When it comes to animal that is known for living in cold climates, the number one animal that crosses most people’s mind is polar bear. The habitat of a polar bear is interesting because it’s not where normally humans choose to live in.
On top of that, they are great at hunting for long days. Even though polar bears look cute and adorable, they hunt ferociously and enjoy fatty meals! In fact, among other types of bears, polar bears are the biggest out of them all.
Polar bears choose where they live in based on the ice quality as well as the amount of preys they can find. However, they do not create any territory due to the changes of seasons.
Read: The big animal in the world
Habitat of a Polar Bear
1. Where Polar Bears Can Be Found
The habitat of a polar bear is where you would rarely find other animals living there. We can say that their habitat is the biggest among any other bears. So far, they can be found in five nations.
The countries that polar bears can be found are located near the Arctic Circle. This means there are places in United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland and Norway where we can see polar bears.
The temperature reaches up to minus 69 degrees Celsius. But, it usually stays at minus 34 degrees Celsius in the winter. The water can also reach as low as minus 2 degrees Celsius, and polar bears also love swimming around.
In fact, they are known as sea bears and are excellent at swimming as the body is designed to do so. Polar bears can reach up to 100 km in one swim, without any rest at all.
2. Hunting Habit of Polar Bears
Polar bears will hunt around to find seals as they are high in calorie and build up fat. By consuming fatty foods, polar bears keep their body warm enough in between the meals.
However, if they can’t find their main source of food in the habitat of a polar bear, they would eat anything that they can find. This means if there is human garbage to be found while they can’t find supply of seals, they would consume it as well.
As solitary animal, polar bears hunt alone. However, the method of hunting that the polar bears are using is called still-hunting, where the polar bears wait for days on a seal breathing hole. Then, once a seal pops up of the breathing hole, they would kill it.
Bears are well known to hibernate during winter. Polar bears are different because they will remain around to hunt. They will do it unless it gets extremely cold, in which they will seek for a shelter to stay in.
The habitat of a polar bear remains to be near the Arctic until now, yet their territories keep moving due to the seasonal change and availability of prey. The physical attributes of polar bears have helped them survive. The addition of the right fatty diet makes them able to wander around up until now. Currently, they are still hunted for their meats and furs. Also check out the facts about a Jaguar for more facts about animals!