Polar bear cub in the water. Interesting facts about polar bears

One of the most large mammals considered a polar bear. Its size surpasses all predators in the world. But such dimensions do not prevent the animal from moving deftly in the snow, swimming and diving.

Appearance of a polar bear

Its body and even the soles of its paws are covered with thick, dense hair, which helps to withstand harsh climates. Wool also protects against getting wet.

The bear's body length is more than 200 cm, weight is from 200 to 400 kg, but there are cases when an adult male weighs almost a ton. The tail is small and difficult to notice under the layer of fur. In winter the color is snow-white, in summer it has a yellowish tint.

The body is narrowed in front, massive in back. The neck is long and mobile. The head is small with a narrow forehead and high-set eyes. Large and strong paws have powerful claws. The skin of a polar bear is almost black. Underneath it is a thick layer of fat that protects from the cold and helps to easily stay afloat.

Polar bear habitat

To be a polar bear you need to be near the sea. Therefore, he spends his life near the ice-covered Arctic seas. This predator is mainly distributed in the Arctic Ocean, Hudson and Baffin Bay, in the north of the Bering Sea and on the Arctic islands.
White bears lead a nomadic lifestyle. Sometimes they are carried over long distances by the current.

Bears are located in different habitats in different ways. Some regions are overpopulated with representatives of this species, while in others they can be found very rarely. It depends on the conditions. The main criterion by which animals choose their territory is the amount of food.

What do polar bears eat?

The main prey of bears are seals, which predators lie in wait near the holes. When the seal pokes its head out, the polar bear throws the animal out with a powerful blow. Eats only lard and seal skin. Only in times of famine can it eat the entire carcass.
In addition to seals, polar bears feed on fish, chicks, and carrion. Can hunt large animals such as walruses. Sometimes they can climb into travelers' warehouses to feast on their provisions.

In summer it can eat cloudberries, seaweed, willow shoots and sedge leaves.

Reproduction of polar bears

The mating period lasts from early spring to late summer. At this time, females begin to build dens in large snow drifts. They move there from the beginning of pregnancy. The gestation period lasts 250 days.
Bear cubs are born very tiny. Females give birth to from one to three children. Their weight is less than a kilogram. Blind and helpless, they cannot do without their mother.

Children develop vision and teeth at the age of 1-2 months. Around this time, they already begin to leave the den and develop the territory.
At the age of six months, children follow their mother everywhere. At this time, males pose a danger to cubs. Because of them, the death rate of babies is very high. Almost 50% of bear cubs die in the first year of life.

The mother feeds the cubs milk for up to a year. Then they move on to marine animals. Children stay with the female until they are two years old, after which they begin to live independently.

Why are the numbers of polar bears decreasing?

The small number of polar bears is explained primarily by low reproduction rates. The female's first pregnancy occurs at the age of 4 years. After which the next time she will give birth is only after 3 years.

The main reasons for the decline in polar bear numbers:

• IN natural conditions The polar bear is not threatened by anyone except humans. Since these animals are very curious, there are many cases where they entered populated areas or came close to ships, becoming easy prey for hunters. A big threat to polar bears are poachers, who can hunt bear cubs.
• Environmental pollution also affects the decrease in numbers. This leads to a decrease in reproduction, reduces immunity and delays the development of animals.
• Climate change poses a major threat. Due to a sharp drop in temperature, the ice cover began to decrease. This has led to a decrease in the population of seals and walruses, which are the main source of food for polar bears. For these reasons, conservation of this animal is of great importance.

The polar bear is one of the largest representatives of the predatory order on our planet. Northern peoples it is called - oshkuy, nanuk and umka.

There are individuals reaching a length of up to three meters and weighing up to a ton. And despite heavy weight, the polar bear is very fast and agile.

He is a very good swimmer, swimming long distances. The polar bear easily overcomes difficult ice, and travels from thirty to forty kilometers a day.

The polar bear is perfectly adapted for harsh conditions arctic climate. This is facilitated by its dense, waterproof fur and thick undercoat. It also provides warmth and fat very well, reaching up to ten centimeters in thickness with the onset of winter. Without this fat, a polar bear would hardly be able to swim tens of kilometers in ice water.

But for the most part, this animal is a loner. The exception is mothers with teenage children. In general, cubs stay with their mother for a year or even a year and a half. In this case, we can talk about group hunting. The polar bear clearly knows that the game is the one who runs away. And here the cautious bear turns into a ruthless hunter. Running game awakens the hunter's instinct in him. Often its victims in the North are walruses and other pinnipeds. Fearing attacks from polar bears, they post “sentinels” near the rookery. And these “watchmen” often become victims themselves. They prevent the frisky bear from penetrating deep into the herd and gain time for the rest to escape in the water.

The most basic and favorite food of polar bears is seals. A bear can eat up to fifty seals a year. But it's not so easy to hunt seals. The ice conditions change from year to year, and the seals become unpredictable. Therefore, bears have to travel thousands of kilometers to find the best place for hunting seals. In addition, bears need good skills and excellent patience. A bear can wait for a seal at the hole for hours. A hunting bear is often accompanied by several Arctic foxes, who crave the remains of killed animals.

Bears not only politely avoid neighboring territories, but they also communicate with each other. But in such a way that no one’s interests are infringed upon. Even when the number of applicants for production is growing. Constant climate change and warming are very difficult for bears. The pack ice is retreating, and water, on the contrary, is overwhelming the coast. In such conditions, polar bears do not feel well.

