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polar bear |
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polar bearLarge white-coated bear that lives in the Arctic. Polar bears are normally solitary, except for females when rearing cubs. They feed mainly on seals but will eat berries and scavenge when food is scarce. Males weigh 400-800 kg/880-1,760 lb and are up to 2.5 m/8.25 ft in length (twice as large as females, 200-400 kg). The estimated world population in 1997 was 20,000-30,000 bears. Polar bears mate in spring, but egg implantation is delayed until autumn to ensure that when the cubs emerge from the den in the following March, the weather is milder and food more plentiful. Two or sometimes three cubs are born after a short gestation, weighing only 500 g/17.6 oz each. Cubs remain with their mother for 2.5 years. ClassificationPolar bears constitute a single species Thalarctos maritimus, in the bear family Ursidae, order Carnivora. |
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