Polar bear

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a hypercarnivorous bear

Polar bear
whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle,
Temporal range: Pleistocene-
encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and
surrounding land masses. It is a large bear, approximately the recent[1]
same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos
middendorffi).[5] A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–
700 kg (772–1,543 lb),[6] while a sow (adult female) is about
half that size. Polar bears are the largest land carnivores
currently in existence, rivaled only by the Kodiak bear.[7]
Although it is the sister species of the brown bear,[8] it has
evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many
body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving
across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which
make up most of its diet.[9] Although most polar bears are born
on land, they spend most of their time on the sea ice. Their
scientific name means "maritime bear" and derives from this White sow near Kaktovik, Barter
fact. Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the Island, Alaska, the USA
edge of sea ice, often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is
Conservation status
present. Because of their dependence on the sea ice, polar bears
are classified as marine mammals.[10]

Because of expected habitat loss caused by climate change, the

polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species. For decades, Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)[2]
large-scale hunting raised international concern for the future
Scientific classification
of the species, but populations rebounded after controls and
quotas began to take effect.[11] For thousands of years, the Kingdom: Animalia
polar bear has been a key figure in the material, spiritual, and Phylum: Chordata
cultural life of circumpolar peoples, and polar bears remain
Class: Mammalia
important in their cultures. Historically, the polar bear has also
been known as the "white bear".[12] It is sometimes referred to Order: Carnivora
as the 'nanook', based on the Inuit term nanuq.[13] Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species: U. maritimus
Contents
Binomial name
Naming and etymology
Ursus maritimus
Taxonomy and evolution
Phipps, 1774[3]
Population and distribution
Subspecies[4]
Habitat
Physical characteristics †Ursus maritimus tyrannus(?)
Life history and behaviour
Hunting and diet
Dietary flexibility
 Reproduction and lifecycle
Maternity denning and early life
Later life
Life expectancy
Ecological role
Long-distance swimming and diving
Hunting
Indigenous people
History of commercial harvest
Contemporary regulations
Canada Polar bear range
Greenland
Synonyms
Norway
Russia Ursus eogroenlandicus
United States Ursus groenlandicus
Ursus jenaensis
Conservation status, threats, and controversies
Climate change Ursus labradorensis
Ursus marinus
Pollution
Ursus polaris
Oil and gas development
Ursus spitzbergensis
Predictions
Ursus ungavensis
Controversy over species protection
Thalarctos maritimus
In culture
Indigenous folklore
Symbols and mascots
Fiction
See also
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

Naming and etymology

Constantine John Phipps was the first to describe the polar bear as a distinct species in 1774.[3][2] He
chose the scientific name Ursus maritimus, the Latin for 'maritime bear',[14] due to the animal's native
habitat. The Inuit refer to the animal as nanook (transliterated as nanuq in the Inupiat language).[15][13]
The Yupik also refer to the bear as nanuuk in Siberian Yupik.[16] The bear is umka in the Chukchi
language. In Russian, it is usually called бе́лый медве́дь (bélyj medvédj, the white bear), though an
older word still in use is ошку́й (Oshkúj, which comes from the Komi oski, "bear").[17] In Quebec, the
polar bear is referred to as ours blanc ("white bear") or ours polaire ("polar bear").[18] In the Norwegian-
administered Svalbard archipelago, the polar bear is referred to as Isbjørn ("ice bear").
The polar bear was previously considered to be in its own genus, Thalarctos.[19] However, evidence of
hybrids between polar bears and brown bears, and of the recent evolutionary divergence of the two
species, does not support the establishment of this separate genus, and the accepted scientific name is
now therefore Ursus maritimus, as Phipps originally proposed.[2]

Taxonomy and evolution

The bear family, Ursidae, is thought to have split from other
carnivorans about 38 million years ago.[20] The subfamily
Ursinae originated approximately 4.2 million years ago.[21] The
oldest known polar bear fossil is a 130,000 to 110,000-year-old
jaw bone, found on Prince Charles Foreland in 2004.[22] Fossils
show that between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago, the polar bear's
molar teeth changed significantly from those of the brown
bear.[23] Polar bears are thought to have diverged from a
population of brown bears that became isolated during a period of
Polar bears have evolved
glaciation in the Pleistocene[4] from the eastern part of Siberia adaptations for Arctic life. For
(from Kamchatka and the Kolym Peninsula).[23] example, large furry feet and short,
sharp, stocky claws give them good
The evidence from DNA analysis is more complex. The traction on ice.
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of the polar bear diverged from the
brown bear, Ursus arctos, roughly 150,000 years ago.[22] Further,
some clades of brown bear, as assessed by their mtDNA, were thought to be more closely related to polar
bears than to other brown bears,[24] meaning that the brown bear might not be considered a species under
some species concepts, but paraphyletic.[25] The mtDNA of extinct Irish brown bears is particularly close
to polar bears.[26] A comparison of the nuclear genome of polar bears with that of brown bears revealed a
different pattern, the two forming genetically distinct clades that diverged approximately 603,000 years
ago,[27] although the latest research is based on analysis of the complete genomes (rather than just the
mitochondria or partial nuclear genomes) of polar and brown bears, and establishes the divergence of
polar and brown bears at 400,000 years ago.[28]

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. 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.[29] Polar bears can breed with brown bears to produce fertile grizzly–
polar bear hybrids;[4][30] rather than indicating that they have only recently diverged, the new evidence
suggests more frequent mating has continued over a longer period of time, and thus the two bears remain
genetically similar.[29] However, because neither species can survive long in the other's ecological niche,
and because they have different morphology, metabolism, social and feeding behaviours, and other
phenotypic characteristics, the two bears are generally classified as separate species.[31]

When the polar bear was originally documented, two subspecies were identified: the American polar bear
(Ursus maritimus maritimus) by Constantine J. Phipps in 1774, and the Siberian polar bear (Ursus
maritimus marinus) by Peter Simon Pallas in 1776.[32] This distinction has since been
invalidated.[33][34][35] One alleged fossil subspecies has been identified: Ursus maritimus tyrannus,
which became extinct during the Pleistocene. U.m. tyrannus was significantly larger than the living
subspecies.[4] However, recent reanalysis of the fossil suggests that it was actually a brown bear.[1]
Population and distribution
Bears investigate the submarine
USS Honolulu 450 kilometres
(280 mi) from the North Pole
about 20–25,000 or 22–31,000 polar bears worldwide.[2][37][38]
The polar bear is found in the Arctic Circle and adjacent land
masses as far south as Newfoundland. Due to the absence of
human development in its remote habitat, it retains more of its
original range than any other extant carnivore.[36] While they are
rare north of 88°, there is evidence that they range all the way
across the Arctic, and as far south as James Bay in Canada. Their
southernmost range is near the boundary between the subarctic
and humid continental climate zones. They can occasionally drift
widely with the sea ice, and there have been anecdotal sightings
as far south as Berlevåg on the Norwegian mainland and the
Kuril Islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. It is difficult to estimate a
global population of polar bears as much of the range has been
poorly studied; however, biologists use a working estimate of