IN modern family bears - eight species. And the polar bear is the youngest species among them and at the same time the most adapted. This predator will also survive in the interior of the continent. However, it is perfectly adapted to its current habitat. The polar bear differs very much from its fellows, and from other active inhabitants too. For example, no one else all year round doesn't wear white. This is not typical of the northern fauna. And only the polar bear allows itself not to react to the season. Probably because it's the biggest. So, unlike the same arctic fox, which turns brown in the summer, the bear is always white. But it must be said that various metamorphoses also occur with the white skin of a bear. This may occur due to illness or poor nutrition.

Zoological scientists are thoroughly familiar with the anatomy and physiology of the polar bear. It has been established that the polar bear descended from a giant cave bear during the period of general icing. But its behavior has been little studied. They have been hunting polar bears for hundreds of years, but they started studying them only recently. The issues of polar bear migration have also not been sufficiently studied. It is stated that the route is always laid against the drift of ice. The polar bear's vision is very good. Maybe 10 times, or even 100 times better than in humans. While a person may develop a vision disorder from spending a long time among the white and endless snow, this does not happen with polar bears. He wanders around the tundra and looks for where things turn black. Anything that stands out in color among the endless white virgin soil must be checked by the bear for edibility.

Polar bears, unlike brown bears, do not hibernate and do not create dens. It is practically impossible to wait out the long polar winter in hibernation. The only exceptions are pregnant females. They make something like a den. The bear finds a hill from which the wind is blowing and lies down. Snow blows from the hill onto the lying bear. So naturally A snowdrift forms above the bear, in which she uses her body, pushing aside the snow, to make a room and stay there for the winter. In the middle of winter, a mother bear gives birth to cubs under the snow. In March-April, females with cubs come out.

People all over the world who have witnessed with their own eyes the exit of a mother bear and her cubs from a den can be counted on the fingers of one hand. For some time, the cubs will not be able to move away not only from their mother, but also from the place where they were born. They will walk around the den for about two to three months. They will learn to hide, they will learn not to fall into the snow. And only then will they go with their mother to wander along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and there they will learn to swim. In total, the cubs will learn their habits from their mother for a year or more. And only after this time, the cubs are separated.

Bears swim well and can cross formed in frozen ice ocean crack. But there is a limit to everything. Due to global warming, open water become larger and many bears, especially young ones, drown. They try to stay closer to the islands in the Arctic Ocean, closer to solid ground.

40% of a polar bear's mass is fat. With such a fat layer, he can sleep in the snow and swim in icy water for hours. It is known that what bigger body, the less it cools. And the ocean one salty water remains liquid even at temperatures below zero degrees. The bear carefully looks after its skin. He bathes, and after bathing he wipes himself on the snow.

The bear is large in size, but cautious. It comes to the dwellings of polar explorers in search of food. Without special need, he will not cross the borders of foreign territory. And he won’t get involved in a fight unless absolutely necessary. After all, you can get wounded, and it’s not easy for a wounded animal to survive.

Polar bear ( Ursus maritimus) belongs to the class Mammals, order Carnivores, family Bears. Very close to dogs, bears appeared about 5 million years ago. The lonely ruler of the Arctic, the polar bear reigns on the floating ice off the northern shores of Eurasia and America. This is his element! He wanders all day long, covering vast distances, enjoying rolling in the snow or sleeping.
The polar bear can only be classified as a “terrestrial” mammal only conditionally, since these animals appear on land very rarely, only on the Arctic islands and the sea coast. They spend most of their time wandering across the ice of the Arctic Ocean. The polar bear is perfectly adapted to life in the polar seas. Snow storms often occur in the Arctic. To escape from them, polar bears dig holes in the snowdrifts, lie down in them and come out only after the storm subsides.

This is a real amphibious beast!

Its body has a streamlined shape: a pointed muzzle easily cuts through the water, very warm, thick fur and layer subcutaneous fat allow a well-swimming predator to stay in the water for a long time cold water swimming across long distances between ice fields. The hind legs serve as a rudder, and the front legs, densely covered with hair, form continuous paddle blades. The specific gravity of a bear's body is close to the specific gravity of water. The fur does not get wet in the water and retains air, supporting the body of this giant in the water, allowing it to swim for hours and even sleep without getting out on the ice. Bears can swim 100 km from land!
The eyes, ears and nose are located significantly higher on its relatively small head than on its more rounded head brown bear, so all the polar bear's main senses are above the water. He is also a good diver. A swimming bear reaches a speed of 5-6 km/h, and when diving, it can stay under water for about two minutes.
The polar bear is the largest land predator and the largest bear of all. existing species. Adult males reach 3 m in length and weigh 500 - 700 kg, but giants are known that weighed 1000 kg! For comparison: the weight of even the largest lions and tigers does not exceed 400 kg. The height at the withers is up to 1.5 m, the tail length is from 8 to 15 cm. It lives in nature for about 25 years, but in zoos, where conditions are much less harsh, it can live up to 40 years.
The bear feels confident on the ice surface.

