The body structure of a polar bear. White (polar) bear

We have already examined in detail and were surprised. Let us now familiar to us the familiar Polar Bear take a closer look and more details.

Polar bear  - the largest bear, it is the largest mammal of the predatory order in the world. The body length of an adult male can be up to 3 meters, and the mass can reach tons. The largest representatives of the polar bear were seen along the shores of the Coastal Sea.

The polar bear is listed in the IUCN Red List and the Red Book of Russia. Bear hunting is allowed only to the indigenous people of the North.

The skin of a polar bear is black, like a brown bear. But the color of the skin is from white to yellowish. Also, the hair of a polar bear has a feature: the inside is hollow.

The bear seems clumsy due to its size and dimensions, but this is only an appearance. Polar bears can run fast enough, and even swim perfectly. Bear north runs daily from 30 km. The paw of the bear is unique. No deep snow can stop a bear, thanks to its foot size and columnar legs, even compared to other polar animals it quickly and dexterously overcomes any snow and ice barriers. Resistance to cold is simply amazing. In addition to hollow hairs, the polar bear also has a subcutaneous layer of fat, which in winter can be up to 10 cm thick. Therefore, a white bear can easily overcome up to 80 km in ice water. In the summer, a bear can even sail to the mainland on an ice floe, then it is euthanized and sent back by helicopter.

In Russia, polar bears are found on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, in Greenland and Norway, Canada and Alaska.

The main food of the polar bear is seals. One bear eats about 50 seals per year. However, catching a seal is not easy. A polar bear can watch its prey at the hole for hours, waiting for a seal to appear on the surface. After the seal has surfaced to swallow air, the bear instantly hits the prey with its paw and throws it onto the ice. The predator eats the skin and fat, prefers to leave the rest, although, in winter, the bear eats the carcass in case of hunger and the carcass completely too. Bears are often escorted arctic foxeswho get the remains of the seal. White bears also do not disdain carrion, the bear smells the prey at a distance of several kilometers. For instance, beached whale will surely be the meeting place for several bears. 2 bears or 3 bears may not share the food, then a hassle occurs. How many bears can meet is unknown. That is why a bear can enter the territory of human habitation. More often, of course, this is simple curiosity, although evil hunger can drive the beast into a hopeless situation. Although the bear may be a vegetarian, they like cereals, lichens, sedge, berries and mosses.

In the spring for bears comes paradise time. Young marine animals are born, which, due to inexperience and weakness, do not provide adequate resistance and often do not even run away.

The polar bear has incomparable resistance to cold. Its thick long fur consists of hollow in the middle hairs containing air. Many mammals have similar protective hollow hair - an effective insulating agent, but those of a bear have their own characteristics. The polar bear's fur retains heat so well that it cannot be detected by airborne infrared photography. An excellent thermal insulation is provided by the subcutaneous layer of fat, reaching 10 cm in thickness with the onset of winter. Without it, the bears would hardly have been able to swim 80 km in icy Arctic water.

By the way, polar bears are the only large predators on Earth that still live on their original territory, in natural conditions. To a large extent, due to the fact that seals live on the drifting ice in the Arctic, their favorite and main food. For each bear, there are approximately 50 seals per year. However, seal hunting is not easy. The state of ice changes from year to year, and the behavior of seals is unpredictable. Bears have to walk thousands of kilometers in search of the best places to hunt.

In addition, hunting itself requires skill and patience. A bear watches the seal at the hole for hours, waiting for it to come up to breathe air. He instantly strikes with his paw on the head of a sea animal emerging from the water and immediately throws it onto the ice. First of all, the predator devours the skin and lard, and the rest of the carcass - only in case of great hunger. A seal hunter is usually accompanied by one or more arctic foxes, eager to take advantage of the remains of slaughtered animals. White bears themselves do not disdain carrion, thus compensating for the lack of seal fat and meat. The owners of the ice kingdom can smell carrion for several kilometers. And if suddenly a whale, having got into shallow water, dries up and dies, then a whole company of white and always hungry bears will come running from all sides.