There are 19 generally recognized, discrete subpopulations, though polar bears are thought to exist only
in low densities in the area of the Arctic Basin.[37][39] The subpopulations display seasonal fidelity to
particular areas, but DNA studies show that they are not reproductively isolated.[35] The 13 North
American subpopulations range from the Beaufort Sea south to Hudson Bay and east to Baffin Bay in
western Greenland and account for about 54% of the global population.[40]

The range includes the territory of five nations: Denmark

(Greenland), Norway (Svalbard), Russia, the United States
(Alaska) and Canada. These five nations are the signatories of the
International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears,
which mandates cooperation on research and conservation efforts
throughout the polar bear's range.[41] Bears sometimes swim to
Iceland from Greenland—about 600 sightings since the country's
settlement in the 9th century AD, and five in the 21st century as
of 2016—and are always killed because of their danger, and the Play media
cost and difficulty of repatriation.[42] Bears play-fighting

Modern methods of tracking polar bear populations have been

implemented only since the mid-1980s, and are expensive to perform consistently over a large area. The
most accurate counts require flying a helicopter in the Arctic climate to find polar bears, shooting a
tranquilizer dart at the bear to sedate it, and then tagging the bear. In Nunavut, some Inuit have reported
increases in bear sightings around human settlements in recent years, leading to a belief that populations
are increasing. Scientists have responded by noting that hungry bears may be congregating around human
settlements, leading to the illusion that populations are higher than they actually are.[43] The Polar Bear
Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission takes the position that "estimates of
subpopulation size or sustainable harvest levels should not be made solely on the basis of traditional
ecological knowledge without supporting scientific studies."[44]

Of the 19 recognized polar bear subpopulations, one is in decline, two are increasing, seven are stable,
and nine have insufficient data, as of 2017.[45]
Habitat
The polar bear is a marine mammal because it spends many
months of the year at sea.[46] However, it is the only living
marine mammal with powerful, large limbs and feet that allow
them to cover kilometres on foot and run on land.[47] Its preferred
habitat is the annual sea ice covering the waters over the
continental shelf and the Arctic inter-island archipelagos. These
areas, known as the "Arctic ring of life", have high biological
productivity in comparison to the deep waters of the high
Polar bear jumping on fast ice in
Arctic.[36][48] The polar bear tends to frequent areas where sea
Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard
ice meets water, such as polynyas and leads (temporary stretches Archipelago, Norway
of open water in Arctic ice), to hunt the seals that make up most
of its diet.[49] Freshwater is limited in these environments
because it is either locked up in snow or saline. Polar bears are able to produce water through the
metabolism of fats found in seal blubber,[50] and are therefore found primarily along the perimeter of the
polar ice pack, rather than in the Polar Basin close to the North Pole where the density of seals is low.[51]

Annual ice contains areas of water that appear and disappear throughout the year as the weather changes.
Seals migrate in response to these changes, and polar bears must follow their prey. In Hudson Bay, James
Bay, and some other areas, the ice melts completely each summer (an event often referred to as "ice-floe
breakup"), forcing polar bears to go onto land and wait through the months until the next freeze-up.[48] In
the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, polar bears retreat each summer to the ice further north that remains
frozen year-round.

Physical characteristics
The only other bear similar in size to the polar bear is the Kodiak bear, which is a subspecies of brown
bear.[52] Adult male polar bears weigh 350–700 kg (772–1,543 lb) and measure 2.4–3 metres (7 ft 10 in–
9 ft 10 in) in total length.[53] Around the Beaufort Sea, however, mature males reportedly average 450 kg
(992 lb).[54] Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–250 kg (331–
551 lb), measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5 ft 11 in–7 ft 10 in) in length. Elsewhere, a slightly larger estimated
average weight of 260 kg (573 lb) was claimed for adult females.[55] When pregnant, however, females
can weigh as much as 500 kg (1,102 lb).[53] The polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic of
mammals, surpassed only by the pinnipeds such as elephant seals.[56] The largest polar bear on record,
reportedly weighing 1,002 kg (2,209 lb), was a male shot at Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in
1960. This specimen, when mounted, stood 3.39 m (11 ft 1 in) tall on its hindlegs. The shoulder height of
an adult polar bear is 122 to 160 cm (4 ft 0 in to 5 ft 3 in).[57][58] While all bears are short-tailed, the
polar bear's tail is relatively the shortest amongst living bears, ranging from 7 to 13 cm (2.8 to 5.1 in) in
length.[59]

Compared with its closest relative, the brown bear, the polar bear has a more elongated body build and a
longer skull and nose.[31] As predicted by Allen's rule for a northerly animal, the legs are stocky and the
ears and tail are small.[31] However, the feet are very large to distribute load when walking on snow or
thin ice and to provide propulsion when swimming; they may measure 30 cm (12 in) across in an
adult.[60] The pads of the paws are covered with small, soft papillae (dermal bumps), which provide
traction on the ice. The polar bear's claws are short and stocky compared to those of the brown bear,
perhaps to serve the former's need to grip heavy prey and ice.[31] The claws are deeply scooped on the
underside to assist in digging in the ice of the natural habitat.
Research of injury patterns in polar bear forelimbs found injuries to
the right forelimb to be more frequent than those to the left,
suggesting, perhaps, right-handedness.[61] Unlike the brown bear,
polar bears in captivity are rarely overweight or particularly large,
possibly as a reaction to the warm conditions of most zoos.

The 42 teeth of a polar bear reflect its highly carnivorous diet. The
cheek teeth are smaller and more jagged than in the brown bear, and
the canines are larger and sharper. The dental formula is 3.1.4.2
3.1.4.3
.[31]

Polar bears are superbly insulated by up to 10 cm (4 in) of adipose

tissue,[60] their hide and their fur; they overheat at temperatures
above 10 °C (50 °F), and are nearly invisible under infrared
photography.[62] Polar bear fur consists of a layer of dense underfur Yellow bear near Churchill,
and an outer layer of guard hairs, which appear white to tan but are Manitoba, Canada
actually transparent.[60] Two genes that are known to influence
melanin production, LYST and AIM1, are both mutated in polar
bears, possibly leading to the absence on this pigment in their
fur.[63] The guard hair is 5–15 cm (2–6 in) over most of the body.[64]
Polar bears gradually moult from May to August,[65] but, unlike
other Arctic mammals, they do not shed their coat for a darker shade
to provide camouflage in summer conditions.[66] The hollow guard
Skull
hairs of a polar bear coat were once thought to act as fiber-optic
tubes to conduct light to its black skin, where it could be absorbed;
however, this hypothesis was disproved by a study in 1998.[67]

The white coat usually yellows with age. When kept in captivity in
warm, humid conditions, the fur may turn a pale shade of green due
to algae growing inside the guard hairs.[68] Males have significantly
longer hairs on their forelegs, which increase in length until the bear
reaches 14 years of age. The male's ornamental foreleg hair is
thought to attract females, serving a similar function to the lion's
mane.[69]

The polar bear has an extremely well developed sense of smell, Polar bear skeleton

being able to detect seals nearly 1.6 km (1 mi) away and buried
under 1 m (3 ft) of snow. Its hearing is about as acute as that of a
human, and its vision is also good at long distances.[70]