Extremely dexterous, it jumps over cracks up to 3.5 m wide and never breaks the ice, as it evenly distributes its weight, spreading its paws widely.
Its coloring is protective; its white fur with a yellowish tint is hardly noticeable against the background of ice and snow. The hollow hairs of the bear's fur work like light guides, through which the weak radiation of the northern sun reaches the bear's skin and warms it. Sharp curved claws help them easily climb slippery ice blocks. Polar bears even grow hair on their paw pads, which allows them to prevent slipping on ice and keeps their paws warm.
The polar bear is an unsurpassed hunter of sea animals. He has keen eyesight, excellent hearing and an excellent sense of smell and is able to smell the scent of a prey from 7 km away. Thanks to its keen sense of smell, a bear can learn a lot from the tracks left by its relatives, for example, their gender or readiness to mate.
The polar bear is selective in its diet among bears and is the only bear that feeds primarily on meat. He is able to travel long distances in search of his favorite food - seal. Polar bears came up with different techniques hunting. Most often they watch for seals near their ventilation holes in the ice. While swimming underwater, seals periodically need to take in air. For this purpose, a hole is maintained in the ice. A polar bear stands guard at its edge, often for several hours.
As soon as the seal carelessly surfaces, the bear throws it out of the water with a powerful blow of its paw or jumps into the hole itself, killing the prey underwater. Sometimes, just one blow with a paw is enough to kill a seal. Often seals do not rest in the water, but on the edge of their holes. Then the polar bear carefully creeps up to them. Sometimes it even crawls on its belly, hiding behind snow drifts and ice floes. However, he makes a jerk from a distance of 20-25 m. After all, if a seal discovers him, he will quickly slide into the water.
In the spring, female seals make burrows in the snow, almost invisible from the outside, with access to water. In them, seals whelp and leave their young when going fishing. With an exceptionally keen sense of smell, a polar bear is able to smell a seal among the ice. With a powerful jump, he breaks through the icy roof or breaks it with his paw. In this case, the seal, as a rule, has no chance of escape.
Larger animals - young walruses, beluga whales - are caught less often by these predators. It also feeds on fish, lemmings, musk ox calves, eggs and carrion. Even plants are eaten during the summer months. Polar bears have an excellent sense of smell, which allows them to smell carrion at a distance of more than 30 km. Arctic foxes and seagulls often feast on the remains of a bear's meal.
In the summer, he uses a different tactic: he swims underwater for a long time, then suddenly emerges and attacks seals lying on an ice floe or geese, swans, and ducks resting on the waves. Bears usually do not hunt on the shore.
Polar bears have a large supply of fat under their skin, which protects them from the cold and allows for a long time do not eat. But if a bear catches prey, it can eat 10-25 kg at once. An experienced bear catches a seal every 3-4 days.
Their decent size does not prevent these animals from running at a speed of 40 km/h. On average, they travel about 15,000 km per year in search of food.
Male polar bears roam the Arctic all year round. They live on their own, making an exception only for the mating season. Going on a hunt or in search of a female to prolong the family, they move across endless icy expanses and sometimes walk many tens of kilometers a day. Females live in small family groups with their young, usually two and sometimes more.
By the beginning of the mating season, the bear becomes restless, and her walking routes lengthen. When the male comes across her droppings or traces of urine, he senses that the female is ready to mate and takes her trail. At the first meetings, the bear demonstrates inaccessibility and rejects him with a roar or a blow of her paw. Standing on its hind legs and growling loudly, the bear tries to impress its partner. He stubbornly follows her, and gradually the female lets him closer. The bears are together for some time, frolicking and playing. But after a few days their paths diverge. After one or two days, mating occurs. Both animals later mate with other partners. It may happen that cubs from the same litter have different fathers.
If several males follow the trail of a female bear ready to mate, then the issue is decided by the size and self-confidence of the applicant. Each of the males shows what they are capable of by rising into full height, exchanging paw blows and growling loudly.
During the summer the female polar bear accumulates fat under the skin to survive long winter. After the mating season, the female hibernates during the coldest months of the year. It digs a den in the snow or climbs into naturally formed snow voids to hibernate. The bear makes her den not among the ice, but on the land of the Arctic islands.
The bear does not eat or drink for months, gaining energy by “burning” the fat reserves accumulated in the fall. A mother bear feeding her cubs during hibernation may lose more than half of his weight. Her body temperature remains normal - unlike animals that go into real hibernation.
It is very warm in the den (the temperature reaches + 30 °C), and here by December the bear gives birth to cubs. A female bear usually gives birth to 2-3 cubs every 3 years. Polar bear cubs are born weak, blind, and their mothers take care of them with great love. The newborn weighs only 700 g and is 20 cm long. Mothers fiercely protect their babies, especially from male bears, which, if hungry, can kill and eat the cubs.

