Polar Bears By: Loriann Malcom
There is a long list of endangered animals. On that list is the animal I am currently researching, and that is the polar bear. Polar bears are animals that mostly lives in the North Pole and other ice covered oceans. The mass of an adult female polar bear is 330-350 pounds and an adult male is 990 pounds. Their speed is twenty-five miles per hour and the height of an adult female is 6.6 feet (on hind legs) and an adult male is 4.4 feet at shoulder (or all four legs). Also, polar bears can weigh as much as a grand piano. Their life span is about 20-30 years.
Polar bears adaptation is thick fur (thicker than any other bears’), they have a thick layer of blubber beneath their fur that provides insulation, and their long neck and narrow skull aids the animal in the water while warming the air that they breath. Also, their front feet are large, flat, and oar like, making them excellent swimmers. They feed primarily on the fat of ice-dependent seals. They also eat walrus, beluga, fish, birds, and many other small animals. Two percent of their hunts for seals are actually successful. Another interesting fact is
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They are born November through January. Mothers emerge out of the den in late March or April. At birth, the cubs are only around thirty centimeters long and weigh around half a kilogram that’s about the same as a guinea pig. The polar family emerge from the den four to five months later. The cubs will stay with their mother for about two years, during which time they learn the skills needed to survive in the Arctic. At birth the cubs weigh about 454 to 680 g (16-24 oz.) and are about 30 cm (12 in.) long. Males are born slightly larger than females. Cubs are born small and helpless, with their eyes closed. Finally, the fur of a cub is fine at birth, making the cubs look
Hey, I didn’t see you there, how are you?I'm just wondering whether or not a big ol' grizzly bear is going to come charging at me at any point in my life, but seeing as grizzly bears are endangered that probably won't happen. In the past, there were thought to be around 50,000 grizzly bears in North America, nowadays they are growing sparse there are estimated to be only around 1800, now not even a 20th of the population in the past. Most of these grizzlies are located in Yellowstone National Park and Alaska, but they can also be found in Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho and Montana. Some are thought to be in Washington.
Grizzly bears are enormous bears; that, tend to be misunderstood by others. Many times, they are portrayed wrongly in movies and tv shows. People may go off by things they see; in the movies and immediately suggest that’s the way the grizzly bear is. If others took the time to find information on the grizzly they would see how wrong the movies are about them. For many people grizzly bears can be a mystery such as where they live, what they eat, and whether they hibernate or not. However, with a bit of research answers can be found.
- Pagano, A. M., G. M. Durner, S. C. Amstrup, K. S. Simac, and G. S. York. 2012. Long-distance swimming by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the southern Beaufort Sea during years of extensive open water: Canadian Journal of Zoology 90:663-676. doi: 10.1139/z2012-033http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z2012-033#.UxOE1ZWPLoo
Out of an Ice Age emerged one of our most majestic creatures in the world the polar bear. From its brown bear ancestry, the predator evolved to be a master of a harsh and unwelcoming ice kingdom. Intelligent, adaptable and fierce, the polar bear learned how to survive in a place that offers few comforts to any creature. But now that very environment is in flux. And so is the polar bear’s fate (Nature). Polar Bears are very different from other bears. Polar bears are very large bears compared to Black bears. Polar bears weigh anywhere between 330-1700lbs and Black bears weigh anywhere between 150-600lbs. They have strong legs with large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes that help with walking on ice and swimming. The wide paws prevent sea ice from breaking by distributing weight while walking. Their paws allow them to pull a 600 pound seal out of its breathing hole (Rosing, 20). The webbed feet results in making polar bears, unlike other bear species to be considered as marine mammals along with seals, sea lions, walruses, whales and dolphins (Polar Bear). According to Rosing Polar bears are excellent swimmers and have been known to swim up to six miles an hour and as far as 60 miles at a stretch. The bears paddle with their front feet and steer with their back feet. They often overheat. Sometimes they venture into the waters just to cool off. When a bear climbs on an ice floe, it shakes itself off because it is trying to prevent ice from forming on its fur (22-23). Because of climate change and hunting of polar bears are now becoming an endangered species which is affecting the food chain. We can fix this by going green, banning polar bear hunting and keep creating these new hybrid bears that are mixed with griz...
animals such as the polar bear, to mate and to prepare for the once again
The Grizzly bear are really interesting. Grizzly bears are dangerous and they eat a lot of thing but there diets are berries,roots,seeds,dead animals,fish,elk,insects,and other foods that they find. Grizzly bears are mammals and they are unpredictable and really dangerous. Grizzly bears live in many different areas they live in california,Ohio,Wyoming and in western Canada. But bears are also found in open Plains dense forest.
Compared to all other types of bears, the American Black Bear is in the middle when it comes to size. It is smaller than a Polar Bear, but larger than a Sloth Bear. Black Bears vary in size depending on their location in the world, sex, how much food is available, the time of year, and their inherited genes.