The polar bear is an excellent swimmer and often will swim for
days.[71] One bear swam continuously for 9 days in the frigid Bering
Play media
Sea for 700 km (400 mi) to reach ice far from land. She then Captive bear swimming
travelled another 1,800 km (1,100 mi). During the swim, the bear
lost 22% of her body mass and her yearling cub died.[72] With its
body fat providing buoyancy, the bear swims in a dog paddle fashion using its large forepaws for
propulsion. Polar bears can swim 10 km/h (6 mph). When walking, the polar bear tends to have a
lumbering gait and maintains an average speed of around 5.6 km/h (3.5 mph).[73] When sprinting, they
can reach up to 40 km/h (25 mph).[74]

Life history and behaviour

Unlike brown bears, polar bears are not territorial. Although
stereotyped as being voraciously aggressive, they are normally
cautious in confrontations, and often choose to escape rather than
fight.[75] Satiated polar bears rarely attack humans unless
severely provoked.[76][77] However, due to their lack of prior
human interaction, hungry polar bears are extremely
unpredictable, fearless towards people and are known to kill and
sometimes eat humans.[78] Many attacks by brown bears are the
result of surprising the animal, which is not the case with the
polar bear. Polar bears are stealth hunters, and the victim is often
unaware of the bear's presence until the attack is underway. Subadult males frequently play-fight.
During the mating season, actual
Whereas brown bears often maul a person and then leave, polar
fighting is intense and often leaves
bear attacks are more likely to be predatory and are almost
scars or broken teeth.
always fatal.[79] However, due to the very small human
population around the Arctic, such attacks are rare. Michio
Hoshino, a Japanese wildlife photographer, was once pursued briefly by a hungry male polar bear in
northern Alaska. According to Hoshino, the bear started running but Hoshino made it to his truck. The
bear was able to reach the truck and tore one of the doors off the truck before Hoshino was able to drive
off.[80]

In general, adult polar bears live solitary lives. Yet, they have often been seen playing together for hours
at a time and even sleeping in an embrace,[78] and polar bear zoologist Nikita Ovsianikov has described
adult males as having "well-developed friendships."[75] Cubs are especially playful as well. Among
young males in particular, play-fighting may be a means of practicing for serious competition during
mating seasons later in life.[81] Polar bears are usually quiet but do communicate with various sounds and
vocalizations. Females communicate with their young with moans and chuffs, and the distress calls of
both cubs and subadults consists of bleats.[82] Cubs may hum while nursing.[83] When nervous, bears
produce huffs, chuffs and snorts while hisses, growls and roars are signs of aggression.[82] Chemical
communication can also be important: bears leave behind their scent in their tracks which allow
individuals to keep track of one another in the vast Arctic wilderness.[84]

In 1992, a photographer near Churchill took a now widely circulated set of photographs of a polar bear
playing with a Canadian Eskimo Dog (Canis lupus familiaris) a tenth of its size.[85][86] The pair wrestled
harmlessly together each afternoon for 10 days in a row for no apparent reason, although the bear may
have been trying to demonstrate its friendliness in the hope of sharing the kennel's food. This kind of
social interaction is uncommon; it is far more typical for polar bears to behave aggressively towards
dogs.[85]

Hunting and diet

The polar bear is the most carnivorous member of the bear
family, and throughout most of its range, its diet primarily
consists of ringed (Pusa hispida) and bearded seals (Erignathus
barbatus).[88] The Arctic is home to millions of seals, which
become prey when they surface in holes in the ice in order to
breathe, or when they haul out on the ice to rest.[87][89] Polar
bears hunt primarily at the interface between ice, water, and air;
they only rarely catch seals on land or in open water.[90]
Long muzzle and neck of the polar
The polar bear's most common hunting method is called still- bear help it to search in deep holes
hunting:[91] the bear uses its excellent sense of smell to locate a for seals, while powerful hindquarters
enable it to drag massive prey[87]
seal breathing hole, and crouches nearby in silence for a seal to
appear. The bear may lie in wait for several hours. When the seal
exhales, the bear smells its breath, reaches into the hole with a
forepaw, and drags it out onto the ice. The polar bear kills the seal by biting its head to crush its skull.
The polar bear also hunts by stalking seals resting on the ice: upon spotting a seal, it walks to within
90 m (100 yd), and then crouches. If the seal does not notice, the bear creeps to within 9 to 12 m (30 to
40 ft) of the seal and then suddenly rushes forth to attack.[87] A third hunting method is to raid the birth
lairs that female seals create in the snow.[91]

A widespread legend tells that polar bears cover their black noses with their paws when hunting. This
behaviour, if it happens, is rare – although the story exists in the oral history of northern peoples and in
accounts by early Arctic explorers, there is no record of an eyewitness account of the behaviour in recent
decades.[73]

Mature bears tend to eat only the calorie-rich skin and blubber of
the seal, which are highly digestible,[92] whereas younger bears
consume the protein-rich red meat.[87] Studies have also
photographed polar bears scaling near-vertical cliffs, to eat birds'
chicks and eggs.[93] For subadult bears, which are independent of
their mother but have not yet gained enough experience and body
size to successfully hunt seals, scavenging the carcasses from
Bear feeding on a bearded seal
other bears' kills is an important source of nutrition. Subadults
may also be forced to accept a half-eaten carcass if they kill a seal
but cannot defend it from larger polar bears. After feeding, polar bears wash themselves with water or
snow.[73]

Although polar bears are extraordinarily powerful, its primary prey species, the ringed seal, is much
smaller than itself, and many of the seals hunted are pups rather than adults. Ringed seals are born
weighing 5.4 kg (12 lb) and grown to an estimated average weight of only 60 kg (130 lb).[94][95] They
also in places prey heavily upon the harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) or the harbour seal. The
bearded seal, on the other hand, can be nearly the same size as the bear itself, averaging 270 kg
(600 lb).[95] Adult male bearded seals, at 350 to 500 kg (770 to 1,100 lb) are too large for a female bear
to overtake, and so are potential prey only for mature male bears.[96] Large males also occasionally
attempt to hunt and kill even larger prey items.[97] It can kill an adult walrus (Odobenus
rosmarus),[95][98] although this is rarely attempted. At up to 2,000 kg (4,400 lb) and a typical adult mass
range of 600 to 1,500 kg (1,300 to 3,300 lb), a walrus can be more than twice the bear's weight,[99] has
extremely thick skin and has up to 1-metre (3 ft)-long ivory tusks that can be used as formidable
weapons. A polar bear may charge a group of walruses, with the goal of separating a young, infirm, or
injured walrus from the pod. They will even attack adult walruses when their diving holes have frozen
over or intercept them before they can get back to the diving hole in the ice. Yet, polar bears will very
seldom attack full-grown adult walruses, with the largest male walrus probably invulnerable unless
otherwise injured or incapacitated. Since an attack on a walrus tends to be an extremely protracted and
exhausting venture, bears have been known to back down from the attack after making the initial injury
to the walrus.[98] Polar bears have also been seen to prey on beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas)[95]
and narwhals (Monodon monoceros),[95] by swiping at them at breathing holes. The whales are of similar
size to the walrus and nearly as difficult for the bear to subdue.[100][101] Most terrestrial animals in the
Arctic can outrun the polar bear on land as polar bears overheat quickly, and most marine animals the
bear encounters can outswim it. In some areas, the polar bear's diet is supplemented by walrus calves and
by the carcasses of dead adult walruses or whales, whose blubber is readily devoured even when
rotten.[78] Polar bears sometimes swim underwater to catch fish like the Arctic charr or the fourhorn
sculpin.[89]