Babies open their eyes about a month after birth, and take their first steps at the age of one and a half months. For the first few months, the cubs are in a snow den and feed on rich mother's milk. Bear cubs are born completely without hair, but after a while it grows back and becomes thick and dense.
Four-month-old cubs weigh 10 kg and still suckle their mother (sometimes for up to a year), but the mother bear is already beginning to feed the cubs with seal blubber. Despite all the efforts of the female, out of three cubs, usually only one survives.
With the end of the polar night, the cubs come out with their mother from the cramped ice den and frolic with pleasure in the open air.
Now they can come out of the shelter, and no frost will be scary for them. The she-bear will teach them to hunt and swim. While they are small, the mother allows them to sit on her back and happily rides them, like on a steamboat.
At two years old, a young bear begins to live independently. At this age, the risk of death is still quite high, since he is still an inexperienced hunter and often remains hungry.
In Russia, the polar bear is distributed on the islands of the Arctic Ocean: on Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island.
The polar bear prefers to stay among floating ice or near the wormwood, where you can catch seals. Largest quantity snow dens in which cubs are born are established on Franz Josef Land and Wrangel Island. In November - December, female bears usually give birth to two cubs. In March - April, the cubs leave the den with their mother. By this time their weight reaches 10-12 kg. A bear family survives for about two years.
In nature, the polar bear has no enemies. He is quite peaceful towards humans. When defending its prey (for example, a caught seal) or bear cubs, it can rush at a person, trying to scare him. Loud muttering serves as a warning of possible danger. There are very few actual cases of attack. On Novaya Zemlya, over more than 100 years of its development, three people died for this reason, and on Wrangel Island there were not a single casualty.
The acquaintance of a person with a polar bear has a long history. These animals were known to the ancient Romans in the 1st century AD. A written source containing information about polar bears dates back to 880.
In the XII-XIII centuries. Russian settlers who settled on the banks of the Bely and Barents seas, hunted polar bears, and supplied bear skins to Veliky Novgorod and Moscow. As long as bears were hunted by residents of the Far North, the damage to the livestock was small.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Hunting vessels began to regularly penetrate the Arctic seas and hunting for polar bears began. It increased especially sharply in the middle of the 19th century, when the reserves of bowhead whales were depleted and the attention of miners switched to walruses and bears. At the beginning of the 20th century. the hunt was carried out on an unusually wide scale.
On Spitsbergen for 1920-1930. More than 4 thousand animals were killed. According to rough estimates, only in the north of Eurasia from the beginning of the 18th century. until the middle of the 20th century. the production amounted to over 150 thousand bears.
Back in the seventies of the last century, polar bears were hunted with impunity in Canada, Greenland, Norway and Alaska.
By the beginning of the 70s. XX century 5-7 thousand polar bears lived in the Russian sector of the Arctic, and throughout the Arctic their number did not exceed 20 thousand. In 1973, an International Agreement on the Conservation of the Polar Bear was signed. Ten years later, the number of bears increased and amounted to over 25 thousand.
Around North Pole About 25,000 polar bears live in different packs, its populations are stable. But they suffer from sea pollution and global warming. Today they are protected international agreements, hunting for them is prohibited, and the polar bear itself is listed in the Red Book. The polar bear is also protected in the nature reserve on Wrangel Island and is included in the IUCN-96 Red List and the Red Book Russian Federation.
Rapid climate warming has threatened the existence of the polar bear population off Hudson Bay in northern Canada. The sea began to freeze a month later, and this prevents them from hunting seals. Hungry bears approach villages and rummage through garbage dumps.
Studying bears is not easy: they live scattered over large areas, are cautious and too dangerous to approach. Researchers now have effective sedatives. Polar bears, which are aggressive and very active, are euthanized from the air: the bears are driven onto open ice by snowmobiles, and then arrows containing a tranquilizer are shot from a helicopter. The stunned animal is measured, examined for scars, teeth imprinted, and blood drawn. Analyzes of the integument and fat provide information about the state of his health. In female bears, based on a blood test, it can be determined whether she is ready for mating or is already pregnant.

Other data about the life of bears is obtained from paw prints, analysis of fur, dens and droppings, from which the type of food can be determined. Additional information make observations of behavior. In this way, it is possible to monitor the development of the bear population in a certain area over many years.
Bear trails and areas are explored using telemetry. Animals receive radio collars, thanks to which their location can be determined. Many collars are additionally equipped with sensors that record the animal's body temperature and movements.
From them, the researcher can determine whether the bear is resting or active. Every six hours, the exact coordinates of its location are transmitted to the satellite, and from there to the scientists’ computers. Many transmitters even send data constantly, so that the coordinates they provide are projected onto the map, and the movements of the bears can be monitored on the screen.
In order to determine the age of a bear, a small, non-functional tooth in the lower jaw is removed from a euthanized animal.
Bears' teeth form annual circles, like tree trunks. Inside they consist of dentin. The crown of the tooth is covered with dental enamel, the root is covered with dental cement. To ensure that the tooth always remains firmly anchored in the jaw, a layer of cement continually grows throughout the bear's life. Depending on the time of year, the growth of cement occurs in different ways: in winter it is slower, at this time only a thin dark layer forms around the tooth. At the beginning of the year and in the summer, a wider light layer appears. Both lines form a layer that grows in one year. The older the bear, the slower the cement grows and the smaller the distances between the annual rings become.
Polar bears have been studied quite well: the approximate size of their territories, types of food and mating behavior. Scientists were able to observe how mother bears raise their cubs.
Are polar bears threatened by the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect and global warming are primarily a consequence of gas emissions. Carbon dioxide and other gaseous compounds rise into the high layers of the atmosphere, forming a layer above the Earth that traps heat at the surface of the planet, like in a greenhouse. The consequences are already visible in the Arctic: over the past 100 years, air temperatures there have risen by about 5°C. Square arctic ice is decreasing every year.
Pollution is a problem for polar bears. Around drilling rigs and oil harbors, seawater is often contaminated with oil. Thick fur protects polar bears from cold and dampness. But oiled wool loses its ability to hold air, so half its insulating effect is lost. The bear cools down faster, and in the sun there is a danger of overheating. If, while swimming, a bear swallows oil-contaminated water or licks it from its fur, this will lead to kidney damage, intestinal bleeding and other serious diseases. The following were found in the tissues of polar bears: harmful substances as chlorohydrocarbons. They accumulate from food and are deposited in fur, teeth and bones. In the future, harmful substances affect not only health, but also the ability of animals to procreate.
The life of polar bears depends on the presence of ice. Only if they go out into the ice to hunt seals in the summer do they manage to accumulate sufficient fat reserves for the winter. If the ice melts earlier in the summer or crumbles into ice floes, the animals have to return to the mainland, where there is less food. This affects the ability to procreate: bears that are less well-nourished have fewer offspring or no offspring at all. If warming continues at the same rate, the summer ice cover in the Arctic sea will disappear by 2080 at the latest. The polar bear will have to adapt to completely different conditions. living conditions or face the threat of extinction.

