Polar Bear

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) takes its Latin name from the words for 'bear' and 'sea', meaning the bear of the sea. Also known as the ice bear or white bear, this powerful predator is perfectly adapted to the frozen world of the Arctic. As the apex predator of the Arctic marine ecosystem, the polar bear spends most of its life on sea ice — hunting, travelling, and raising its young across the icy expanse of the Northern Hemisphere’s polar seas. 

Although skilled swimmers, polar bears depend on the sea ice far more than the open water, using it as a platform to hunt seals, their primary prey. As true marine mammals, they rely on the ocean for almost every aspect of their existence.

Diet and Behaviour 

Polar bears are highly specialised hunters. Their diet consists mainly of seals, particularly ringed and bearded seals, which they catch by waiting patiently beside breathing holes or breaking through thin ice. They will also opportunistically feed on birds, eggs, and the occasional small cetacean (such as beluga or narwhal carcasses). 

Their keen sense of smell allows them to detect prey nearly a kilometre away or beneath several feet of compacted snow. Solitary by nature, polar bears can travel vast distances across the ice in search of food, sometimes covering hundreds of kilometres in a single journey. Despite their immense strength and size, they are remarkably agile swimmers, capable of paddling for hours between ice floes.

Breeding Cycle

Polar bears generally mate between April and June, with delayed implantation allowing the fertilised egg to pause development until conditions are ideal. Pregnant females build dens in snowdrifts during autumn, where they give birth to one to three cubs, between November and January.

Cubs remain in the den for several months, nursing on rich, fatty milk until they are strong enough to venture outside in spring. Family groups stay together for about two and a half years before the young bears set off to establish their own territory.