POLAR BEAR FACTS

Polar bears are the world's biggest bears and the largest land carnivores.

They thrive in an arctic world of snow and ice where temperatures can drop to -50° degrees Centigrade - that's more than twice as cold as an average freezer!

Population and Range

There are 23,000 - 25,000 polar bears left in the wild.

Polar bears live on the sea ice surrounding the North Pole, a region known as the circumpolar arctic.

Most polar bears live in Canada, which is home to, or shares around 60 percent of the world’s population with other range states. The remaining polar bears are scattered across Russia, Norway, Greenland and Alaska in the US.

This may seem like a large number, but consider that these bears are scattered across 19 subpopulations. Polar bear subpopulations range from 160 to 3,200 individuals. At least three of these are declining. For at least 11, we don't know if they are declining or not.

Click image to enlarge

Size and Appearance

Males are around twice as big as females and can grow to a length of 2.5 meters and weigh in at 400-600 kg.

Because polar bears spend most of their life on the sea ice and are excellent swimmers, they are considered to be marine mammals.

Thick, white fur shields the bears against ferocious arctic temperatures and wind.  Even the soles of their feet are covered in fur to help keep them warm. Their skin is black to help retain body heat.

Behaviour and Reproduction

Slow maturation, small litters, long offspring dependency and high cub mortality make polar bears particularly vulnerable to overexploitation.

Females don’t breed until they are four to six years old. With a lifespan of 20-25 years, they therefore give birth 5 times at the most.

Males don’t reach sexual maturity before the age of six. Because of competition from older and larger males, young males initially father few cubs of their own.

Polar bears are solitary except for
mothers with cubs, during mating or while feeding on whale carcasses.

These Arctic nomads spend most of
their lives roaming across the frozen
sea ice searching for seals, their main food source.

During summer, when there is no sea
ice, the bears are forced on to land without access to proper food for months. They burn as little energy as possible during this challenging time.

Polar bears mate on the sea ice during the arctic spring and the pair stay together for up to two weeks.

After mating, females only have a few short months to build the large fat deposits they and their cubs will depend on until they emerge together from the maternity den in the coming spring. 

Mothers spend the arctic winter sealed in the den with their cubs. This means going for months without food, while providing milk for their growing cubs. Females need to gain at least 200 kg of fat to carry off a successful pregnancy.

Mothers usually give birth to two cubs, which weigh just 4-5 kg at birth. Cubs stay with their mother for two and a half years, so they can hone their hunting and survival skills.

30-70 percent of cubs perish before reaching adulthood, although this figure can be even higher during tough years.

Diet

During winter, spring and early summer, polar bears feed on seals, which they catch by waiting patiently near breathing holes in the ice or by breaking through the frozen roof of dens.

Polar bears prefer ringed seals and bearded seals, but will hunt walrus, beluga whales, narwhals and birds.  They also feed on dead whales, if available.

Polar bears can pinpoint a seal breathing-hole from a kilometre away, even if it is  covered by snow.

When the absence of sea ice forces them onto dry land during summer, polar bears spend as little energy as possible. They also resort to feeding on nutritionally inferior food such as berries, eggs and even vegetation to survive until the next sea
ice freeze.

The most important

conservation action we can take

for polar bears right now

is to END the INTERNATIONAL

TRADE in skins and trophies.

That's what we are fighting for.

WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN!

 ​
Thank you!

Further Information

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Polar bears and climate change: Hunting polar bears for their skins and as trophies undermines the species' survival in a warming Arctic

Hunting polar bears as trophies or for their skins is an act of violence towards individuals, the species and biodiversity. Please help us stop it.

International trade in polar bear skins and trophies undermines the species' survival. Please help us end it.

Report: Polar bears are far less protected than you might think. People still kill them as trophies or for their skins, most of which end up in China.

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