Bears and people
Today, zoos try to provide animals with housing appropriate to their species. Zoos serve an important role in maintaining endangered species by researching animal habits, educating the public about endangered species, and coordinating breeding programs. international level.
To keep the animals occupied, more and more zoos are developing entertainment programs for their bears. Bears are not couch potatoes at all. In nature, they are constantly busy exploring and searching for food. Animals that cannot satisfy their need for movement often demonstrate behavioral disturbances: they mark time, shake their heads, jump up every now and then, or show the same type of rhythmically repeating movements.
Food is no longer served in a feeder, but is scattered throughout the enclosures, buried or hidden in tree hollows or under roots.
So the bears have to look for it or catch it with their paws. Balls of straw or hay are filled with food, and honey is placed at the very tops of tall trees. Bears love frozen food. For example, carrots, apples and fish carcasses are placed in buckets of water or fruit juice and frozen.

The polar bear is the largest species of the bear family (Ursidae). In its homeland, in the Arctic, it is, without a doubt, the “king of beasts”, which has practically no natural enemies. But what do we know about polar bears, except that they live in northern latitudes? This article will tell you in detail about the life and behavioral characteristics of polar predators and will help you understand what kind of rulers of the far north they really are?

Polar bears live in the ice of the circumpolar Arctic. There are about 20 populations, which hardly mix with each other and vary greatly in number - from 200 to several thousand individuals. The size of the entire world population is approximately 22-27 thousand animals.

The permanent residence of polar bears is coastal ice continents and islands, where the number of their main prey is ringed seal– quite high. Some individuals live among less productive multi-year ice in the central Arctic region. From the south, their distribution is limited to the southern limit of the seasonal ice cover in the Bering and Barents Seas and in the Labrador Strait. In areas where the ice melts completely in the summer (Hudson Bay and southeast Baffin Island), animals spend several months on the shore, using up their fat reserves, until the water freezes.

Description and photo of a polar bear

The polar bear is the largest representative of the bear family. As independent type it was first described in 1774 by K. Phipps, receiving the Latin name Ursus maritimus, which means “sea bear”.

Polar bears evolved from brown bears during the late Pleistocene; the oldest find, 100 thousand years old, was discovered in Korolevskoe botanical garden London.

Body length of males is 2-2.5 m, females – 1.8-2 m; the weight of males is 400-600 kg (especially well-fed individuals can weigh a ton), females - 200-350 kg.

In the photo, a polar bear is jumping from an ice floe. Despite their massive body, these animals are surprisingly agile. If necessary, they can swim for several hours, and on land they can cover up to 20 km in a day, although sometimes this leads to overheating.

The structural features are associated with living conditions in a harsh climate. The body of the polar predator is stocky; They do not have the raised withers characteristic of brown bears. Compared to other species, the Arctic's head is narrower and longer, with a flat forehead and a long neck. The animal's ears are small and rounded.

Thanks to their thick fur and thick layer of fat, polar predators feel quite comfortable at temperatures of -50°C. Their fur is naturally white; it serves as an ideal camouflage for the beast. However, the fur often takes on a yellowish tint due to pollution and fat oxidation, especially in summer. It is interesting that while the coat is white, the animal’s skin is dark. This feature serves as a natural accumulator for animals of solar energy, which, as is known, is in great short supply in their habitats.

Large front paws, reminiscent of oars, are an excellent device for swimming, in addition, there are swimming membranes between the toes. When swimming, the hind legs play the role of a kind of rudder. Wide feet increase the supporting surface when moving on snow.

Interesting fact: despite the fact that polar and brown bears are very different in appearance, they are close relatives and can interbreed in captivity. A hybrid of such a cross is called a grolar or pizzly.

Polar bear lifestyle

Polar bears lead a predominantly solitary lifestyle; They stay in pairs only during the rutting season. There are cases of their accumulation, sometimes up to several dozen individuals, in places where there is enough a large number of food is quite rare. Groups of polar predators are quite tolerant of each other’s company even when feeding on large prey, such as a dead whale. However, ritual battles or games are not uncommon, but each animal does not forget about its hierarchical status.

Animals lead a predominantly nomadic lifestyle, with the exception of the time spent in dens. Dens are primarily used by females to give birth and raise their young. It is also a refuge for winter sleep, but animals hibernate for a short time and not every year.

How are dens arranged?