Hunting for seals is no easier. Shy seals dive under the slightest danger under the ice and float in another hole for breathing. And the bear rinses in vain in the face in ice water. But in the spring, a favorable time begins for the bear - young marine animals are born that have never seen a polar bear and therefore do not realize the danger. But here, too, the clumsy bear has to show wonders of ingenuity. In order not to frighten off the cubs, the bear has to be very cautious, because even the slightest crunch can betray his presence and deprive him of food.

Food production difficulties are compounded by climate change on Earth. Due to climate warming, the ice in the bays begins to melt earlier than usual, the summer is getting longer and longer every year, the winter is getting milder, and the problems of polar bears are becoming more acute. Summer is generally a difficult time for polar bears. There is very little ice left and getting to the seals is almost impossible. Over the past 20 years, the polar bear hunting season has declined by two to three weeks. As a result, the weight of the animals decreased: if earlier the male weighed about 1000 kg, now now, on average, 100 kilograms less. Females also lost weight. This, in turn, has an extremely negative effect on the reproduction of the population. Increasingly, only one teddy bear is born in females ...

However, polar bears suffer not only from warming and shrinking hunting season. In the recent past, the polar bear was an important target. Fur and bear paws, which are the most important component of popular and expensive oriental soups, pushed members of polar expeditions to ruthlessly exterminate this beautiful beast. The profits from such a business are so great that the international black market continues to flourish, despite all attempts to stop it. The fight in this area has reached the same intensity as the fight against drug smuggling.

In July, many of the polar bears wandering with drifting ice move to the coasts of continents and islands. On land, they become vegetarians. Feast on cereals, sedge, lichens, mosses and berries. When there are a lot of berries, the bear does not eat any other food for weeks, eating them to the point that his face and butt are blue with blueberries. However, the longer the bears starve, forced to move to land from ice melting as a result of warming ahead of time, the more often they will go in search of food to people who are actively exploring the Arctic in recent decades.

It is difficult to answer unequivocally to the question whether meeting a polar bear is dangerous for a person. Sometimes bears attacked people out of curiosity, quickly realizing that they had easy prey. But most often, tragic incidents happen at campsites, where the smell of food attracts bears. Usually, the bear immediately smells, crushing everything in its path. The situation is complicated by the fact that the animal, in search of food, tears to pieces and tastes everything that it comes across, including people who have turned up by chance.

It should be noted that bears, unlike wolves, tigers and other dangerous predators, have practically no facial muscles. They never warn of impending aggression. By the way, circus trainers argue that because of this feature, it is most dangerous to work with bears - it is almost impossible to predict what should be expected from them at the next moment.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Greenpeace, the bears wandering into the city in search of food are trying not to kill, resorting to temporarily lulling shots from a special gun. The sleeping animal is weighed, measured and recorded. A colored tattoo is applied to the inside of the lip - a number that remains for the whole bear's life. Females, in addition, receive a collar with a miniature radio beacon as a gift from zoologists. Then the euthanized bears are transported by helicopter back to the ice so that they can continue their full-fledged life in their natural habitat. Moreover, females with cubs are transported in the first place.

The world for a polar bear is limited by ice fields, and this is primarily determined by the features of its behavior. Judging by the animals kept in captivity, this bear, in comparison with the brown one, seems less smart and not so dexterous; it is less amenable to training, more dangerous and excitable, and therefore in the circus arena it can be seen relatively rarely. True, he is inherent in some “straightforwardness” in actions, due to a rather monotonous way of life, narrow food specialization, and the absence of enemies and competitors. But it’s enough even for a short time to observe this beast in a natural setting to be convinced of the high level of its psyche, its exceptional ability to assess environmental conditions, including ice quality, adapt to them and, depending on them, flexibly change hunting tactics and find the easiest ones and passable paths among piles of hummocks, to move confidently along young, immature ice fields or sections of ice, replete with cracks and streaks.

