The Polar Bear has a large stomach, that enables it to take advantage of unexpected large meals which can tie them over during the slower winter months. The Polar Bear also has a stomach more adapted for processing meat than plant material.
Polar Bears feed mainly on Ring and Bearded Seals. When other food is unavailable, polar bears will eat just about any animal they can get, including reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, waterfowl, fish, eggs, vegetation (including kelp), berries, and human garbage. Methods for catching food:
Polar Bear eating a Ring Seal
Polar Bears feed mainly on Ring and Bearded Seals. When other food is unavailable, polar bears will eat just about any animal they can get, including reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, waterfowl, fish, eggs, vegetation (including kelp), berries, and human garbage. Methods for catching food:
- Still Hunting: The Polar Bear remains motionless at a breathing hole for seals in the ice and when a seal comes up for air the Polar Bear bites the head of the seal, flipping it onto the ice.
- Stalking on Land: When seals are out onto the ice, the Polar Bear will slowly approach the seal and in an instant charge the seal and latch onto the seal with its teeth before the seal can escape.
- Aquatic Stalk: A Polar Bear swims underwater towards the edge of the ice, once at the edge the Polar Bear quickly climbs onto the ice to grab a seal resting on top of the ice.
- Stalking Birth Lairs: This method is mainly used by females with cubs who need the higher fat content of female seals and their pups. The Polar Bear identifies the birth lair, and once the Polar Bear hears or smells the pups the Polar Bear will raise on its hind legs and crash down onto the top of the birth lair.
Polar Bear eating a Ring Seal
Reproductive System:
Organs and Special:
Tissue:
A male Polar Bear's penis is nublike, with a baculum (a bone) that extends when the animal is excited. But long hairs cover polar bears' reproductive organs, making it hard to determine gender by sight alone. (Even scientists who observe polar bears having sex may find that fur obscures the penis.) Males do have slightly longer hair than females at the tip of their penile "sheaths" (skin that surrounds the penis). And females, in turn, have long vulvar hairs underneath their tails. But unless a polar bear is anaesthetized, zookeepers can't get close enough to make out these differences.
Male Polar Bears have testes that produce sperm, and female Polar Bears have ovaries that produce eggs.
Life Cycle of the Polar Bear:
Implantation generally occurs in November, but varies depending on the weather conditions. Gestation is between 195 and 265 days, all the while the female s stay on land for those 8 months in maternity dens. The cubs remain with the mother until around 2 years of age. Females become sexually mature between the ages of 4 and 6, whereas males become sexually mature around the age of 6. Most polar bears live to be between 15 and 18 years old. Reproduction in Polar Bears is sexual and occurs naturally once a year for males and once every 3 years for females.
Peculiarities:
Many caretakers in zoos mistake male polar bears for females or vice versa because of the large amount of hair covering the male and female genitalia.
Male and Female Differences:
Males have testes and a penis, and females have ovaries.
"POLAR BEARS - Diet & Eating Habits." POLAR BEARS - Diet & Eating Habits. Seaworld, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/polar-bear/diet.htm
"Polar Bear Fact Sheet." Polar Bear Fact Sheet. San Diego Zoo, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/polar_bear/polar.htm#7
Organs and Special:
Tissue:
A male Polar Bear's penis is nublike, with a baculum (a bone) that extends when the animal is excited. But long hairs cover polar bears' reproductive organs, making it hard to determine gender by sight alone. (Even scientists who observe polar bears having sex may find that fur obscures the penis.) Males do have slightly longer hair than females at the tip of their penile "sheaths" (skin that surrounds the penis). And females, in turn, have long vulvar hairs underneath their tails. But unless a polar bear is anaesthetized, zookeepers can't get close enough to make out these differences.
Male Polar Bears have testes that produce sperm, and female Polar Bears have ovaries that produce eggs.
Life Cycle of the Polar Bear:
Implantation generally occurs in November, but varies depending on the weather conditions. Gestation is between 195 and 265 days, all the while the female s stay on land for those 8 months in maternity dens. The cubs remain with the mother until around 2 years of age. Females become sexually mature between the ages of 4 and 6, whereas males become sexually mature around the age of 6. Most polar bears live to be between 15 and 18 years old. Reproduction in Polar Bears is sexual and occurs naturally once a year for males and once every 3 years for females.
Peculiarities:
Many caretakers in zoos mistake male polar bears for females or vice versa because of the large amount of hair covering the male and female genitalia.
Male and Female Differences:
Males have testes and a penis, and females have ovaries.
"POLAR BEARS - Diet & Eating Habits." POLAR BEARS - Diet & Eating Habits. Seaworld, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/polar-bear/diet.htm
"Polar Bear Fact Sheet." Polar Bear Fact Sheet. San Diego Zoo, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
http://library.sandiegozoo.org/factsheets/polar_bear/polar.htm#7