With the exception of pregnant females, polar bears are active

year-round, although they have a vestigial hibernation induction
trigger in their blood. Unlike brown and black bears, polar bears
are capable of fasting for up to several months during late
summer and early fall, when they cannot hunt for seals because
the sea is unfrozen.[102] When sea ice is unavailable during
summer and early autumn, some populations live off fat reserves
for months at a time,[62] as polar bears do not 'hibernate' any time
of the year.[103]

Being both curious animals and scavengers,[99][104] polar bears

investigate and consume garbage where they come into contact
with humans.[95][99] Polar bears may attempt to consume almost
anything they can find, including hazardous substances such as
styrofoam, plastic, car batteries, ethylene glycol, hydraulic fluid, Some characteristic postures:
and motor oil.[99][104] The dump in Churchill, Manitoba was
closed in 2006 to protect bears, and waste is now recycled or 1. at rest;
transported to Thompson, Manitoba.[105][106] 2. assessing a situation;
3. when feeding
Dietary flexibility
Although seal predation is the primary and an indispensable way
of life for most polar bears, when alternatives are present they are quite flexible. Polar bears consume a
wide variety of other wild foods, including muskox (Ovibos moschatus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus),
birds, eggs, rodents, crabs, other crustaceans and other polar bears. They may also eat plants, including
berries, roots, and kelp;[107] however, none of these have been a significant part of their diet,[99] except
for beachcast marine mammal carcasses. Given the change in climate, with ice breaking up in areas such
as the Hudson Bay earlier than it used to, polar bears are exploiting food resources such as snow geese
and eggs, and plants such as lyme grass in increased quantities.[108]

When stalking land animals, such as muskox, reindeer,[107] and even willow ptarmigan (Lagopus
lagopus), polar bears appear to make use of vegetative cover and wind direction to bring them as close to
their prey as possible before attacking. Polar bears have been observed to hunt the small Svalbard
reindeer (R. t. platyrhynchus), which weigh only 40 to 60 kg (90 to 130 lb) as adults, as well as the
barren-ground caribou (R. t. groenlandicus), which is about twice as heavy as that.[109][110] Adult
muskox, which can weigh 450 kg (1,000 lb) or more, are a more formidable quarry.[111] Although
ungulates are not typical prey, the killing of one during the summer months can greatly increase the odds
of survival during that lean period. Like the brown bear, most ungulate prey of polar bears is likely to be
young, sickly or injured specimens rather than healthy adults.[110] The polar bear's metabolism is
specialized to require large amounts of fat from marine mammals, and it cannot derive sufficient caloric
intake from terrestrial food.[112][113]

In their southern range, especially near Hudson Bay and James Bay, Canadian polar bears endure all
summer without sea ice to hunt from.[107] Here, their food ecology shows their dietary flexibility. They
still manage to consume some seals, but they are food-deprived in summer as only marine mammal
carcasses are an important alternative without sea ice, especially carcasses of the beluga whale. These
alternatives may reduce the rate of weight loss of bears when on land.[114] One scientist found that 71%
of the Hudson Bay bears had fed on seaweed (marine algae) and that about half were feeding on birds[95]
such as the dovekie and sea ducks, especially the long-tailed duck (53%) and common eider, by
swimming underwater to catch them. They were also diving to feed on blue mussels and other
underwater food sources like the green sea urchin. 24% had eaten moss recently, 19% had consumed
grass, 34% had eaten black crowberry and about half had consumed willows.[107] This study illustrates
the polar bear's dietary flexibility but it does not represent its life history elsewhere. Most polar bears
elsewhere will never have access to these alternatives, except for the marine mammal carcasses that are
important wherever they occur.

In Svalbard, polar bears were observed to kill white-beaked dolphins during spring, when the dolphins
were trapped in the sea ice. The bears then proceeded to cache the carcasses, which remained and were
eaten during the ice-free summer and autumn.[115]

Reproduction and lifecycle

Courtship and mating take place on the sea ice in April and May,
when polar bears congregate in the best seal hunting areas.[116] A
male may follow the tracks of a breeding female for 100 km
(60 mi) or more, and after finding her engage in intense fighting
with other males over mating rights, fights that often result in
scars and broken teeth.[116] Polar bears have a generally
polygynous mating system; recent genetic testing of mothers and
cubs, however, has uncovered cases of litters in which cubs have Cubs are born helpless and typically
different fathers.[117] Partners stay together and mate repeatedly nurse for two and a half years
for an entire week; the mating ritual induces ovulation in the
female.[118]

After mating, the fertilized egg remains in a suspended state until August or September. During these
four months, the pregnant female eats prodigious amounts of food, gaining at least 200 kg (440 lb) and
often more than doubling her body weight.[116]

Maternity denning and early life

When the ice floes are at their minimum in the fall, ending the
possibility of hunting, each pregnant female digs a maternity den
consisting of a narrow entrance tunnel leading to one to three
chambers. Most maternity dens are in snowdrifts, but may also be
made underground in permafrost if it is not sufficiently cold yet
for snow.[116] In most subpopulations, maternity dens are situated
on land a few kilometres from the coast, and the individuals in a
Mother and cub on Svalbard, Norway
subpopulation tend to reuse the same denning areas each year.[36]
The polar bears that do not den on land make their dens on the
sea ice. In the den, she enters a dormant state similar to hibernation. This hibernation-like state does not
consist of continuous sleeping; however, the bear's heart rate slows from 46 to 27 beats per minute.[119]
Her body temperature does not decrease during this period as it would for a typical mammal in
hibernation.[62][120]

Between November and February, cubs are born blind, covered with a light down fur, and weighing less
than 0.9 kg (2.0 lb),[118] but in captivity they might be delivered in the earlier months. The earliest
recorded birth of polar bears in captivity was on 11 October 2011 in the Toronto Zoo.[121] On average,
each litter has two cubs. The family remains in the den until mid-February to mid-April, with the mother
maintaining her fast while nursing her cubs on a fat-rich milk. By the time the mother breaks open the
entrance to the den, her cubs weigh about 10 to 15 kilograms (22 to 33 lb). For about 12 to 15 days, the
family spends time outside the den while remaining in its vicinity, the mother grazing on vegetation
while the cubs become used to walking and playing. Then they begin the long walk from the denning
area to the sea ice, where the mother can once again catch seals. Depending on the timing of ice-floe
breakup in the fall, she may have fasted for up to eight months.[116] During this time, cubs playfully
imitate the mother's hunting methods in preparation for later life.[122]

Female polar bears are noted for both their affection towards their
offspring, and their valor in protecting them. Multiple cases of
adoption of wild cubs have been confirmed by genetic
testing.[123] Adult bears of either gender occasionally kill and eat
polar bear cubs.[124][125] As of 2006, in Alaska, 42% of cubs
were reaching 12 months of age, down from 65% in 1991.[126] In
most areas, cubs are weaned at two and a half years of age, when
the mother chases them away or abandons them. The Western
Hudson Bay subpopulation is unusual in that its female polar
Play media
bears sometimes wean their cubs at only one and a half years.[116] Cub nursing
This was the case for 40% of cubs there in the early 1980s;
however by the 1990s, fewer than 20% of cubs were weaned this
young.[127] After the mother leaves, sibling cubs sometimes travel and share food together for weeks or
months.[78]

