Giant polar bear: description and habitat

The polar bear (Russia) is the largest representative of its numerous family. Moreover, it is the largest predatory mammal in the world. The growth of a polar bear (male) can reach 3 meters. Its weight sometimes exceeds a ton.

Giant polar bear

This huge animal lived on our planet more than 100 thousand years ago. Now the view is lost. About its size can be judged by the ulna found in the UK. His height exceeded 4 meters, and weighed this giant polar bear about 1200 kg. Most likely, it was something middle between the brown beast and the northern one, which we can see today.

Description of a polar bear

Images of this dangerous predator are familiar to many from childhood. They are frequent guests on the pages of books for kids. Even the wrapper of loved ones is decorated with many sweets by the portrait of this giant. The giant white bear has a black skin, like that of its brown fellow. But the skin color can vary from white to light yellow. The wool of this giant has a characteristic feature: its wool is hollow inside.

Sometimes the description of a polar bear gives the wrong impression of this beast. Mishka is a clumsy and clumsy dandy. But this is fundamentally wrong. Despite their more than impressive size, polar bears in the Arctic are running fast enough, besides, they are excellent swimmers.

On the day the northern bear passes more than 30 km. His paws are unique. This beast does not need deep snow. Dimensions of his feet and pillar-shaped legs allow him very quickly and fairly cleverly to overcome ice and snow obstacles. The resistance of these animals to the colds is striking. Not only hollow hairs protect the bear from the cold. This is facilitated by a thick layer (up to 10 cm) of subcutaneous fat.

Therefore bears are white - great lovers take an ice bath. Completely painless predator overcomes up to 80 km in the stony water. It is not uncommon for a giant white bear to sail to the mainland on an ice floe in summer. In this case, he is euthanized and sent back by helicopter.

The polar bear is the closest relative of the brown inhabitant of our forests. Mishka, living in the north, has a streamlined body - it is ideally adapted to life in the water. He has a long neck, a small head, legs are powerful and long, feet with hairy soles, which make it quite comfortable to feel on ice or snow. The nose of the nose, the claws and eyes are black. On the paws between the fingers there are swimming membranes. No other bear can boast of this.

As already mentioned, the giant white bear does not have a very large head (in relation to the trunk). It is narrow and somewhat flat. The muzzle is sharpened from the front. The nostrils are always wide open, and the ears are rounded. Eyelashes on the eyelids are absent. The tail is small, barely noticeable.

In the North, polar bears feel quite comfortable. In the Arctic, they are well protected by white thick fur. It helps to maintain the thermal balance of the body. Young cubs differ from their parents not only in size but also in their fur coat. Their wool is very beautiful, with a silvery tint, while in old animals it is yellowish. Its color does not depend on the season.

Food

The main food of the northern predator is seals. For a year the adult specimen eats up to 50 of these animals. It's not an easy job to catch a seal, but a giant polar bear has mastered it perfectly. He can watch his prey for hours at the hole, waiting for the seal to appear in it. If an unfortunate animal emerges to swallow air, the bear instantly beats it with its paw and throws it onto the ice. During the meal, the predator primarily eats fat and skin. Everything else he usually leaves, although if very hungry, which often happens in the winter, the carcass eats completely.

It is interesting to observe how easily a bear moves from one ice floe to another, skilfully jumping over crevices. He is in search of a seal. If hunting does not go well, he will not give up the seal or the fish. In very rare cases, a bear can attack a beluga, fox, walrus or birds. As soon as he noticed his future prey, he begins to follow her because of the ice or snow cover. If the animal feels uneasy and pricked up, the predator stops for a while, literally pressing into the snow.

Seal hunting

It's funny that at the same time he closes his nose with his shaggy paw and eyes that can give him away. Remaining unnoticed, the huge predator crawls to its prey very close and already then makes a decisive throw. Sometimes he has to dive, then to appear before an unsuspecting seal, which is conveniently located on the ice floe. Paradise time comes for our hero with the advent of spring. In marine animals, babies appear. Inexperienced and still very weak, they do not resist the white giant, they often do not even try to escape from it.

Reproduction

The offspring of a white she-bear happens once every three years. Pregnant bear cubs leave sea ice in November. They need to find a secluded place for the den, where they can raise their offspring. While the bear feeds the baby, she practically does not leave the den and during this time loses half of her weight.

The first "going out" occurs at the age of 3 months. Kids come after the bear, which immediately begins to teach them survival, hunting and other skills that they will need in their adult life. Meanwhile, my mother never forgets about the protection of the cubs and their nutrition.

Population and protection

The high mortality of young animals and the low birth rate made this animal easily vulnerable. True, in recent years, the population is considered stable and even slightly growing.

On the territory of our country today there are about 7000 polar bears. In this case, we must not forget that poachers shoot up to 200 individuals each year. Due to the fact that the population of Dixon has decreased, the extermination of the white predator has slightly decreased.

Danger to humans

From reports and notes of polar explorers, cases of attack of a polar bear per person are known. For example, members of the expedition of Willem Barents, a Dutch navigator and researcher, when the group spent the night on Novaya Zemlya (1597), people were forced to repeatedly fight off polar bears using muskets.

If you are in a place where you can meet a polar bear, you need to be careful. When it comes to populated villages in the Far North, it is necessary to ensure that in these areas there are as few as possible dumps, where the beast can easily find food waste.

It is necessary to know that the polar bears do not have facial expressions, so his attack can not be predicted. In the Canadian province of Manitoba, there is a special "prison", where polar bears are temporarily detained, approaching the city. I must say that the activists of Greenpeace are sounding alarm about the threat of the disappearance of these animals.

Most recently in the capital of Great Britain there was a procession of animal advocates, which was headed by a giant polar bear. True, it was mechanical. His weight was three tons. We produced it for several months, and to revive the bear, it took 35 puppeteers.