Their fur is thick and dense and is made up of a warm undercoat with longer guard hairs on top that are clear, hollow tubes that trap warmth from the sun and transmit it directly down to their black skin, which then absorbs the welcome heat. Polar bears are one of the few large mammals found in such hostile conditions and have adapted well to their life on the ice. Females, though, are much lighter than their male counterparts, that are almost double their weight. ©/Alexey_Seafarer Anatomy and AppearanceĪdult polar bears are animals that typically measure more than six feet in length and weigh around half a ton. DNA analysis suggests polar bears diverged from brown bears, Ursus arctos, ~150k years ago. Thus, the two species remain classified as separate. Polar bears can breed with brown bears to produce fertile hybrids, suggesting their genetic similarity persists despite morphological and behavioral differences. Most brown bears have about 2 percent genetic material from polar bears, but one population, the ABC Islands bears, has between 5 percent and 10 percent polar bear genes, indicating more frequent and recent mating. However, the two species have mated intermittently for all that time, most likely coming into contact with each other during warming periods, when polar bears were driven onto land, and brown bears migrated northward. See all of our entertaining and insightful animal articles. Grizzly Bears: Which Would Win in a Fight? Amazing! 12 Types of Hybrid Animals That Actually Exist.Top 10 Biggest Animals That Ever Walked the Earth. The World’s 10 Favorite & Most Popular Animals.The 10 Most Stunning Apex Predators from Around the World.The 10 Absolute Strongest Animals on Earth: Pure Force.The 10 Strongest Animal Bite Forces in the World.Polar bear populations have also fallen across the Arctic Ocean due to hunting, pollution, and drilling for oil and gas, leading to them being as listed as a threatened species. They are, however, being devastatingly affected by global warming as the ice that they rely so heavily on is disappearing fast and has led to the polar bear becoming a strong symbol of the effects of climate change. Thought to be closely related to the brown bear, the polar bear’s name actually means “sea bear” as they are known to not just spend a great deal of time close to the coast but are also strong and capable swimmers that have been spotted up to 100 miles from the closest ice or land. It is the biggest species of bear in the world (with the exception of the Kodiak brown bears found in Alaska, which can reach similar sizes), with males often weighing in at around 1300 pounds. The polar bear is a large species of bear that is found inhabiting the ice fields in the Arctic Ocean. The accepted scientific name for the polar bear is now Ursus maritimus. The polar bear was once believed to be its own separate species, but recent evidence has shown that it is actually a hybrid of the brown bear. Inuit people call it Nanook, and Norwegian names are isbjørn (‘ice bear’) or kvitbjørn (‘white bear’). Ursus maritimus (“maritime bear”) was first described in 1774 by Constantine John Phipps.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |