![]() ![]() They also weigh more than twice as much, the record for a male being more than a ton. Male polar bears have significantly larger heads and bigger teeth than females. Polar bears are physically impressive beasts. A seal can outswim a polar bear in open water, so the bears use a watch-and-wait strategy to capture them. These formidable predators take full advantage of every capture, eating as much as 20 percent of their body weight in a single meal.Īccording to Larry, the primary prey of polar bears in the Churchill area are ringed and bearded seals, which are snared when the seals come up to breathe through holes in the sea ice. Polar bears will also go after small whales, reindeer and seabirds. The prey of polar bears varies regionally but includes several species of seals, an energy-rich diet because of the fat content of seal blubber. They are declining in some of the areas, one identified culprit being habitat loss because of human development, petroleum exploration and climate change. Polar bears are found throughout the circumpolar Arctic, with 19 subpopulations being recognized. A study carried out on Svalbard had shown that in the summer reindeer make up more than a quarter of the diet, but it was not clear whether this was self-hunted animals or eating deceased reindeer.More: Use all of your senses while taking a nature walk | ECOVIEWS But successfully beating an animal such as a seal or even a reindeer, which weighs around 100 kilograms, in the water seemed unlikely until now. Also in the water, polar bears are excellent swimmers though. ![]() Polar bears can sprint very fast over short distances, but they overheat very quickly thanks to their insulation provided by blubber and fur. On land, polar bears would not stand much of a chance against the faster and more agile reindeer, experts agree. But the fact that polar bears kill their prey in the water and do not even stop at adult reindeer bulls has never been observed live before. Researchers had often documented that polar bears either chased reindeer or even caught calves. The fact that reindeer are on the menu of polar bears has long been suspected, as a review of the relevant literature shows. “I thought reindeer were good swimmers and the bear would have bigger problems catching the reindeer.” The researchers published the observations and accompanying images in the journal Polar Biology this month. “I was shocked,” Izabela Kulaszewicz told Science magazine. What happened next astonished the observers: the polar bear killed the reindeer bull with bites and by pushing her prey under water, probably drowning it. The female, which the researchers said had made a healthy, well-fed impression, was observed chasing a reindeer bull into the water and following it there. But a Polish research team was able to make a sensational observation on Svalbard: A polar bear chased reindeer into the water and killed the animals there. Until now, it was thought that the animals do not hunt in the water, but only swim. This is because polar bears are enduring swimmers and actually spend most of their time on the pack ice and in the Arctic Ocean. ![]() What many people don’t know is that the king of the Arctic is actually often counted as a marine mammal. Polar bears are known to be very skilled and intelligent predators.
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