Polar bear

The polar bear is the biggest bear in the world, and it lives in the icy far north around the Arctic. Its thick coat looks snowy white, which helps it blend in with the ice and snow. Its scientific name, Ursus maritimus, means “sea bear”, because it spends so much of its life on the frozen sea.

A polar bear is built to stay warm in the cold. Under its fur it has a thick layer of fat and a water-repellent coat that keeps out the chill, even in freezing water. Each hair is really see-through and hollow, and the coat only looks white because of the way it bounces the light. Its huge paws are as wide as a dinner plate and work like snowshoes on the slippery ice.

Polar bears are excellent swimmers. They paddle with their big front paws and hold their back legs flat behind them like a rudder to steer. They mostly eat seals, which give them the rich fat they need to live in such a cold place, and they use the sea ice as a place to travel, rest, and find food.

Mother polar bears dig cosy dens in the snow, where their cubs are born in the warmth. A newborn cub is very small, about the size of a loaf of bread, and it drinks its mother’s rich milk to grow big and strong. The cubs stay with their mother for around two years while she teaches them how to live on the ice.

Polar bears are a vulnerable animal. The sea ice they depend on is melting as the Arctic grows warmer, which makes it harder for them to reach the seals they eat. People all around the world are working to look after the Arctic so that polar bears will always have their icy home.