The power of this beast is amazing. He is able to drag and lift up a carcass of a walrus weighing more than half a ton, with one paw blow it can kill a large sea hare, which has almost the same mass as it is, and if necessary it is easy to carry a considerable distance in its teeth (a kilometer or more).

Polar bears are eternal nomads. Ice carries them over great distances. It often happens that even such experienced "travelers" are in distress. Thus, animals caught in the zone of the cold East Greenland current are carried on drifting ice along the southeast of Greenland, and ice in the Davis Strait is melting, and most polar bears, with all their skill, are dying.

It would seem that living in a deserted polar expanse, a polar bear should not have suffered from humans. However, it is not. The Arctic is already quite habitable. Sailors, St. John's wort, people of other professions are now constantly meeting with polar bears, and these "contacts" do not always end favorably for huge, but very curious and generally harmless animals.

And the biology of the beast itself has “weaknesses”. At the mating season, the male has to overcome great distances to find a female, and often withstand a battle with an opponent. Often, searches are not crowned with success at all and families are not formed. Bears bring offspring (one or two cubs) every two years and become sexually mature only at the age of about four years.

The presence of food (seals and fish), suitable breeding grounds and the absence of human anxiety are the main conditions for the existence of polar bears in the Arctic. But there are not so many places like this at first glance, which is not strange. The unique "hospital" of these animals is Wrangel Island. In addition, polar bears make dens in the northeastern Svalbard Islands, Franz Josef Land, northeast and northwest Greenland, southwest Hudson Bay and some of the Arctic islands of Canada. The main territory of the Arctic, in fact, is not suitable for living and, moreover, breeding this species.

All pregnant female polar bears spend the winter in snow-covered shelters, relatively similar in structure and located, with rare exceptions, on land; everywhere in the Arctic they lie in dens and leave them almost at the same time. The physiological state of the animals in the dens is similar to that of brown bears, i.e., it is a shallow sleep or numbness with a slight decrease in body temperature, respiratory rate and pulse, but not hibernation (as, for example, in marmots, ground squirrels, etc.) . Apparently, at the beginning of winter, bears lying in the dens are more active than in the middle of winter, although in the spring in most dens, traces of digging activity of females of different age can be seen.

The question of winter activity of males, summer females and young individuals is not clear. Obviously, in a significant part of the range, especially in the south of the Arctic, they are active all year round with the exception of periods of severe snowstorm, from which animals are hidden among hummocks or coastal cliffs; finding here before. deep enough layer of snow, they even dig shallow shelters in it. With the end of the blizzard, the bears leave such shelters and continue to roam, hunt.

In the high latitudes of the Arctic, especially in places with a harsh climate, frequent and strong winds, and possibly also where animals have great difficulty in feeding, most of them relatively regularly lie in dens. On the northern coast of Greenland, they spend the winter in shelters of 90% of all animals, in the northern part of Baffin Island - 50 and in the south of Greenland - 30%; In general, 70–80% of all bears winter in the sheltering range in shelters, with older males laying down in shelters earlier and earlier leaving them.

In the Canadian Arctic, polar bear males use shelters from early August to late March (most often in September, October and January); young as well as females with one-year-old cubs were met here in shelters from early October to early April. The state allocates funds for the construction run away from laminated waterproof plywood, this greatly helps animals.

In the north of the Taimyr Peninsula (the area of \u200b\u200bCape Chelyuskin), all animals spend their winter dens in dens, however, the duration of their stay there is different and depends on gender, age and whether the female is pregnant or she is pregnant. For the shortest period of time (at the extreme dates, 52 days — from mid-December to early February) young bears lie in shelters in the north of Taimyr; almost the same number of adult males are in them. Females with young of the year spend 106 days in dens, den-female females - 115-125 and pregnant damsels - 160-170 days.

There is information in the literature about encounters in the dens of male polar bears in Franz Josef Land, in the east of Taimyr, in the Kolyma Territory, etc., although animals of various sex and age categories were observed and hunted everywhere outside the den, which means that they were active throughout the winter. The lairs of such animals (obviously, the shelters of summer females, young bears) are often located on sea ice and are more diverse in their structure (shape, size) than the den of pregnant bears. It is also obvious that the terms of their use are relatively variable.

The predatory mammal, the polar bear, or polar bear (Ursus maritimus), is a close relative of the brown bear and the largest land predator on the planet to date.

Characteristic and Description

Polar bear is one of the largest land-based mammals from the order of predatory animals.. The body length of an adult is three meters with a weight of up to a ton. The average weight of the male, as a rule, varies between 400-800 kg with a body length of 2.0-2.5 m, the height at the withers does not exceed one and a half meters. Females are much smaller, and their weight rarely exceeds 200-250 kg. The smallest polar bear category includes individuals that inhabit Svalbard, and the largest specimens are found near the Bering Sea.

It is interesting!A characteristic difference between polar bears is the presence of a fairly long neck and a flat head. The skin is black, and the color of the fur coat can vary from white to yellowish shades. In the summer, the animal’s fur turns yellow as a result of prolonged exposure to sunlight.

The hair of polar bears is completely devoid of pigment dyeing, and the hairs have a hollow structure. A feature of translucent hairs is the ability to pass only ultraviolet light, which gives the wool high thermal insulation characteristics. On the sole of the extremities there is also a wool that prevents slipping. Between the fingers is a swimming membrane. Large claws allow the predator to retain even very strong and large prey.

Extinct subspecies

A closely related subspecies for the well-known and fairly common polar bear these days is the extinct giant polar bear or U. maritimus tyrannus. A distinctive feature of this subspecies were significantly larger body sizes. The body length of an adult could be four meters, and the average weight exceeded a ton.

In the UK, in the Pleistocene sediments, it was possible to find the remains of a single ulna belonging to a giant polar bear, which made it possible to determine its intermediate position. Apparently, the large predator was perfectly adapted for hunting large enough mammals. According to scientists, the most likely reason for the extinction of the subspecies was insufficient food at the end of the icing period.

Habitat

The polar polar habitat of the polar bear is limited by the territory of the northern coast of the continents and the southern part of the distribution of floating ice, as well as the border of the northern warm currents of the sea. The distribution area includes four areas:

• permanent habitat;
• habitat of a high number of animals;
• place of regular occurrence of pregnant females;
• territory of long-distance calls to the south.

Polar bears inhabit the entire coast of Greenland, the ice of the Greenland Sea to the south to the Jan Mayen Islands, Spitsbergen Island, as well as Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea, Bear Islands, Vai-gach and Kolguyev, Kara Sea. A significant number of polar bears is observed on the coast of the Laptev Sea continents, as well as in the East Siberian, Chukchi Sea and Beaufort. The main range of the highest predator abundance is represented by the continental slope of the Arctic Ocean.

Pregnant females of a polar bear regularly lie in dens in the following territories:

• northwest and northeast of Greenland;
• southeastern part of Svalbard;
• the western part of Franz Josef Land;
• the northern part of the island of Novaya Zemlya;
• small islands of the Kara Sea;
• North Earth;
• the northern and northeastern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula;
• lena Delta and Bear Islands of Eastern Siberia;
• the coast and adjacent islands of the Chukchi Peninsula;
• wrangel Island;
• southern part of Banks Island;
• simpson Peninsula Coast;
• northeastern part of the coast of Baffin Island and the island of Southamptom.

Dens with pregnant polar bears are also observed on pack ice in the Beaufort Sea. From time to time, as a rule, in the early spring period, polar bears make long calls in the direction of Iceland and Scandinavia, as well as the Kanin Peninsula, in Anadyr Bay and in Kamchatka. With ice and at the intersection of Kamchatka, predatory animals sometimes end up in the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan and Okhotsk.

Power Features

The polar bears have a very well-developed sense of smell, as well as the organs of hearing and sight, so it is not difficult for a predator to notice its prey at a distance of several kilometers.

