The Arctic’s apex predator, the polar bear is the largest bear species in the world and our planet’s biggest land carnivore. Scientists divide them into at least 18 sub-populations, largely based on where they live.
Weighing anywhere from 880-1500 lbs when fully grown, with males significantly larger than females, polar bears live in habitats where the Arctic’s land and sea converge, and are therefore often found on coastal regions with substantial ice coverage. They can have home ranges of anywhere from 1400-15,000 square miles, dependent on the quantity of prey in the area.
Active throughout the year since the bears don’t undergo a true hibernation like other species, their favorite prey are ringed seals, which can be tracked by scent for miles before being ambushed either while resting on ice floes or when appearing at breathing holes. However, polar bears are also known to hunt everything from Arctic hares to beluga whales, and walruses.
A decline in Arctic sea ice in the late twentieth century has seen the polar bear named a vulnerable species, one rung away from endangered, with an estimated population of 22,000-31,000 individual animals.
Canada has the largest population by nation, calculated to be anywhere between 60-80% of their total. The country’s northern regions of the Northwest Territories and Province of Nunavut are the habitat of many, although the town of Churchill in Newfoundland is considered the polar bear capital of the world and even houses a ‘prison’ for the most unruly ursine individuals. Elsewhere in the Arctic, polar bears can be spotted in Alaska, northern Greenland (an autonomous nation of Denmark), and the Svalbard Archipelago (also called Spitzbergen) which is part of Norway.
While their yellow-white fur provides camouflage in the snowy environment in which they live, the underlying skin of a polar bear is actually black.
Other Arctic Wildlife
Arctic Fox / Arctic Hare / Arctic Wolf / Caribou / Musk Ox / Bearded Seal / Beluga Whale / Narwhal / Ringed Seal / Walrus / Arctic Tern / Gyrfalcon / Puffin / Snowy Owl
