Bear Facts
Polar Bear Prey
The polar bear's main prey is the ringed seal, the most numerous seal in the Arctic.
Ringed seals live in the circumpolar region north to the Pole. Though most commonly found on land-fast or solid ice, they are sometimes seen on ice floes.
Adult ringed seals reach an average length of 4.1 feet and weigh about 150 pounds. They are padded with a thick layer of blubber.
Adult seals are dark on top and spotted with cream-colored rings that are dark in the center. Underneath, their coats are white to creamy yellow.
Ringed seal pups are born in snow dens on land-fast ice in mid-March or Mid-April. They remain with their mother to nurse for about two months, but learn to swim and hunt as the ice breaks up in early summer.
In winter, polar bears capture ringed seals by lying in wait by one of their breathing holes. When the seal rises for air, the polar bear yanks it from the water.
Though Inuit hunters report that the polar bear covers its black nose when waiting for a seal, scientists have never observed this behavior.
In early summer, polar bears stalk ringed seals when they're basking on the ice by taking advantage of the animal's sleep-wake rhythms. The bear crawls slowly forward when the seal sleeps and freezes in place when the animal raises its head.
At about 20 feet from its prey, the polar bear pounces, killing the seal before it can escape back into the sea.
When hunting is good, polar bears eat only the seal's blubber and skin. Younger, less experienced bears devour the remains, as do arctic foxes.
Interestingly, scientists have found that when polar bears dine exclusively on seal fat, their cholesterol levels drop lower than those of fasting bears because of the protective quality of the omega-3 fatty acids found in the seals.
Traditionally, the ringed seal was important not just to the polar bear, but to the coastal Inuit. In addition to eating the seal's meat and blubber, the Inuit made the intestines into igloo windows or containers They fashioned tents, mats and clothing from the skin, made tools from the bones, and burned the fat for warmth and light.
Sources: Arctic Animals by Jonquil Graves and Ed Hall (Northwest Territories Renewable Resources, Yellowknife, N.W.T., 1985); Arctic Animals by Fred Bruemmer, McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1986); The Polar Marine Food Chain, Fat Metabolism and the Ozone Hole by G. Edgar Folk, Jr. (Proc. Conference on Biometeorology, 1994).
Ringed seals live in the circumpolar region north to the Pole. Though most commonly found on land-fast or solid ice, they are sometimes seen on ice floes.
Adult ringed seals reach an average length of 4.1 feet and weigh about 150 pounds. They are padded with a thick layer of blubber.
Adult seals are dark on top and spotted with cream-colored rings that are dark in the center. Underneath, their coats are white to creamy yellow.
Ringed seal pups are born in snow dens on land-fast ice in mid-March or Mid-April. They remain with their mother to nurse for about two months, but learn to swim and hunt as the ice breaks up in early summer.
In winter, polar bears capture ringed seals by lying in wait by one of their breathing holes. When the seal rises for air, the polar bear yanks it from the water.
Though Inuit hunters report that the polar bear covers its black nose when waiting for a seal, scientists have never observed this behavior.
In early summer, polar bears stalk ringed seals when they're basking on the ice by taking advantage of the animal's sleep-wake rhythms. The bear crawls slowly forward when the seal sleeps and freezes in place when the animal raises its head.
At about 20 feet from its prey, the polar bear pounces, killing the seal before it can escape back into the sea.
When hunting is good, polar bears eat only the seal's blubber and skin. Younger, less experienced bears devour the remains, as do arctic foxes.
Interestingly, scientists have found that when polar bears dine exclusively on seal fat, their cholesterol levels drop lower than those of fasting bears because of the protective quality of the omega-3 fatty acids found in the seals.
Traditionally, the ringed seal was important not just to the polar bear, but to the coastal Inuit. In addition to eating the seal's meat and blubber, the Inuit made the intestines into igloo windows or containers They fashioned tents, mats and clothing from the skin, made tools from the bones, and burned the fat for warmth and light.
Sources: Arctic Animals by Jonquil Graves and Ed Hall (Northwest Territories Renewable Resources, Yellowknife, N.W.T., 1985); Arctic Animals by Fred Bruemmer, McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1986); The Polar Marine Food Chain, Fat Metabolism and the Ozone Hole by G. Edgar Folk, Jr. (Proc. Conference on Biometeorology, 1994).
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