocean for their food and habitat, polar bears are the only bear species to be considered marine mammals.

2. A POLAR BEAR SKIN IS ACTUALLY BLACK​

Beneath all that thick fur, polar bears have jet black skin. The polar bear’s fur is also translucent, and only appears white because it reflects visible light.

3. THEY CAN SWIM CONSTANTLY FOR DAYS AT A TIME​

As well as reaching speeds of up to 6mph in the water, polar bears can swim for long distances and steadily for many hours to get from one piece of ice to another. Their large paws are specially adapted for swimming, which they’ll use to paddle through the water while holding their hind legs flat like a rudder.

4. LESS THAN 2% OF POLAR BEAR HUNTS ARE SUCCESSFUL​

Although about half of a polar bear’s life is spent hunting for food, their hunts are rarely successful. A polar bear’s main prey consists of ringed seals and bearded seals, which they hunt in a variety of ways. Either by breaking into pupping dens, waiting at breathing holes or at the water’s edge, or stalking seals that have hauled out to rest on the ice. Besides catching seals, polar bears will also scavenge carcasses or settle for small mammals, birds, eggs and vegetation.

5. SCIENTISTS CAN EXTRACT POLAR BEAR DNA FROM JUST THEIR FOOTPRINTS​

An innovative new technique developed by WWF and DNA specialist firm SPYGEN allows scientists to isolate DNA from a polar bear’s footprint in the snow. Two tiny scoops of snow from a polar bear track revealed not just the DNA of the polar bear that made it, but even from a seal it had recently eaten.

(s)orgUK