Later life
Females begin to breed at the age of four years in most areas, and five years in the area of the Beaufort
Sea. Males usually reach sexual maturity at six years; however, as competition for females is fierce,
many do not breed until the age of eight or ten.[116] A study in Hudson Bay indicated that both the
reproductive success and the maternal weight of females peaked in their mid-teens.Maternal success
appeared to decline after this point, possibly because of an age-related impairment in the ability to store
the fat necessary to rear cubs.[128]

Polar bears appear to be less affected by infectious diseases and parasites than most terrestrial
mammals.[129] Polar bears are especially susceptible to Trichinella, a parasitic roundworm they contract
through cannibalism,[130] although infections are usually not fatal. Only one case of a polar bear with
rabies has been documented, even though polar bears frequently interact with Arctic foxes, which often
carry rabies.[129] Bacterial leptospirosis and Morbillivirus have been recorded. Polar bears sometimes
have problems with various skin diseases that may be caused by mites or other parasites.

Life expectancy
Polar bears rarely live beyond 25 years.[131] The oldest wild bears on record died at age 32, whereas the
oldest captive was a female who died in 1991, age 43.[132] The causes of death in wild adult polar bears
are poorly understood, as carcasses are rarely found in the species's frigid habitat. In the wild, old polar
bears eventually become too weak to catch food, and gradually starve to death. Polar bears injured in
fights or accidents may either die from their injuries, or become unable to hunt effectively, leading to
starvation.[129]

Ecological role
The polar bear is the apex predator within its range, and is a keystone species for the Arctic.[133] Several
animal species, particularly Arctic foxes (Vulpes lagopus) and glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus),
routinely scavenge polar bear kills.[73]

The relationship between ringed seals and polar bears is so close that the abundance of ringed seals in
some areas appears to regulate the density of polar bears, while polar bear predation in turn regulates
density and reproductive success of ringed seals.[90] The evolutionary pressure of polar bear predation on
seals probably accounts for some significant differences between Arctic and Antarctic seals. Compared to
the Antarctic, where there is no major surface predator, Arctic seals use more breathing holes per
individual, appear more restless when hauled out on the ice, and rarely defecate on the ice. The baby fur
of most Arctic seal species is white, presumably to provide camouflage from predators, whereas
Antarctic seals all have dark fur at birth.[73]

Brown bears tend to dominate polar bears in disputes over carcasses,[134] and dead polar bear cubs have
been found in brown bear dens.[135] Wolves are rarely encountered by polar bears, though there are two
records of Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos) packs killing polar bear cubs.[136] Adult polar bears are
occasionally vulnerable to predation by orcas (Orcinus orca) while swimming, but they are rarely
reported as taken and bears are likely to avoid entering the water if possible if they detect an orca pod in
the area. The melting sea ice in the Arctic may be causing an increase of orcas in the Arctic sea, which
may increase the risk of predation on polar bears but also may benefit the bears by providing more whale
carcasses that they can scavenge.[137][138] The remains of polar bears have found in the stomachs of large
Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus), although it certainly cannot be ruled out that the bears
were merely scavenged by this slow-moving, unusual shark.[139][140] A rather unlikely killer of a grown
polar bear has reportedly included a wolverine (Gulo gulo), anecedotely reported to have suffocated a
bear in a zoo with a bite to the throat during a conflict. This report may well be dubious, however.[141]
Polar bears are sometimes the host of arctic mites such as Alaskozetes antarcticus.[73]
Long-distance swimming and diving
Researchers tracked 52 sows in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska with GPS system collars; no boars
were involved in the study due to males' necks being too thick for the GPS-equipped collars. Fifty long-
distance swims were recorded; the longest at 354 kilometres (220 mi), with an average of 155 kilometres
(96 mi). The length of these swims ranged from most of a day to ten days. Ten of the sows had a cub
swim with them and after a year, six cubs survived. The study did not determine if the others lost their
cubs before, during, or some time after their long swims. Researchers do not know whether or not this is
a new behaviour; before polar ice shrinkage, they opined that there was probably neither the need nor
opportunity to swim such long distances.[142]

The polar bear may swim underwater for up to three minutes to approach seals on shore or on ice
floes.[143][144]

Hunting

Indigenous people
Polar bears have long provided important raw materials for Arctic
peoples, including the Inuit, Yupik, Chukchi, Nenets, Russian
Pomors and others. Hunters commonly used teams of dogs to
distract the bear, allowing the hunter to spear the bear or shoot it
with arrows at closer range.[145] Almost all parts of captured
animals had a use.[146] The fur was used in particular to make
trousers and, by the Nenets, to make galoshes-like outer footwear
called tobok; the meat is edible, despite some risk of trichinosis; Skins of hunted bears
the fat was used in food and as a fuel for lighting homes,
alongside seal and whale blubber; sinews were used as thread for
sewing clothes; the gallbladder and sometimes heart were dried and powdered for medicinal purposes;
the large canine teeth were highly valued as talismans.[147] Only the liver was not used, as its high
concentration of vitamin A is poisonous. As a carnivore, which feeds largely upon fish-eating carnivores,
the polar bear ingests large amounts of vitamin A that is stored in their livers. The resulting high
concentrations cause Hypervitaminosis A,[148] Hunters make sure to either toss the liver into the sea or
bury it in order to spare their dogs from potential poisoning.[147] Traditional subsistence hunting was on a
small enough scale to not significantly affect polar bear populations, mostly because of the sparseness of
the human population in polar bear habitat.[149]

History of commercial harvest

In Russia, polar bear furs were already being commercially traded in the 14th century, though it was of
low value compared to Arctic fox or even reindeer fur.[147] The growth of the human population in the
Eurasian Arctic in the 16th and 17th century, together with the advent of firearms and increasing trade,
dramatically increased the harvest of polar bears.[62][150] However, since polar bear fur has always
played a marginal commercial role, data on the historical harvest is fragmentary. It is known, for
example, that already in the winter of 1784/1785 Russian Pomors on Spitsbergen harvested 150 polar
bears in Magdalenefjorden. In the early 20th century, Norwegian hunters were harvesting 300 bears per
year at the same location. Estimates of total historical harvest suggest that from the beginning of the 18th
century, roughly 400 to 500 animals were being harvested annually in northern Eurasia, reaching a peak
of 1,300 to 1,500 animals in the early 20th century, and falling off as the numbers began dwindling.[147]

In the first half of the 20th century, mechanized and overpoweringly efficient methods of hunting and
trapping came into use in North America as well. Polar bears were chased from snowmobiles,
icebreakers, and airplanes, the latter practice described in a 1965 New York Times editorial as being
"about as sporting as machine gunning a cow."[151] Norwegians used "self-killing guns", comprising a
loaded rifle in a baited box that was placed at the level of a bear's head, and which fired when the string
attached to the bait was pulled.[152] The numbers taken grew rapidly in the 1960s, peaking around 1968
with a global total of 1,250 bears that year.[153]