The diet of the polar bear is determined by the characteristics of the distribution area and the characteristics of its body. The predator is ideally suited to harsh polar winters and long swims in ice water, so marine representatives of the animal world, including sea urchin and walruses, most often become its prey. Eggs, chicks, young animals, as well as carrion in the form of corpses of sea animals and fish that are thrown by the wave on the coast, are also used for food.

If possible, the polar bear’s food can be very selective. In seals or walruses caught, the predator primarily eats the skin and body fat. However, a very hungry beast is able to eat the corpses of its brethren. Relatively rarely, large predators enrich their diet with berries and moss. Changes in climatic conditions have had a significant impact on nutrition, so lately polar bears are increasingly hunting on land.

Lifestyle

Polar bears make seasonal migrations, which are caused by annual changes in the territories and borders of the polar ice. In the summer, animals recede towards the pole, and in winter the animal population moves to the southern part and enters the mainland.

It is interesting!Despite the fact that polar bears mainly stay on the coast or on ice, in winter animals lie in dens located on the mainland or island, sometimes at a distance of fifty meters from the sea line.

The duration of winter hibernation of a polar bear, as a rule, varies between 50-80 days, but lies on hibernation, most often pregnant females. Irregular and rather short winter hibernation is characteristic of males and young animals.

On land, this predator is fast, and also excellent in swimming and diving very well.

Despite the apparent slowness, the sluggishness of a polar bear is deceptive. On land, this predator is agile and quick, and among other things, a large beast swims and dives very well. To protect the body of a polar bear, a very thick and dense coat is used, which prevents getting wet in ice water and has excellent heat-retaining properties. One of the most important adaptive characteristics is the presence of a massive layer of subcutaneous fat, the thickness of which can reach 8-10 cm. White coat color helps the predator to successfully disguise itself against the background of snow mass and ice.

Breeding

Based on numerous observations, the period of rutting in polar bears lasts about a month and usually begins in mid-March. At this time, predators are divided into pairs, but females also occur, accompanied by several males at once. The mating period lasts a couple of weeks.

Pregnancy of a polar bear

It lasts about eight months, but depending on a number of conditions, it can vary between 195-262 days. It is practically impossible to visually distinguish a pregnant female from a single polar bear. About a couple of months before the birth, behavioral differences appear and the females become irritable, inactive, lie on their stomach for a long time and lose their appetite. A litter often has a pair of cubs, and the birth of one cub is characteristic of young, primiparous females. A pregnant bear leaves on land in autumn, and spends the entire winter period in a snow den, located most often near the sea coast.

Bear Care

In the first days after the birth, the polar bear lies curled up almost all the time on its side. Short and sparse hair is not sufficient for self-heating, so newborn cubs are located between the paws of the mother and her breasts, and the polar bear warms them with his breath. The average weight of newborn cubs most often does not exceed a kilogram with a body length of a quarter meter.

Bear cubs are born blind, and only at the age of five weeks they open their eyes. The she-bear feeds the monthly bear cubs while sitting. A mass exit of female bear occurs in March. Through a hole dug out, the bear begins to gradually take her cubs out for a walk, but with the onset of night the animals return to the den again. On walks, the cubs play and delve into the snow.

It is interesting!In the polar bear population, approximately 15-29% of cubs and about 4-15% of immature individuals die.

Enemies in nature

Under natural conditions, polar bears, due to their size and predatory instinct, have virtually no enemies. The death of polar bears is most often caused by accidental injuries as a result of intraspecific skirmishes or when hunting for too large walruses. Also, a certain danger for adults and young individuals is represented by a killer whale and a polar shark. Most often, bears die of hunger.

Man was the most terrible enemy of a polar bear, and such peoples of the North as the Chukchi, Nenets and Eskimos have been hunting this polar predator for centuries. Fishing work, which began in the second half of the last century, was detrimental to the population. During one season, St. John's wort destroyed more than a hundred individuals. More than sixty years ago, the polar bear hunt was closed, and since 1965 it has been included in the Red Book.

