N

O I
rs

CBe a

A LI F E
Polar
E by Hannah Schardt

For most animals, living in the

frigid Arctic would be too much
to “bear.” But for polar bears,
all that ice is very nice!
T hese two roly-poly polar bear cubs follow
their mom from one chunk of ice to another, nearly
splashing into the slushy seawater. Wouldn’t a
leap like this make you freeze with fear? Not so for
these little cubs. Just like their mom, they’re built
for a life surrounded by chilly water, snow—and
especially ice. To get the cold, hard facts on
FLORIAN SCHULZ/VISIONSOFTHEWILD.COM (6-7);
PATRICK KIENTZ/BIOSPHOTO/MINDEN PICTURES (6 INSET) polar bears, jump on over to the next page.
6 7
 !
ey need,
To pack on the fat th

e
ink lots of
these nursing cubs dr

i c
almost as
rich milk. The milk is

ic e i s n Thick fur and a

layer
of fat keep pola t
bears so warm
they may actua
r
tha
lly
is
fatty as butter!

get too hot! Th

n the
bear sprawls o
n
ice to cool dow
and chill out.

Splash!
Polar bears spend
most of their time on land
or ice. But they are also super
swimmers. Their big feet move Of course, a person could
them quickly through the never spend so much time in
water—faster than an Olympic such cold water. But a polar
champion swimmer! And they’re bear has a special layer of fat
not just sprinters. Polar bears as thick as your leg. It keeps the
have been spotted swimming bear warm even underwater—
more than 50 miles from land. sort of like a built-in wetsuit!

On the Hunt The seals they eat hang out her snowy den to give birth—
mostly in icy Arctic waters. usually to two cubs. She won’t
Polar bears are the largest
bears in the world. A male may But like all marine mammals, eat again for four months or People have
weigh as much as seven grown the seals must come up for longer! And she uses up a lot spotted polar bears
air. So polar bears prowl the of stored fat to make milk for
men! So it’s no surprise that
these bears need a whole lot of edges of the ice that forms on her cubs. swimming more
food to keep their big bodies the Arctic sea each fall. When Once the babies are old than 50 miles
going. And they get most of that a seal pops up to breathe, a
waiting bear may grab it and
enough, they follow Mom
out into the big, icy world. It’s
from land.
food by hunting their favorite
prey: ringed seals. drag it onto the ice for a meal. spring, which means the sea ice
will soon be melting. And once
where polar
the ice melts, seals become
bears live
PACIFIC
Family Time much harder to catch. So while
OCEAN ASIA
All polar bears need to the sea is still frozen, Mom must
eat a lot. But a mom-to-be snag as many seals as she can
ARCTIC
OCEAN really needs to chow down for herself and her babies. Her
EUROPE
and fatten up before winter. hungry cubs trail along, learn-
NORTh
aMERICA Winter is when she settles into ing how to hunt.
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
STEVEN KAZLOWSKI/NATUREPL.COM (8T, 9B);
8 FLORIAN SCHULZ/VISIONSOFTHEWILD.COM (9T) 9
 E SSE N T ALS
FLORIAN SCHULZ/VISIONSOFTHEWILD.COM (10-11, 10t)

R”
Trouble in “Parad-Ice“
The Arctic sea where polar bears

E A I
“B
live should freeze over in early autumn— FU R & WATCH IT!
and not melt until late spring. But human- Two la S KI N
y
polar b ers of thick f
made gases are making the Earth e u
may lo ars warm. T r keep
warmer. This causes the sea ice ok whit he fur
hair is e, but
a e
to freeze later in the fall and The sk ctually see-t ach
melt much earlier in spring.
When sea ice which
a
in ben
eath is
hrough
. NO S E
b
is scarce, some from th bsorbs warm lack, can
This sensitive sniffer from
Without their sea-ice hunting e sun. th ice
polar bears may smell a seal on the
ground, the bears go hungry. more th an a m ile aw ay.
Scientists have recently seen hunt seabirds The nostrils close tig
htly
polar bears hunting seabirds and instead of their underwater. That ke
ep a
s
get-
even dolphins—not prey they usual seals. swimming bear from ter!
wa
ting a noseful of icy
normally eat. That may sound as
if the polar bears are learning how
to survive in a warming world. But
scientists say the bears can’t get
enough fatty meat from those
animals to survive. Many
people are trying to figure
out ways to stop the planet
from heating up even
more. That would be
good news for Earth—
and great news for
the polar bear. =

TEETH
Sharp teeth are
great for catching
food and tearing
PA WS off hunks of fat and
These dinner plat flesh. But these teeth
sized paws are sl
e- don’t need to chew;
webbed to help
ightly most hunks are
swimming. Bumpy
with swallowed whole.
footpads help th
em
grip slippery ice.
10 11