Contemporary regulations
Concerns over the future survival of the species led to the
development of national regulations on polar bear hunting,
beginning in the mid-1950s. The Soviet Union banned all hunting
in 1956. Canada began imposing hunting quotas in 1968. Norway
passed a series of increasingly strict regulations from 1965 to
1973, and has completely banned hunting since then. The United
States began regulating hunting in 1971 and adopted the Marine
Mammal Protection Act in 1972. In 1973, the International
Road sign warning about the
Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears was signed by all presence of bears. The Norwegian
five nations whose territory is inhabited by polar bears: Canada, text translates into "Applies to all of
Denmark, Norway, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Svalbard".
Member countries agreed to place restrictions on recreational and
commercial hunting, ban hunting from aircraft and icebreakers,
and conduct further research.[154] The treaty allows hunting "by local people using traditional methods".
Norway is the only country of the five in which all harvest of polar bears is banned. The agreement was a
rare case of international cooperation during the Cold War. Biologist Ian Stirling commented, "For many
years, the conservation of polar bears was the only subject in the entire Arctic that nations from both
sides of the Iron Curtain could agree upon sufficiently to sign an agreement. Such was the intensity of
human fascination with this magnificent predator, the only marine bear."[155]

Agreements have been made between countries to co-manage their shared polar bear subpopulations.
After several years of negotiations, Russia and the United States signed an agreement in October 2000 to
jointly set quotas for indigenous subsistence hunting in Alaska and Chukotka.[156] The treaty was ratified
in October 2007.[157] In September 2015, the polar bear range states agreed upon a "circumpolar action
plan" describing their conservation strategy for polar bears.[158]

Although the United States government has proposed that polar bears be transferred to Appendix I of
CITES, which would ban all international trade in polar bear parts, polar bears currently remain listed
under Appendix II.[159] This decision was approved of by members of the IUCN and TRAFFIC, who
determined that such an uplisting was unlikely to confer a conservation benefit.[160]

Canada
Polar bears were designated "Not at Risk" in April 1986 and
uplisted to "Special Concern" in April 1991. This status was re-
evaluated and confirmed in April 1999, November 2002, and
April 2008. Polar bears continue to be listed as a species of
special concern in Canada because of their sensitivity to
overharvest and because of an expected range contraction caused
by loss of Arctic sea ice.[161]

More than 600 bears are killed per year by humans across
Canada,[45] a rate calculated by scientists to be unsustainable for Dogsleds are used for recreational
hunting of polar bears in Canada
some areas, notably Baffin Bay.[37] Canada has allowed sport
hunters accompanied by local guides and dog-sled teams since
1970,[162] but the practice was not common until the 1980s.[163] The guiding of sport hunters provides
meaningful employment and an important source of income for northern communities in which economic
opportunities are few.[43] Sport hunting can bring CDN$20,000 to $35,000 per bear into northern
communities, which until recently has been mostly from American hunters.[164]

The territory of Nunavut accounts for the location 80% of annual kills in Canada. In 2005, the
government of Nunavut increased the quota from 400 to 518 bears,[164] despite protests from the IUCN
Polar Bear Specialist Group.[165] In two areas where harvest levels have been increased based on
increased sightings, science-based studies have indicated declining populations, and a third area is
considered data-deficient.[166] While most of that quota is hunted by the indigenous Inuit people, a
growing share is sold to recreational hunters. (0.8% in the 1970s, 7.1% in the 1980s, and 14.6% in the
1990s)[163] Nunavut polar bear biologist, Mitchell Taylor, who was formerly responsible for polar bear
conservation in the territory, has insisted that bear numbers are being sustained under current hunting
limits.[167] In 2010, the 2005 increase was partially reversed. Government of Nunavut officials
announced that the polar bear quota for the Baffin Bay region would be gradually reduced from 105 per
year to 65 by the year 2013.[168] The Government of the Northwest Territories maintain their own quota
of 72 to 103 bears within the Inuvialuit communities of which some are set aside for sports hunters.
Environment Canada also banned the export from Canada of fur, claws, skulls and other products from
polar bears harvested in Baffin Bay as of 1 January 2010.[168]

Because of the way polar bear hunting quotas are managed in Canada, attempts to discourage sport
hunting would actually increase the number of bears killed in the short term. Canada allocates a certain
number of permits each year to sport and subsistence hunting, and those that are not used for sport
hunting are re-allocated to indigenous subsistence hunting. Whereas northern communities kill all the
polar bears they are permitted to take each year, only half of sport hunters with permits actually manage
to kill a polar bear. If a sport hunter does not kill a polar bear before his or her permit expires, the permit
cannot be transferred to another hunter.[43]

In August 2011, Environment Canada published a national polar bear conservation strategy.[169]

Greenland
In Greenland, hunting restrictions were first introduced in 1994 and expanded by executive order in
2005.[39] Until 2005 Greenland placed no limit on hunting by indigenous people. However, in 2006 it
imposed a limit of 150, while also allowed recreational hunting for the first time.[170] Other provisions
included year-round protection of cubs and mothers, restrictions on weapons used and various
administrative requirements to catalogue kills.[39]
Norway
Polar bears were hunted heavily in Svalbard, Norway throughout the 19th century and to as recently as
1973, when the conservation treaty was signed. 900 bears a year were harvested in the 1920s and after
World War II, there were as many as 400–500 harvested annually. Some regulations of hunting did exist.
In 1927, poisoning was outlawed while in 1939, certain denning sights were declared off limits. The
killing of females and cubs was made illegal in 1965. Killing of polar bears decreased somewhat 25–30
years before the treaty. Despite this, the polar bear population continued to decline and by 1973, only
around 1000 bears were left in Svalbard. Only with the passage of the treaty did they begin to
recover.[171]

Russia
The Soviet Union banned the harvest of polar bears in 1956; however, poaching continued and is
estimated to pose a serious threat to the polar bear population.[39] In recent years, polar bears have
approached coastal villages in Chukotka more frequently due to the shrinking of the sea ice, endangering
humans and raising concerns that illegal hunting would become even more prevalent. In 2007, the
Russian government made subsistence hunting legal for indigenous Chukotkan peoples only, a move
supported by Russia's most prominent bear researchers and the World Wide Fund for Nature as a means
to curb poaching.[172]

Polar bears are currently listed as "Rare", of "Uncertain Status", or "Rehabilitated and rehabilitating" in
the Red Data Book of Russia, depending on population.[173] In 2010, the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environment published a strategy for polar bear conservation in Russia.[174]

United States
The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 afforded polar bears some protection in the United States. It
banned hunting (except by indigenous subsistence hunters), banned importing of polar bear parts (except
polar bear pelts taken legally in Canada), and banned the harassment of polar bears. On 15 May 2008, the
United States Department of the Interior listed the polar bear as a threatened species under the
Endangered Species Act, citing the melting of Arctic sea ice as the primary threat to the polar bear.[175] It
banned all importing of polar bear trophies. Importing products made from polar bears had been
prohibited from 1972 to 1994 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and restricted between 1994
and 2008. Under those restrictions, permits from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service were
required to import sport-hunted polar bear trophies taken in hunting expeditions in Canada. The permit
process required that the bear be taken from an area with quotas based on sound management
principles.[176] Since 1994, hundreds of sport-hunted polar bear trophies have been imported into the
U.S.[177] In 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a draft conservation management plan for
polar bears to improve their status under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection
Act.[178]