Danger to humans

Cases of polar bear attacks on people are well known, and the most vivid evidence of predator aggression is recorded in the notes and reports of polar travelers, so you need to be very careful when moving around in places where a polar bear may appear. On the territory of settlements located near the habitat of the polar predator, all containers with household waste must be inaccessible to a hungry beast. In the cities of the Canadian province, the so-called “prisons” have been specially created, in which temporary keeping of bears approaching the city line is carried out.

Polar Bear (Russia) is the largest representative of its large 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. Its size can be judged by the ulna found in the UK. His height exceeded 4 meters, and this giant polar bear weighed about 1200 kg. Most likely, he was a cross between a brown beast and a northern one, which we can see today.

Polar Bear Description

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

Sometimes the description of the polar bear gives the wrong impression about this beast. The bear is represented by a clumsy and awkward booby. But this is fundamentally wrong. Despite their more than impressive dimensions, polar bears run fast enough in the Arctic, and they are also excellent swimmers.

In runs more than 30 km. His paws are unique. This beast does not care deep snow. The dimensions of his feet and pillar-shaped legs allow him to very quickly and fairly deftly overcome ice and snow barriers. It affects the resistance of these animals to the cold. 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, polar bears are big fans to take an ice bath. The painless predator overcomes up to 80 km in icy water. It is not uncommon for a giant polar bear to sail to the mainland on an ice floe in summer. In this case, they put him to sleep and send him back by helicopter.

The polar bear is the closest relative of the brown inhabitant of our forests. The bear, who lives in the north, has a streamlined body - it is ideally suited for life in the water. He has a small head, legs are powerful and long, feet with hairy soles, allowing you to feel quite comfortable on ice or snow. Nose, claws and eyes are black. On the paws between the fingers there are swimming membranes. No more teddy bear can boast of this.

As already mentioned, a giant polar bear does not have a very large head (in relation to the body). It is narrow and somewhat flat. The muzzle is sharpened in front. The nostrils are always wide and the ears are rounded. Eyelashes are missing for centuries. The tail is small, barely noticeable.

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

Nutrition

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

It is interesting to observe how easily a bear moves from one ice floe to another, deftly jumping over the crevices. He is in search of a seal. If the hunt does not go well, he will not give up seals or fish. In very rare cases, a bear can attack a beluga whale, arctic fox, walrus or bird. As soon as he noticed his future prey, he begins to monitor it due to ice or snow shelter. If the animal feels something is wrong and alert, the predator freezes for a while, literally squeezing into the snow.

Seal hunting

It's funny that in doing so he closes his nose and eyes, which can betray him. Left unnoticed, a huge predator crawls very close to its prey and already then makes a decisive throw. Sometimes he has to dive in order to later appear in front of an unsuspecting seal, which is conveniently located on an ice floe. Paradise time comes for our hero with the advent of spring. Sea animals have babies. Inexperienced and still very weak, they do not resist the white giant, often do not even try to run away from him.

Breeding

The offspring of a polar bear happens every three years. Pregnant bears leave sea ice in November. They need to find a secluded place for the den, where they can raise 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 "appearance" occurs at the age of 3 months. Kids go after the bear, which immediately begins to teach them survival, hunting and other skills that they will need in adulthood. Meanwhile, the mother never forgets about the protection of the cubs and their nutrition.

Population and protection

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

In our country today there are about 7000 polar bears. At the same time, we must not forget that every year poachers shoot up to 200 individuals. Due to the fact that the population of Dixon has decreased, the extinction of the white predator has slightly decreased.

Danger to humans

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

Once in places where a meeting with a polar bear is possible, care must be taken. When it comes to populated villages, it is necessary to ensure that there are as few landfills as possible in these areas, where the beast can easily find food waste.

You need to know that polar bears do not have facial expressions, so its attack cannot be predicted. In the Canadian province of Manitoba, there is a special “prison” where polar bears are temporarily detained as they approach the city. I must say that Greenpeace activists are sounding the alarm about the threat of extinction of these animals.