The grizzly bear’s coat was brown. They could camouflage very easily with their surroundings in the wood. There were occasionally mutations in coat color and those bears would die off quicklier not being able to camouflage. Once the Pleistocene ice age came the environment was completely different, it was now artic. The occasional lighter mutations begain to survive easier and better than the darker colored bears because they were able to get closer to the seals without them seeing which meant they could catch them easier. The darker bears had difficulties now in this mostly snowy environment with camouflage. The seals would see them and swim away, because they weren’t eating as well they would die off easier. Over time the number of mutations began to grow. The mutations started reproducing making a lighter color coat in bears. This kept happening until the Polar bear evolved with a transparent coat. Polar bears hair looks white because the air spaces in the hairs scatter light of all colors. When something reflects all of the visible wavelengths of light, we see the color white. The Polar bear’s transparent coat helped them a lot with camouflage which helped them with
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the brown bear is located all throughout Alaska, mostly in areas that allow them to seasonally hunt salmon (Alaska Fish & Game, 2010). This allows them to become larger and live in higher concentrations than the grizzly bear. The traditional brown bear and the grizzly bear are actually both classified as brown bears, despite having several differences in appearance. Brown bears are one of the most fascinating and powerful species in the Alaskan wilderness. Cubs are usually born during January or February, usually in groups of one to four (Alaska Fish & Game). A fully grown, male brown bear can weigh up for 1,500 pounds and be over 10 feet in stature (Alaska Fish & Game, 2010). Brown bears also have the ability to run at speeds up to 40 mph for short bursts of time (Alaska Fish & Game). All of these unique characteristics make many people upset that it is legal to hunt them. There are several groups that are working to conserve the brown bear population, particularly in Alaska, such as The Northern Forum’s Brown Bear Working Group (Fish & Wildlife Journal, 2010). The bear population in Alaska is thriving and is classified as a status of least concern, by the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2010). Overall, the brown bear population faces no danger whatsoever.
Polar Bears live in the Arctic. In the winter, the temperatures range from -39°F to 30°F and in the summer, it ranges from 14-50°F. The arctic gets about 15-25 cm of precipitation throughout the entire year. A Polar Bear's niche is a predator, meaning they hunt for food. In a food web, there are listed as a tertiary consumer, which is the highest level on the food web. Polar Bears are a keystone species because the Arctic habitat is currently endangered. Polar Bears mostly eat animals such as beluga whales, walruses, and they rarely eat any type of vegetation.
I am going to talk about black bears diet. Black bears are omnivores so they eat meat and plants.Black bears will eat young moose and deer. They will also salmon. Since they are omnivores they will eat fruits, nuts, and insects. Some of the plants they eat are grass and roots.
First, the largest penguin species existing today are emperor penguins. Although there was a penguin fossil found that was 5 feet long, today they may reach up to 45 inches and about 84 pounds. Secondly, they live in the antarctic, the coldest place on earth, where it may reach negative 80 degrees with winds at 120 miles per hour. Thirdly, they were created to live in this cold environment. They have overlapping feathers that are waterproof, due to a special oil produced by their body. They can dive as deep as 869 feet into the freezing cold water and may hold their breath for up to 8 minutes. Next, their diet includes fish, krill and squid. Their tongue is specially designed for these specific foods. Fifthly, they can live up to about 20 years. Their predators include, leopard seals, orcas, fur seals, sea lions and sharks. Sadly, almost 80 percent of the chicks do not make it to their first birthday due to either the weather or their predators. Lastly, their feather pattern is a form of camouflage from their underwater
Red Pandas are very much like raccoons, they are very peaceful creatures too! These Pandas have distance markings and markings. They have reddish-brown fur on its upper body, which is used for camouflage. It has a white snout and ears, with white streaks on their face. Red Pandas look nothing like an ordinary panda, this Panda has similar characteristics to a raccoon. It has a covering of red fur like the raccoon. The Red Panda is very small, the body size can range from twenty to twenty-five inches. Also they can weigh up to 8-12 pounds. They have very interesting and unique features. The Red Panda like the Giant Panda has an extra thumb which is used to grip things. They also have extra long whiskers which is used to navigate their environment at night. The Red Panda doesn't live very long compared to a human. The average life span of a Red Panda is 8-12 years. This creature rests during the day and is alive during the night. They are nocturnal which means that they hunt during the night and sleep during the day.
Not to mention that females pandas don’t have a set term for their pregnancies—pandas can gestate anywhere from three to six months because pandas experience embryonic diapause , which is the embryo is fertilized, but not yet implanted in the uterine wall. There is also the possibility—and it’s not uncommon—for fetuses to get reabsorbed, which is still a mystery to scientists. But even if all goes well and the female panda does get pregnant and carry her baby to term, the infant panda is completely, absolutely helpless for the first two weeks of it’s
The polar bear has a long, narrower head and nose, and small ears. The polar bear has coat that appears white but, each individual hair is actually a clear and hollow. This helps the polar bear keep warm. The polar bear's coat helps it blend in with its snowy surroundings, this adaptation helps the Polar Bear hide while hunting. The polar bear's front legs are slightly pigeon-toed, and fur covers the bottoms of its paws. These adaptations help the polar bear keep them from slipping on ice.