Polar Bears Research Paper

Polar bears are carnivorous bears that are native to the countries that ring the Arctic Circle. These mammals are closely related to brown bears and live on land. There are about thirty thousand polar bears worldwide and the number keeps increasing. Even though the main cause of death for polar bears is manmade pollution, scientists have observed that there are now more than three times as many polar bears in the Arctic than there was in the 1970's. Polar bear are at the top of the Arctic food chain because they play a huge role in controlling the population of other animals. They have a great sense of smell that allows them to smell as far as one kilometer away which helps them when hunting their prey. Polar bears move the same as humans

Their fur is made up of insulating under fur topped by guard hairs. Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core that scatters and reflects visible light, like snow (Polar Bear International). They have black skin and under it, is a layer of fat. Polar bears look the most white when they are clean and after their molting season, which can accumulate a lot of oils in their fur that can make it appear yellow. When in water, polar bears rely on their fat layer to keep warm. Wet fur does not work well as an insulator, so that is why mother polar bears don't want their cubs to swim at a young age because they don't have enough fat to keep themselves

Males are typically around six years of age and females are around five years of age. Breeding takes place between March and June on sea ice (alexassignment.weebly.com). Males and females locate each other on seal hunting grounds and in this process the male can get into fights with other male polar bears if they both are after the same female. Once the male has won, the two stay together for about one week, mating. Polar bears are induced ovulators and while the two are together, the egg is fertilized by the sperm. Once the egg is fertile, the female begins to eat large amounts of food to make sure the cub is staying healthy. When the mother is getting close to giving her live birth, she digs a maternity den into the ground. There, she goes into a hibernation like state and eventually gives birth to the cubs down there a few months