More recently, a parade of animal advocates led by a giant polar bear took place in the UK capital. True, it was mechanical. Its weight was three tons. It was made for several months, and 35 puppeteers were needed to revive the bear.

A message about a polar bear can be used in preparation for the lesson. The story about the polar bear for children can be supplemented by interesting facts.

Report on the topic "Polar Bear" Grade 4

The polar bear is one of the largest predators on Earth. They are residents of the harsh and snowy expanses of the Arctic belt, their southern border is the tundra zone.

Polar Bear Description

The polar bear has a heavy, massive body and large, powerful legs.

Its weight is from 300 to 800 kg, and the length can reach up to three meters. The color of the fur coat can be from white to yellowish. In summer, the fur may turn yellow due to constant exposure to sunlight. Wool stores subcutaneous fat and protects it from the cold, so animals do not freeze on land or under water. The tail of a polar bear is very short, has a length of 7 to 13 cm and is almost invisible from under the dense fur.

Interestingly, the bear's skin under the coat is black, as is the nose.

Their feet have an unusual elongated shape, which allows them not to fall through the snow and cover distances of 30 kilometers. Thanks to the partitions between the fingers, the animals swim well and hunt under water.

What do bears eat?

They feed on fish, seals, and sometimes walrus calves. Bears can do without food for a long time, but when they catch prey, they eat up to 10 kg of meat at a time. In summer they can eat plants. Predators are very dexterous, despite the enormous weight and thick skin. They have a well-developed sense of smell and vision. They can see and smell their victim for miles. And having tracked down the prey, they stun it with the blow of its paws.

Polar Bears Lifestyle

Basically, these animals are solitary, but in the spring they are identified in pairs to create offspring. Small families, they develop a new territory, but do not linger on it for a long time. Females of polar bears almost never leave their shelters during gestation and lose 2 times their weight. After the birth of babies (usually one or two), the bear spends a few more months with them in a specially dug den, because they are not yet adapted to the cold. Mom teaches newborn cubs to hunt and survive in difficult conditions.

Today on Earth there are quite a few species of animals that require special attention for the reason that they become rare and in the near future they may be threatened with extinction. Animals such as polar bears are also included in this group. The Red Book is designed to keep records of the rare and some of its pages are dedicated to the polar bear.

Polar Bear Habitats

This type of animal is already interesting because its representatives live in places that are not very suitable for life. It is about the Arctic with its harsh climate. Low air temperatures, long winters, polar nights did not become an obstacle for a polar bear.

The expanses of the Arctic Ocean with its lifeless islands, the northern outskirts of Eurasia and North America are the places where the polar bear lives.
The Red Book, various encyclopedias and many other sources, providing information about this animal, indicate its significant difference from other species of bears that live on the planet. On certain features of the animal, even its name can indicate. From the language of some peoples or scientific sources it is known that the animal is called differently - sea, northern, polar bear.

Evolutionary paths

Scientists have long believed that the development paths of a polar and brown bear diverged about a hundred and fifty thousand years ago. And this happened in the area of \u200b\u200bthe planet that modern Ireland occupies. But data from recent studies have forced a change in this point of view. Today, science says that the separation of species happened much earlier - an average of about six hundred thousand years ago. Over this long period, animals appeared to have differences related not only to habitat, nutritional conditions, but also to their appearance, although the genetic material indicates that these animals once had a common ancestor.

The sad fact is that all bears today are the White Himalayan and other species of these unique animals need protection that only humans can give them. Although, it was he who became the main reason for the reduction in their numbers on Earth.

You can find out all about the polar bear, as well as its relatives, on the pages of numerous publications, which contain the research of scientists, stories of people who met in nature with these unique and at the same time very dangerous animals.