Conservation status, threats, and controversies

Polar bear population sizes and trends are difficult to estimate accurately because they occupy remote
home ranges and exist at low population densities. Polar bear fieldwork can also be hazardous to
researchers.[179] As of 2015, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reports that the
global population of polar bears is 22,000 to 31,000, and the current population trend is unknown.
Nevertheless, polar bears are listed as "Vulnerable" under criterion A3c, which indicates an expected
population decrease of ≥30% over the next three
generations (~34.5 years) due to "decline in area
of occupancy, extent of occurrence and/or
quality of habitat". Risks to the polar bear
include climate change, pollution in the form of
toxic contaminants, conflicts with shipping, oil
and gas exploration and development, and
human-bear interactions including harvesting
and possible stresses from recreational polar-
bear watching.[2]

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the polar

bear is important as an indicator of Arctic
ecosystem health. Polar bears are studied to gain
understanding of what is happening throughout
the Arctic, because at-risk polar bears are often Map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows projected
a sign of something wrong with the Arctic changes in polar bear habitat from 2001 to 2010 and
2041 to 2050. Red areas indicate loss of optimal polar
marine ecosystem.[180]
bear habitat; blue areas indicate gain.

Climate change
The International Union for Conservation of Nature, Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, United States
Geological Survey and many leading polar bear biologists have expressed grave concerns about the
impact of climate change, including the belief that the current warming trend imperils the survival of the
polar bear.[36][181][182][183][184][185]

The key danger posed by climate change is malnutrition or starvation due to habitat loss. Polar bears hunt
seals from a platform of sea ice. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier in the year, driving
the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves to survive the period of scarce food in the
late summer and early fall.[127] Reduction in sea-ice cover also forces bears to swim longer distances,
which further depletes their energy stores and occasionally leads to drowning.[186] Thinner sea ice tends
to deform more easily, which appears to make it more difficult for polar bears to access seals.[90]
Insufficient nourishment leads to lower reproductive rates in adult females and lower survival rates in
cubs and juvenile bears, in addition to poorer body condition in bears of all ages.[36]

In addition to creating nutritional stress, a warming climate is

Mothers and cubs have high
nutritional requirements, which are
not met if the seal-hunting season is
too short
expected to affect various other aspects of polar bear life:
Changes in sea ice affect the ability of pregnant females to build
suitable maternity dens.[30] As the distance increases between the
pack ice and the coast, females must swim longer distances to
reach favoured denning areas on land. Thawing of permafrost
would affect the bears who traditionally den underground, and
warm winters could result in den roofs collapsing or having
reduced insulative value. For the polar bears that currently den on
multi-year ice, increased ice mobility may result in longer
distances for mothers and young cubs to walk when they return to
seal-hunting areas in the spring.[36] Disease-causing bacteria and
parasites would flourish more readily in a warmer climate.[90]
Problematic interactions between polar bears and humans, such as foraging by bears in garbage dumps,
have historically been more prevalent in years when ice-floe breakup occurred early and local polar bears
were relatively thin. Increased human-bear interactions, including fatal attacks on humans, are likely to
increase as the sea ice shrinks and hungry bears try to find food on land.[181]

The effects of climate change are most profound in the southern

part of the polar bear's range, and this is indeed where significant
degradation of local populations has been observed.[185] The
Western Hudson Bay subpopulation, in a southern part of the
range, also happens to be one of the best-studied polar bear
subpopulations. This subpopulation feeds heavily on ringed seals
in late spring, when newly weaned and easily hunted seal pups
Starving bear near Svalbard
are abundant. The late spring hunting season ends for polar bears
when the ice begins to melt and break up, and they fast or eat
little during the summer until the sea freezes again.[166]

Due to warming air temperatures, ice-floe breakup in western Hudson Bay is currently occurring three
weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago, reducing the duration of the polar bear feeding season. The body
condition of polar bears has declined during this period; the average weight of lone (and likely pregnant)
female polar bears was approximately 290 kg (640 lb) in 1980 and 230 kg (510 lb) in 2004.[166] Between
1987 and 2004, the Western Hudson Bay population declined by 22%,[187] although the population was
listed as "stable" as of 2017.[45] As the climate change melts sea ice, the U.S. Geological Survey projects
that two-thirds of polar bears will disappear by 2050.[188]

In Alaska, the effects of sea ice shrinkage have contributed to higher mortality rates in polar bear cubs,
and have led to changes in the denning locations of pregnant females.[126] The proportion of maternity
dens on sea ice has changed from 62% between the years 1985 through 1994, to 37% over the years 1998
through 2004. Thus, now the Alaskan population more resembles the world population in that it is more
likely to den on land.[189] In recent years, polar bears in the Arctic have undertaken longer than usual
swims to find prey, possibly resulting in four recorded drownings in the unusually large ice pack
regression of 2005.[186]

A new development is that polar bears have begun ranging to new territory. While not unheard of but still
uncommon, polar bears have been sighted increasingly in larger numbers ashore, staying on the mainland
for longer periods of time during the summer months, particularly in North Canada, traveling farther
inland.[190] This may cause an increased reliance on terrestrial diets, such as goose eggs, waterfowl and
caribou,[191] as well as increased human–bear conflict.[190]

Pollution
Polar bears accumulate high levels of persistent organic pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyl
(PCBs) and chlorinated pesticides. Due to their position at the top of the ecological pyramid, with a diet
heavy in blubber in which halocarbons concentrate, their bodies are among the most contaminated of
Arctic mammals.[192] Halocarbons are known to be toxic to other animals, because they mimic hormone
chemistry, and biomarkers such as immunoglobulin G and retinol suggest similar effects on polar bears.
PCBs have received the most study, and they have been associated with birth defects and immune system
deficiency.[193]
Many chemicals, such as PCBs and DDT, have been internationally banned due to the recognition of
their harm on the environment. Their concentrations in polar bear tissues continued to rise for decades
after being banned as these chemicals spread through the food chain. Since then, the trend seems to have
discontinued, with tissue concentrations of PCBs declining between studies performed from 1989 to
1993 and studies performed from 1996 to 2002. During the same time periods, DDT was notably lower
in the Western Hudson Bay population only.[194]

Oil and gas development

Oil and gas development in polar bear habitat can affect the bears in a variety of ways. An oil spill in the
Arctic would most likely concentrate in the areas where polar bears and their prey are also concentrated,
such as sea ice leads.[2] Because polar bears rely partly on their fur for insulation and soiling of the fur by
oil reduces its insulative value, oil spills put bears at risk of dying from hypothermia. Polar bears exposed
to oil spill conditions have been observed to lick the oil from their fur, leading to fatal kidney failure.[102]
Maternity dens, used by pregnant females and by females with infants, can also be disturbed by nearby
oil exploration and development. Disturbance of these sensitive sites may trigger the mother to abandon
her den prematurely, or abandon her litter altogether.[2]

