the polar bear so essentially differs from the brown-bear in its appearance, that one placed Thalarctos it long into an independent subspecies. Today, the opinions of most go zoologist there, that one also classes the polar bear as belonging to the type Ursus.
Shape The polar bear is after the Kodiak - and the Kamtschatkabär (brown-bear) the third-biggest representative of its family. it lives northern ice-sea on the islands, coasts and icefield-edges of the zirkumpolaren. it is smoothly to be done, white slimmer than the brown-bears in its shape through this until sallow fur. Because the polar bear is built over behind, its legs (like like with the black-bear) are the brown-bears relatively longer than this, and the soles are hairy with exception of the bales. The head is slim and has (as with the black - and with the collar-bear) a virtually straight forehead-nose-back-line. The neck is relatively long. The toes of the feet are with rather short, strengthens, bent claws equip and connect with instep-skins, that serve as swimming-skins, until the half length. In accordance with the cold in its northern habitat, the polar bear of small, rounded off ear-mussels possesses.
Way of life Polar bears are Tagtiere and normally loners, that in its habitat, that arctic, hilly islands and the icefields, wide hikes undertake. However, some populations should be location-loyal after newest examinations, like for example the polar bears on the Wrangel-Insel.
In general however, the polar bears prove to be persevering runners with its hikes of ring around the North-pole, that East-west-ice-drift follows it. Kraftsparend lift it only very little its legs but swing it in the semicircle to the front; they describe a bow on that occasion with the front-legs inside, with the hind legs against it a bow outside. Polar bears climb despite its high weight amazingly skillfully and fast in steep rock and pack-ice. Although they don't kill any loot in the water, they swim excellent and persevering, they can dive up to two minutes, however rarely goes more deeply than one and a half under the water-surface on that occasion until two meters. The structure of the fur, that lets run out the water very fast, is extraordinarily favorable for this water-life.
Nutrition Polar bears are the most distinctive carnivores among the big-bears. they like most of all to hunt seals, particularly on ringlet-seals. In the spring, after the winter-silence, they hit gladly newborn seals while they later prefer alto-seals, that are exactly in the hair-change, in the year. From its loot, the polar bears eat almost exclusively the bacon and particularly the intestines, with whose content they eat important nutrients. The polar bear stalks the alto-seals at country or it approaches the seals under water, ice-free held blowhole suddenly then emerges from it before them and kills it with a paw-blow.
Young-crawls it sometimes digs out from this until caves lying to two meters under the snow. it smells the seal-caves, that are not through anything recognizable from outside, on that occasion through the meter-thick snow-blanket through: a proof of its distinguished Riechvermögens. The polar bear is amazingly patiently if it lurks at the blowholes of the seals in the ice for hours. If you finally appear a seal, so it smashes it against the ice-edge with a paw-blow in order to kill it. In the summer, also the polar bear turns into the omnivore, that carries off Lemminge and salmon and before-dear-takes also with carrion. it now doesn't despise also vegetable food and looks for berries and fruits.
Reproduction As soon as the weather becomes bad and the food-search far too burdensome, the polar bear digs a cave in a big snowdrift for himself and one can get snowed in until the spring. it builds a snow-embankment before the initially still open entrance of the cave from interior, about the draft one, to decrease little. Here, also the Bärin, that lives together only during the short Ranzzeit of April with a male until May, brings 1-3 (mostly however two) 540-660 g to the world heavy, very underdeveloped boy after a Tragzeit of approximately 8 months. it holds the babies pressed to the breast between its paws where they find also the teats.
The hearing-walk of the boys opens after the 18.-26. Day. The first Gehversuche do the boys after the 45.-60. Day. After approximately 4-5 months, the Bärin leaves the cave with the boys, initially still remains in its proximity whole, however. it guards its children vigorously and lets nobody close to it, particularly no Artgenossen, that develops to the most severe danger for the boys in this time. In the first year of life of the boys, the Bärin avoids the water; in the next winter, it covers a snow-cave with them together. If it is not covered again in the subsequent year, it spends the winter with the boys a second time as well. The young polar bears go its own ways after it, becomes sexually mature only with 33/4 to 43/4 years, however.
Endangering Polar bears don't have any enemies in the nature. They show also all the stranger through it opposite little fear but is distinct curious. If they lead satchels or the females boy not exactly, polar bears also are little aggressive against Artgenossen. Meetings once several polar bears one on top of the other, they take little note of each other normally. However, this behavior can change fundamentally in captivity. Here polar bears can become aggressive in its nature so that they don't take second place to the unpredictable collar-bears about anything.
In the nature, polar bears have however only one enemy: the human being. it hunts it mainly because of its valuable fur, less because of theirs of strongly trichina-containing meat anyway. Until today, there are not any reliable continuance-estimates. According to opinion of some experts, there are only possibly 7000 wild polar bears, others still calculates with a continuance of 20 000. In Russia, the polar bear is completely protected today while another controlled Bejagung takes place in North America and Scandinavia.
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