Polar Bears and where to find them

Polar bears grow bigger than any other bear in the world.

The small heads and shapes of polar bears are quite different from the other bears in North America. And, what’s also different, polar bears are truly predatory, unlike black bears and grizzlies.

Churchill, located on the western shore of Hudson Bay in the province of Manitoba, Canada, is known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World. This is the place to see Polar Bears in their natural habitat. Who doesn’t want to see a polar bear in the wild at least once in a lifetime!

There are not many places where you can do that, apart from the zoo, and that’s not the place where I feel comfortable seeing the wild animals locked up.

Baffin Bay, Nunavut, and Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories are other places in Canada to spot Polar bears. These places are extremely remote and difficult to get to. Polar bears are found in the Arctic. They are most abundant in areas with annual sea ice and a productive seal population.

Polar bears can weigh more than 500 kilograms and they are strong and dangerous. They can drag seals out of the ocean with their claws. On occasion, they will attack humans.

The polar bears are on top of the food chain in the Arctic, where they feed primarily on seals. The bears get these seals from a platform of sea ice. Unlike their brown bear cousins, which live on land, polar bears are well adapted for survival on the frozen seas of the Arctic.

The primary conservation concern for polar bears is habitat loss and reduced access to their prey due to climate change.

The food supply of polar bears

Polar bears feed on ice seals, specifically seal fat. This is the highest calorie food source possible, but they will take other prey when available. They hunt on the packed ice all through the arctic winter and head inland to the Arctic coast as summer approaches.

Polar bears are right at the top of the Arctic food chain and help to balance nature by preventing the overpopulation of seals.

Reproduction

A polar bear first breeds at four to seven years old and has one to three cubs every three or more years.

As with other bear species, male polar bears kill bear cubs and smaller bears. This might be the reason that pregnant females sometimes migrate up to forty kilometres inland from the coast, according to Biologists.

This is their chance to keep away from the big males. The lifespan of a polar bear is between 25 and 30 years.

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