I must say that the meeting did not always end happily, without sad consequences, if a person and a polar bear became its participants. The Red Book therefore appeared because people sometimes tried to prevent the actions of a predator and destroyed it before he himself attacked a person or his dwelling. But the actions of people were not always reasonable enough, and as a result, this led to a reduction in the number of individuals of the polar bear.

Appearance and structural features of the body

A flat head is the main difference between a polar bear and a brown one in the structure of the body. The limbs of the animal have a pillar-like appearance. Feet are very wide. This helps the bears to move through deep snow without falling through. Due to the special structure of the foot and the fact that they are covered with wool, polar bears can easily move along the ice surface. Despite the huge body weight, they easily overcome hummocks up to two meters high.

The bear's skin color is black, and the skin is white to yellowish in color. Bear’s coat acquires such a color in the summer, when exposure to sunlight is especially pronounced.

Species of polar bears

The species of animals that live in different regions of the vast territory of the Arctic have differences among themselves. The largest polar bears live on the islands. Individual individuals weigh about 1000 kilograms with a body length reaching three meters.

Most existing species of polar bears reach 450 kilograms of weight at a height of about two meters. Females are slightly smaller than males. Their weight averages about 300 kilograms.

The habitats of the smallest-sized representatives of these formidable animals, such as polar bears. The Red Book has taken under protection all existing species of bears living in the Arctic.

Adaptability to life in the Arctic

Particular care for the owner of the icy deserts is shown by the Polar Bear lives only in the Arctic, most of which belongs to the Russian state. In addition, polar bears are found on the mainland of Eurasia in the area of \u200b\u200bice deserts.

In other places on Earth, the polar bear does not live. There are cases when animals on ice floes fell into warmer climatic conditions, and this caused them great problems.

How did the animal adapt to such harsh living conditions in the Arctic? Firstly, the body is covered with thick fur. Secondly, the structure of the wool contributes to air retention in them, which makes the fur warmer. A significant layer of fatty tissue also saves the animal's body from hypothermia. In the most severe season, its thickness is about ten centimeters.

With such thermal insulation, bears are not afraid of storms, nor severe frosts, nor the icy water of the ocean and the northern seas. Polar bears are great swimmers. In search of prey, they can swim up to 80 kilometers per day. In this they are helped by the special structure of the paws, between the fingers of which there are membranes. When swimming, the limbs of the animal work like flippers.

What is the food of the polar bear

The polar bear is a predator, so it eats the meat of animals that live next to it. The bear hunts both in water and on land. With smaller animals, such as seal, the predator easily copes in water. He stuns the victim with a paw blow and pulls it onto the ice.

Rivalry with walrus is only possible on land for the polar bear. The skin of a killed animal and fat are the main delicacy for a predator. If there is no severe hunger, then the bear leaves the meat intact, it is eaten by other smaller predators.

Reasons for the reduction in the number of animals

Any person who tries to find out everything about a polar bear will easily find information that one bear in its life is capable of producing no more than fifteen cubs. When feeding offspring, the death of young animals is inevitable - harsh living conditions make themselves felt. Comparing these two facts, it is easy to assume that a reduction in the number of animals is possible for natural reasons.

To this we must add the facts of illegal hunting, the object of which is increasingly becoming polar bears. The Red Book of our country and other countries of the world is trying to stop the process of reducing the number of these animals.

Animals of the Red Book of the Russian Federation

The polar bear, along with other animals, has been under state protection since 1956. In Russia, hunting for him is completely prohibited. In countries such as Canada, USA, it is limited.

For a population living in the northern regions of the Earth, polar bears have long been an object of hunting. The Red Book of States interested in maintaining an animal population has tried to make a difference.

The meat and skin of bears, for the sake of which they were destroyed, in the modern world are not the only source of food available to humans, the material used to equip homes, make clothes. Therefore, the hunt for bears has ceased to be regarded as a necessity. She qualifies as poaching and is prosecuted.

As a result of the measures taken, a rare animal - a polar bear - was saved. The Red Book published a description of the abundance and population types in 1993. By this time, not only restoration of individuals was noted, but also a slight increase in the number of animals.