Dens of breeding females can be divided into generic and temporary. At birth, female bears give birth to offspring. Their stay in such dens averages 6 months. A temporary den serves breeding females for a short time - from 1 day to 2-3 weeks, and in isolated cases up to 1 month or more.

The birth den consists of one or more chambers. The length of the chamber is on average from 100 to 500 cm, width - from 70 to 400 cm, height - from 30 to 190 cm, the length of the corridor varies from 15 to 820 cm. The entrance hole is often poorly visible from a distance of several meters.

Temporary dens differ from ancestral dens in structure. They are usually quite simple structure: with one chamber and a short (up to 1.5-2 m) corridor, as a rule, with completely “fresh” walls and vault, slightly icy floor.

Depressions, pits and trenches without a vault and a clearly defined entrance are sometimes referred to as temporary dens, but it would be more correct to call them shelters. Such shelters usually serve polar bears for a short time - from several hours to several days. They provide the animal with minimal comfort, for example, shelter during bad weather.

In especially severe weather(blizzard, frost) bears, in order to save energy, can lie down in temporary shelters for several weeks. The northern predator has one interesting physiological feature: While other bears can only hibernate in winter, our hero can enter a hibernation-like state at any time.

What does the lord of the north eat?

The ringed seal (ringed seal) is food No. 1 in the diet of polar bears; to a lesser extent, it becomes their prey sea ​​hare(the animal catches him when he comes up to breathe). The animals hunt for seals by waiting for them near “vents”, as well as at their breeding sites on ice floes, where inexperienced pups become easy prey for predators. The bear sneaks up on the victim unnoticed, then makes a sharp throw and plunges into the water. To expand the small “vents”, the animal breaks the ice with its front paws, using its impressive mass. Having immersed the front part of the body in the water, it grabs the victim with its powerful jaws and pulls it onto the ice. Bears can find the location of a seal's hole through a meter-long layer of densely packed snow; they walk towards it from a kilometer away, guided solely by smell. Their sense of smell is one of the most acute among all mammals. They also hunt walruses, beluga whales, narwhals, and waterfowl seabirds.

For the nutrition of hungry polar predators, emissions from the sea are essential: the corpses of dead animals, the waste of sea animals. A large number of bears usually accumulate near the carcass of a beached whale (photo).

The polar bear, being a typical carnivore, nevertheless, being hungry and not being able to hunt its main prey - seals, can easily switch to other foods, including plant foods (berries, seaweed, herbaceous plants, mosses and lichens, twigs of shrubs). This, apparently, should be regarded as an evolutionary adaptation of the species to harsh environmental conditions.

In one sitting, the animal is capable of eating a very large amount of food, and then, if there is no prey, starve for a long time.

In modern conditions, increased technogenic impact on ecosystems can lead to a deterioration in the food supply of the polar bear, forcing it to increasingly switch to secondary food, visit landfills in populated areas, destroy warehouses, etc.

Eternal nomads

Constantly changing ice conditions force northern bears to regularly change their habitats, looking for areas where seals are more numerous and among the ice fields there are open or covered with young ice leads, channels and cracks, which make it easier for them to catch prey. Such areas are very often confined to the french zone, and it is no coincidence that many animals concentrate here in winter. But from time to time, the french zone is completely closed due to pressure winds, and then the bears have to migrate again to other areas in search of more favorable places for hunting. Fixed ice remains stable, and then only for the period of winter and early spring, but it is not everywhere suitable for the existence of seals, and therefore, polar bears.

In search of more suitable places for hunting, animals sometimes travel hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, their habitat varies significantly even within one season, not to mention interseasonal and annual differences. In the absence of territorialism in the polar bear, individual individuals or family groups take over a relatively small area for some time. But as soon as conditions begin to change dramatically, animals leave such areas and migrate to other areas.

Continuation of the family line

The mating season occurs in April-May. At this time, there is quite an intense struggle between males for females.

Females are characterized by induced ovulation (they must mate many times over several days before ovulation and fertilization occurs), and therefore pairs remain together for 1-2 weeks to successfully reproduce. In addition, polar bears are characterized by a delay in implantation until mid-September-October, depending on the latitude at which the animals live. After 2-3 months, cubs are born in most areas. This happens in a snowy den. Babies are born weighing about 600 grams. At birth, their fur is so thin that they appear to be hairless. Until 7-8 months of age, the basis of nutrition for cubs is mother's milk. The milk is very fat – 28-30%, but it seems to be separated in small quantities.

Sometimes a she-bear leaves a den that has become “dysfunctional” when the cubs are still weak. They move with difficulty and require constant care. If such a family is disturbed at this time, the female, saving the cubs, carries them away in her teeth.

When the cubs reach a weight of 10-12 kg, they begin to accompany their mother everywhere. They freely follow her along steep slopes, often starting games during walks. Sometimes the games end in a fight, with the cubs roaring loudly.

Some female bears who go for a walk do some kind of gymnastics in the snow. They clean themselves on the snow, rub their snouts against it, lie on their stomachs and crawl, pushing off with their hind legs, slide down the slope in different poses: on their backs, sides or stomachs. For adult bears, these are apparently hygienic procedures aimed at keeping their fur clean. In cubs imitating their mother, this behavior also has a playful overtone.

The mother bear's training of the younger generation probably lasts as long as it lasts. family group. Imitation of the mother is already evident when the babies are in the den, for example, digging activity. They also sometimes imitate her when eating plants.

