Like the brown bear, most ungulate prey of polar bears is likely to be young, sickly or injured specimens rather than healthy adults. The largest polar bear recorded weighed 2,209 pounds (1,000 kg), according to Polar Bear International. Ursus groenlandicus [87][89] Polar bears hunt primarily at the interface between ice, water, and air; they only rarely catch seals on land or in open water. This specimen, when mounted, stood 3.39 m (11 ft 1 in) tall on its hindlegs. That same 1000lb polar bear now weighs 1200lbs. Advert 10 [213] Vehicle licence plates in the Northwest Territories in Canada are in the shape of a polar bear, as was the case in Nunavut until 2012; these now display polar bear artwork instead. [97] Large males also occasionally attempt to hunt and kill even larger prey items. These estimates are apparently based on work by Derocher and Stirling 1995, who actually found western Hudson Bay bears lost about 0.85 kg … The Soviet Union banned all hunting in 1956. Adult males weigh from 400 to 600 kilograms (880 to 1,320 pounds) and occasionally exceed 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds). [33][34][35] One alleged fossil subspecies has been identified: Ursus maritimus tyrannus, which became extinct during the Pleistocene. At nearly 10 feet long and weighing about 1,600 pounds, the polar bear is likely the largest species of bear in the world, challenged only by the Kodiak Bear, a subspecies of the grizzly bear.Males are significantly larger than females, which normally way no more than 1,000 pounds. [129] Reduction in sea-ice cover also forces bears to swim longer distances, which further depletes their energy stores and occasionally leads to drowning. [82] Chemical communication can also be important: bears leave behind their scent in their tracks which allow individuals to keep track of one another in the vast Arctic wilderness. Their scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this fact. Polar bears have 42 teeth. [188], A new development is that polar bears have begun ranging to new territory. [90], The polar bear's most common hunting method is called still-hunting:[91] the bear uses its excellent sense of smell to locate a seal breathing hole, and crouches nearby in silence for a seal to appear. For the We Bare Bears character, see, Species of bear native largely to the Arctic Circle, Coat of arms of the Greenlandic Self-Rule government (, Conservation status, threats, and controversies. They were also diving to feed on blue mussels and other underwater food sources like the green sea urchin. [161] This decision was approved of by members of the IUCN and TRAFFIC, who determined that such an uplisting was unlikely to confer a conservation benefit. These alternatives may reduce the rate of weight loss of bears when on land. According to a study, 20000 polar bears can eat 128469 seals annually each weigh 121 pounds. [169] In 2010, the 2005 increase was partially reversed. Polar bear. The polar bear's Latin name, Ursus maritimus, means "sea bear." "[153] Norwegians used "self-killing guns", comprising a loaded rifle in a baited box that was placed at the level of a bear's head, and which fired when the string attached to the bait was pulled. – Baby Polar Bear Description, Largest Polar Bear on Record –Biggest Polar Bear Ever, Polar Bear vs Tiger – Siberian Tiger vs Polar Bear, How Many Claws Does a Polar Bear have? Since an attack on a walrus tends to be an extremely protracted and exhausting venture, bears have been known to back down from the attack after making the initial injury to the walrus. [19] However, evidence of hybrids between polar bears and brown bears, and of the recent evolutionary divergence of the two species, does not support the establishment of this separate genus, and the accepted scientific name is now therefore Ursus maritimus, as Phipps originally proposed. Females gain as much as 500 kg (1,102 lb) weight when they are pregnant. When the polar bear stands on its hind … They can occasionally drift widely with the sea ice, and there have been anecdotal sightings as far south as Berlevåg on the Norwegian mainland and the Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. Compared with its closest relative, the brown bear, the polar bear has a more elongated body build and a longer skull and nose. Weight of a Cub: Polar bear babies are born at around 2 pounds. [35] The 13 North American subpopulations range from the Beaufort Sea south to Hudson Bay and east to Baffin Bay in western Greenland and account for about 54% of the global population. [145][146], Polar bears have long provided important raw materials for Arctic peoples, including the Inuit, Yupik, Chukchi, Nenets, Russian Pomors and others. [48] In the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, polar bears retreat each summer to the ice further north that remains frozen year-round. They are the largest species of bear, and they live on ice flows over Arctic waters and on land near the shore. [18] In the Norwegian-administered Svalbard archipelago, the polar bear is referred to as Isbjørn ("ice bear"). [91], A widespread legend tells that polar bears cover their black noses with their paws when hunting. Compared to the Antarctic, where there is no major surface predator, Arctic seals use more breathing holes per individual, appear more restless when hauled out on the ice, and rarely defecate on the ice. The average polar bear weight ranges from 849 to 904 lbs i.e. A full grown polar bear weighs as much as 350–700 kg (772–1,543 lb) but the average weight measure around 385 to 410 kg (849 to 904 lb). [225], This article is about the animal. They can be 7.25 to 8 ft tall . Government of Nunavut officials announced that the polar bear quota for the Baffin Bay region would be gradually reduced from 105 per year to 65 by the year 2013. The polar bear cub stays in a den for up to mid-April after which the cubs leave the den. A year prior to his death, zookeepers estimated his weight was close to 2,400. Ursus spitzbergensis What the scientists found is that five of the bears lost weight and four of them lost 2.9 to 5.5 pounds (1.3 to 2.5 kilograms) per day. Adult males are around 550 to 1700 pounds. [147], Among the Chukchi and Yupik of eastern Siberia, there was a longstanding shamanistic ritual of "thanksgiving" to the hunted polar bear. The average polar bear studied weighed about 386 pounds. The polar bear also hunts by stalking seals resting on the ice: upon spotting a seal, it walks to within 90 m (100 yd), and then crouches. [29] However, because neither species can survive long in the other's ecological niche, and because they have different morphology, metabolism, social and feeding behaviours, and other phenotypic characteristics, the two bears are generally classified as separate species. [96] The bearded seal, on the other hand, can be nearly the same size as the bear itself, averaging 270 kg (600 lb). While both sexes look alike, males are about twice the size of females. This subpopulation feeds heavily on ringed seals in late spring, when newly weaned and easily hunted seal pups are abundant. [172] Other provisions included year-round protection of cubs and mothers, restrictions on weapons used and various administrative requirements to catalogue kills. [118] A study in Hudson Bay indicated that both the reproductive success and the maternal weight of females peaked in their mid-teens.Maternal success appeared to decline after this point, possibly because of an age-related impairment in the ability to store the fat necessary to rear cubs.[130]. [3][2] He chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for 'maritime bear',[14] due to the animal's native habitat. 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