Predictions
Steven Amstrup and other U.S. Geological Survey scientists have predicted two-thirds of the world's
polar bears may disappear by 2050, based on moderate projections for the shrinking of summer sea ice
caused by climate change,[90][188] though the validity of this study has been debated.[195][196] The bears
could disappear from Europe, Asia, and Alaska, and be depleted from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago
and areas off the northern Greenland coast. By 2080, they could disappear from Greenland entirely and
from the northern Canadian coast, leaving only dwindling numbers in the interior Arctic Archipelago.[90]
However, in the short term, some polar bear populations in historically colder regions of the Arctic may
temporarily benefit from a milder climate, as multiyear ice that is too thick for seals to create breathing
holes is replaced by thinner annual ice.[197]

Polar bears diverged from brown bears 400,000–600,000 years ago and have survived past periods of
climate fluctuation. It has been claimed that polar bears will be able to adapt to terrestrial food sources as
the sea ice they use to hunt seals disappears.[198] However, most polar bear biologists think that polar
bears will be unable to completely offset the loss of calorie-rich seal blubber with terrestrial foods, and
that they will be outcompeted by brown bears in this terrestrial niche, ultimately leading to a population
decline.[199]

Controversy over species protection

Warnings about the future of the polar bear are often contrasted with the fact that worldwide population
estimates have increased over the past 50 years and are relatively stable today.[200][201] Some estimates
of the global population are around 5,000 to 10,000 in the early 1970s;[202] other estimates were 20,000
to 40,000 during the 1980s.[48][62] Current estimates put the global population at between 20,000 and
25,000[39] or 22,000 and 31,000.[2]

There are several reasons for the apparent discordance between past and projected population trends:
estimates from the 1950s and 1960s were based on stories from explorers and hunters rather than on
scientific surveys.[203][204][205][206] Second, controls of harvesting were introduced that allowed this
previously overhunted species to recover. Third, the recent effects
of climate change have affected sea ice abundance in different
areas to varying degrees.[203]

Debate over the listing of the polar bear under endangered

species legislation has put conservation groups and Canada's Inuit
at opposing positions;[43] the Nunavut government and many
northern residents have condemned the U.S. initiative to list the
polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.[207][208] Many Swimming
Inuit believe the polar bear population is increasing, and
restrictions on commercial sport-hunting are likely to lead to a
loss of income to their communities.[43][209]

In culture

Indigenous folklore
For the indigenous peoples of the Arctic, polar bears have long
played an important cultural and material role.[146][147] Polar
Engraving, made by Chukchi carvers
bear remains have been found at hunting sites dating to 2,500 to
in the 1940s on a walrus tusk,
3,000 years ago[149] and 1,500-year-old cave paintings of polar depicts polar bears hunting walrus
bears have been found in the Chukchi Peninsula. Indeed, it has
been suggested that Arctic peoples' skills in seal hunting and
igloo construction has been in part acquired from the polar bears themselves.[147]

The Inuit and Alaska Natives have many folk tales featuring the bears including legends in which bears
are humans when inside their own houses and put on bear hides when going outside, and stories of how
the constellation that is said to resemble a great bear surrounded by dogs came into being. These legends
reveal a deep respect for the polar bear, which is portrayed as both spiritually powerful and closely akin
to humans. The human-like posture of bears when standing and sitting, and the resemblance of a skinned
bear carcass to the human body, have probably contributed to the belief that the spirits of humans and
bears were interchangeable.[145]

Among the Chukchi and Yupik of eastern Siberia, there was a longstanding shamanistic ritual of
"thanksgiving" to the hunted polar bear. After killing the animal, its head and skin were removed and
cleaned and brought into the home, and a feast was held in the hunting camp in its honor. To appease the
spirit of the bear, traditional song and drum music was played, and the skull was ceremonially fed and
offered a pipe.[210] Only once the spirit was appeased was the skull be separated from the skin, taken
beyond the bounds of the homestead, and placed in the ground, facing north.[147]

The Nenets of north-central Siberia placed particular value on the talismanic power of the prominent
canine teeth. These were traded in the villages of the lower Yenisei and Khatanga rivers to the forest-
dwelling peoples further south, who would sew them into their hats as protection against brown bears. It
was believed that the "little nephew" (the brown bear) would not dare to attack a man wearing the tooth
of its powerful "big uncle", the polar bear. The skulls of killed polar bears were buried at sacred sites, and
altars, called sedyangi, were constructed out of the skulls. Several such sites have been preserved on the
Yamal Peninsula.[147]
Symbols and mascots
Their distinctive appearance
and their association with
the Arctic have made polar
bears popular icons,
especially in those areas
where they are native. The
Canadian two-dollar coin
carries an image of a lone
Greenland's 1911 five kroner note
depicting a polar bear polar bear on its reverse
side, while a special
millennium edition featured
three.[211] Vehicle licence plates in the Northwest Territories and
Nunavut in Canada are in the shape of a polar bear. The polar bear is
Coat of arms of the Chukotka
the mascot of Bowdoin College, Maine, the University of Alaska Autonomous Okrug in the
Fairbanks, and the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary. The Russian Federation
Eisbären Berlin hockey team uses a roaring polar bear as their logo,
and the Charlotte, North Carolina hockey team the Charlotte
Checkers uses a polar bear named Chubby Checker as their mascot.

Coca-Cola has used images of the polar bear in its advertising,[212]

and Polar Beverages, Nelvana, Bundaberg Rum, Klondike bars, and
Fox's Glacier Mints all feature polar bears in their logos.

Fiction
Polar bears are popular in fiction, particularly in books for children
or teenagers. For example, The Polar Bear Son is adapted from a
traditional Inuit tale.[213] The animated television series Noah's
Island features a polar bear named Noah as the protagonist. Polar
bears feature prominently in East (North Child in the UK) by Edith
Coat of arms of the Greenlandic
Pattou,[214] The Bear by Raymond Briggs (adapted into an animated Self-Rule government (Kalaallit
short in 1998),[215] and Chris d'Lacey's The Fire Within series.[216] Nunaat)
The panserbjørne of Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy His Dark
Materials are sapient, dignified polar bears who exhibit
anthropomorphic qualities, and feature prominently in the 2007 film adaptation of The Golden
Compass.[217] The television series Lost features polar bears living on the tropical island setting.[218]

See also
Polar Bears International
International Polar Bear Day
2019 mass invasion of Russian polar bears
Charismatic megafauna
Flagship species
Umbrella species
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Bibliography
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Further reading
Michael Engelhard (2016), Ice Bear: The Cultural History of an Arctic Icon, University of
Washington Press</ref>

External links
National Wildlife Federation's Polar Bear Page (http://www.nwf.org/polarbear)
ARKive — images and movies of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) (https://web.archive.org/
web/20060317030045/http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Ursus_maritimus/)
Map of polar bear ranges and denning areas in Nunavut from Nunavut Planning
Commission (https://web.archive.org/web/20151016024839/http://www.nunavut.ca/en/map?
zoom=0&lat=69.59292&lon=-86.95845&layers=BTFTTFFFFFFFFFFFFTFFFFFFTTT)
BBC Nature: Polar bear news, and video clips from BBC programmes past and present. (htt
ps://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Polar_bear)
 Photos, facts, videos from Polar Bears International that funds population, preservation, and
DNA studies of the polar bear (http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/)
Map: Here's where the polar bears are vanishing (https://www.vox.com/2014/12/18/741584
3/polar-bears-vanishing)
Photos of Polar bear (https://sealifecollection.org/taxon/137085) on Sealife Collection

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