Having finally left the den, the family goes to the sea. On the way, the female often stops to feed the cubs, sometimes she feeds herself, digging out plants from under the snow. If the weather is windy, she lies with her back to the wind; if the snow is deep enough, it digs a small hole or temporary den. Then the families go into the ice. In the first half of May, sometimes females and cubs are still seen on land, but probably from among those who, for some reason, left their den with a delay.

Females can reproduce once every 3 years, since the cubs are with her for up to 2.5 years. Females become mothers for the first time, usually at the age of 4-5 years, and then give birth every 3 years until death. Most often, 2 bear cubs are born. The largest litters and the largest cubs are found in females aged 8-10 years. Young and old female bears more often give birth to 1 cub. There is evidence that adult females in natural conditions can exchange cubs or adopt cubs that have lost their mother for some reason.

The lifespan of female polar bears is 25-30 years, males - up to 20 years.

Diseases, enemies and competitors

A dangerous intestinal-muscular invasive disease such as trichinosis is widespread among polar bears. They have other diseases very rarely.

Much more often they suffer from various injuries, including those inflicted in a fight with each other for the possession of a female or food. But they do not have serious consequences for the population.

A polar bear's competitor can only be a person who hunts seals for their skin, fur and meat, upsetting the natural balance between predator and prey.

The wolf and arctic fox have a minor impact on the population, attacking and killing bear cubs.

Polar bears and humans

Thanks to measures to protect polar predators, the risk of their extinction is low. They were previously considered a vulnerable species, but after the 1973 Polar Bear Conservation Agreement came into force, the population size stabilized.

Provided that the hunting of northern bears is controlled, they are not in danger of being destroyed. However, there are concerns that their numbers may decline due to low reproduction rates. They are shot mainly by the local population, whose representatives kill about 700 individuals per year. But the main danger for our heroes is climate warming and environmental pollution.

In the Arctic regions, due to population growth, the likelihood of a polar predator colliding with humans has potentially increased. As a result, a conflict situation is created that is dangerous for both parties. Polar bears, however, cannot be considered aggressive towards people, but there are exceptions. Most animals retreat when they meet a person, others do not pay attention to him. But there are also those who chase a person, especially if he runs away. Most likely, at this moment the animal’s instinct of pursuit is triggered. Therefore, to claim that the polar bear is a completely harmless animal would be a dangerous misconception. The real threat is posed by exhausted individuals. First of all, these are old animals that have lost the ability to successfully hunt for their usual food, as well as young ones that have not yet adequately mastered hunting techniques. Females protecting their cubs also pose a considerable danger. The polar bear can also become aggressive if it unexpectedly encounters a person or if it is being chased.

In contact with

The predatory mammal polar bear, or polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a close relative of the brown bear and the largest land predator on the planet today.

Characteristics and description

The polar bear is one of the largest terrestrial representatives of mammals from the order of predatory animals.. The body length of an adult individual is three meters and weighs up to a ton. Average weight males, as a rule, vary between 400-800 kg with a body length of 2.0-2.5 m. The height at the withers does not exceed one and a half meters. Females are much smaller, and their weight rarely exceeds 200-250 kg. The category of the smallest polar bears includes individuals inhabiting Spitsbergen, and the largest specimens are found near the Bering Sea.

This is interesting! A characteristic feature of polar bears is the presence of sufficient long neck and a flat head. Skin black in color, and the color of the fur coat can vary from white to yellowish shades. In summer, the animal's fur turns yellow as a result of prolonged exposure to sunlight.

The fur of polar bears is completely devoid of pigmentation, and the hairs have a hollow structure. A feature of translucent hairs is the ability to transmit only ultraviolet light, which gives the wool high thermal insulation characteristics. There is also fur on the soles of the limbs to prevent slipping. Between the fingers there is a swimming membrane. Large claws allow the predator to hold even very strong and large prey.

Extinct subspecies

A closely related subspecies to the well-known and fairly common polar bear today is the extinct giant polar bear or U. maritimus tyrannus. Distinctive feature this subspecies had significantly larger body sizes. The body length of an adult individual could be four meters, and the average weight exceeded a ton.

On the territory of Great Britain, in Pleistocene deposits, it was possible to discover the remains of a single ulna belonging to a giant polar bear, which made it possible to determine its intermediate position. Apparently, the large predator was perfectly adapted to hunting fairly large mammals. According to scientists, the most probable cause The extinction of the subspecies was due to insufficient food supply towards the end of the glaciation period.

Habitat

The circumpolar habitat of the polar bear is limited to the territory of the northern coast of the continents and the southern part of the distribution of floating ice floes, as well as the border of the northern warm currents seas. The distribution area includes four areas:

• permanent habitat;
• habitat of high animal numbers;
• place of regular residence of pregnant females;
• territory of distant calls to the south.

Polar bears inhabit the entire coast of Greenland, the ice of the Greenland Sea south to the islands of Jan Mayen, the island of Spitsbergen, as well as Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea, the islands of Bear, Vaigach and Kolguev, and the Kara Sea. A significant number of polar bears are observed on the coast of the continents of the Laptev Sea, as well as the East Siberian, Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. The main habitat of the highest possible abundance of the predator is represented by the continental slope of the Arctic Ocean.

Pregnant female polar bears regularly den in the following areas:

• northwest and northeast Greenland;
• southeastern part of Spitsbergen;
• western part of Franz Josef Land;
• the northern part of the island of Novaya Zemlya;
• small islands of the Kara Sea;
• Severnaya Zemlya;
• northern and northeastern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula;
• the Lena delta and the Bear Islands of Eastern Siberia;
• coast and adjacent islands of the Chukotka Peninsula;
• Wrangel Island;
• southern Banks Island;
• Simpson Peninsula coast;
• northeastern coast of Baffin Island and Southampton Island.

Dens with pregnant polar bears have also been observed on pack ice in the Beaufort Sea. From time to time, usually in early spring, polar bears make long trips towards Iceland and Scandinavia, as well as the Kanin Peninsula, the Anadyr Bay and Kamchatka. With ice and when crossing Kamchatka, beasts of prey sometimes they end up in the Sea of ​​Japan and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk.

Nutritional Features

Polar bears have a very well developed sense of smell, as well as hearing and vision, so it is not difficult for a predator to notice its prey at a distance of several kilometers.

The diet of a polar bear is determined by the characteristics of its distribution area and the characteristics of its body. The predator is ideally adapted to the harsh polar winter and long swims in icy water, so its prey most often becomes marine representatives of the animal world, including sea ​​urchin and walruses. Eggs, chicks, young animals, as well as carrion in the form of corpses of sea animals and fish that are washed up on the coast are also used for food.

If possible, the polar bear's diet can be very selective. In captured seals or walruses, the predator primarily eats the skin and fat layer. However, a very hungry beast is capable of eating the corpses of its fellows. Relatively rare large predators enrich their diet with berries and moss. Change climatic conditions had a significant impact on nutrition, so in Lately Polar bears are increasingly hunting on land.

Lifestyle

Polar bears make seasonal migrations, which are caused by annual changes in territories and boundaries polar ice. In summer, animals retreat towards the pole, and in winter, the animal population moves to the southern part and enters the mainland.

This is interesting! Despite the fact that polar bears mainly stay on the coast or ice, in winter period animals lie in dens located on the mainland or island part, sometimes at a distance of fifty meters from the sea line.

The duration of winter hibernation for a polar bear, as a rule, varies between 50-80 days, but most often pregnant females hibernate. Males and young animals are characterized by irregular and fairly short winter hibernation.

On land, this predator is fast, and also swims well and dives very well.

Despite the apparent slowness, the slowness of the polar bear is deceptive. On land, this predator is distinguished by its agility and speed, and among other things, large animal swims well and dives very well. To protect the polar bear's body, it has very thick and dense fur, which prevents it from getting wet in icy water and has excellent heat-retaining properties. One of the most important adaptive characteristics is the presence of a massive layer of subcutaneous fat, the thickness of which can reach 8-10 cm. The white color of the coat helps the predator to successfully camouflage itself against the background of snow and ice..

Reproduction

Based on numerous observations, the rutting period for polar bears lasts about a month and usually begins in mid-March. At this time, predators are divided into pairs, but there are also females accompanied by several males at once. The mating period lasts a couple of weeks.

Polar bear pregnancy

Lasts approximately eight months, but depending on a number of conditions, can vary between 195-262 days. It is almost impossible to visually distinguish a pregnant female from an unmarried polar bear. About a couple of months before giving birth, behavioral differences appear and females become irritable, inactive, long time lie on their stomachs and lose their appetite. A litter often contains a pair of cubs, and the birth of one cub is typical for young, primiparous females. A pregnant bear comes to land in the fall, and spends the entire winter period in a snowy den, most often located near the sea coast.

Caring for cubs

In the first days after birth, polar bear lies curled up on its side almost all the time. Short and sparse hair is not sufficient for independent heating, so newborn cubs are located between the mother’s paws and her chest, and the polar bear warms them with her breath. The average weight of newborn cubs most often does not exceed a kilogram with a body length of a quarter of a meter.

The cubs are born blind, and only at the age of five weeks do they open their eyes. A mother bear feeds her month-old cubs while sitting. The mass emergence of female bears occurs in March. Through a hole dug outside, the bear begins to gradually take her cubs out for a walk, but with the onset of night the animals return to the den again. During walks, the cubs play and dig in the snow.

This is interesting! In the polar bear population, approximately 15-29% of cubs and about 4-15% of immature individuals die.

Enemies in nature

In natural conditions, polar bears, due to their size and predatory instinct, have practically no enemies. The death of polar bears is most often caused by accidental injuries as a result of intraspecific clashes or when hunting walruses that are too large. Orca whales and polar sharks also pose a certain danger to adults and young individuals. Most often bears die from starvation.

Man was the most terrible enemy of the polar bear, and such peoples of the North as the Chukchi, Nenets and Eskimos hunted this polar predator from time immemorial. Fishing operations that began in the second half of the last century became disastrous for the population. During one season, St. John's worts destroyed more than a hundred individuals. More than sixty years ago, polar bear hunting was closed, and since 1965 it has been included in the Red Book.

Danger to humans

Cases of polar bear attacks on people are well known, and the most striking evidence of the predator’s aggression is recorded in the notes and reports of polar travelers, so you need to move around in places where a polar bear may appear, you need to be extremely careful. In the territory settlements located near the habitat of the polar predator, all containers with household waste must be inaccessible to a hungry animal. In the cities of the Canadian province, so-called “prisons” have been specially created in which bears approaching the city limits are temporarily kept.