Polar bear how much does it weigh

This is because they can go months without eating and must have these fat deposits to help them through this period. They only leave the den during the spring. The weight of any living organism changes as it goes through life, and a polar bear is no exception as it grows older and matures, its weight increases. In the wild, polar bear cubs weigh anywhere between 1 and 2 pounds 0. Each litter averagely has two cubs, and even at birth, sows are smaller than boars.

Despite females putting on so much weight during pregnancy, cubs are born lightweight. These extra weight deposits help sows produce fat-rich milk. This diet helps them rapidly add weight to about 25 to 35 pounds 11 — 16 kgs in three to four months. Once the cubs are used to walking, they can begin walking to the sea ice so that sows can start hunting again because they can fast anywhere between 7 and 8 months. When cubs are one year old, they weigh about to pounds 90 — kgs , and by the time they are two years old, boars already weigh about pounds kgs and are even already taller than their mothers.

Polar bears are hyper carnivorous, this means that 90 percent of their diet is meat. They mostly feed on ringed and bearded seals as the arctic is home to millions of them, making them readily available. They become prey when they surface to breathe or shovel out ice to rest. Polar bears hunt primarily between ice and water; they rarely hunt seals on land or open water. Kenyan Olympic gold medallist Faith Kipyegon weighs around 95lbs.

But we can have a look at some numbers with bears and get something of an idea. Polar bear cubs are born weighing between lbs, generally Even at birth males tend to be slightly larger than females. When they leave the den a few short months later they may weigh lbs and at one year lbs.

By the end of the second year the male cubs are often taller than their mother and weigh as much as lbs. As adults, male polar bears may weigh anywhere from lbs and some specimans have been recorded far larger.

Those numbers tend to come from measuring a stretched out hide, not an actual standing bear. Adult female polar bears generally weigh as much as lbs, though lbs is a common weight. Super-sized pregnant females weighing lbs have been measured though.

For more info and photos and cool tales about polar bears, download this free Polar Bears of Alaska eBook. The soles of the feet have small papillae and vacuoles like suction cups to make them less likely to slip on the ice. The polar bear is the largest land carnivore alive in the world today. Adult males weigh from to kilograms to 1, pounds and occasionally exceed kilograms 1, pounds. Females are about half the size of male s and normally weigh to kilograms to pounds.

Immediately before entering the maternity den in the fall, the weight of a pregnant adult female can exceed kilograms 1, pounds because of the enormous amount of stored fat. Adult m ales measure to centimeters 95 to inches and females to centimeters 75 to 85 inches. At birth, cubs weigh to grams 1 pound 3 ounces to 1 pound 6 ounces. The preferred habitat of polar bears is the annual ice adjacent to the shorelines of the continents and archipelagos throughout the circumpolar Arctic.

Wind and currents create cracks in the ice that concentrate the seals they hunt. Although polar bears have been recorded as far north as 88", they rarely enter the zone of heavy multiyear ice of the central polar basin because it is unproductive biologically and there is little to eat.

It's on the Arctic ice that the polar bear makes its living, which is why climate change is such a serious threat to its well-being. Polar bears are being impacted by climate change in several ways. Po pulation sizes are decreasing: In southern portions of their range around Hudson Bay, Canada, there is no sea ice during the summer, and the polar bears must live on land until the bay freezes in the fall, when they can again hunt on the ice. While on land during the summer, these bears eat little or nothing.

In just 20 years, the ice-free period in Hudson Bay has increased by an average of 20 days, cutting short polar bears' seal hunting season by nearly three weeks. The ice is freezing later in the fall, but it is the earlier spring ice melt that is especially difficult for the bears. They have a narrower time frame in which to hunt during the critical season when seal pups are born, and average bear weight has dropped by 15 percent. The bears have fewer cubs, and of the cubs they do have, the frequency of survival to adulthood is decreasing.

In addition, the interval between successful litters is growing. As a result, the Hudson Bay population is down more than 20 percent. The patterns seen in Hudson Bay are beginning to occur now in more northern populations and is especially well documented on the north coast of Alaska, but appears to be the case worldwide.

Sea ice platforms are moving farther apart: The retreat of ice has implications beyond the obvious habitat loss. Remaining ice is farther from shore, making it less accessible. After each summer, the trend seen in the Arctic is for sea ice to be farther from shore, making it necessary for polar bears to swim increasingly long distances from shore to reach the ice. Worse, the last remaining sea ice is over deep and unproductive waters that yield less prey.

In , biologists discovered four drowned polar bears in the Beaufort Sea. Never before observed, biologists attributed the drowning to a combination of retreating ice and rougher seas. As a result of rapid ice melt in , a female polar bear reportedly swam for nine days nonstop across the Beaufort Sea before reaching an ice floe, costing her 22 percent of her weight and her cub.

As climate change melts sea ice, the U. Geological Survey projects that two thirds of polar bears will disappear by Food scarcity is increasing: As sea ice disappears for longer and longer periods during the late summer, polar bears are left with insufficient time to hunt.

Polar bears can only survive in areas where the oceans freeze, allowing them to hunt seals living under, on, or in the frozen polar ice cap. The reduction in ice platforms near productive areas for the fish eaten by seals is affecting the seals' nutritional status and reproduction rates.

Polar bears are going hungry for longer periods of time, resulting in cannibalistic behavior. Although it has long been known polar bears will kill for dominance or kill cubs so they can breed with the female, outright predation for food was previously unobserved by biologists.

Additionally, development is increasing in ocean floor exploration and offshore oil extraction in the open waters that were previously sealed by frozen ice. This brings people, disturbance, and potentially ruinous oil spills to the previously pristine Arctic polar bear habitat.

Polar bears need our help and protection to ensure a long, healthy future for the species. The best way for people to help polar bears is by reducing carbon emissions and working with the National Wildlife Federation to campaign for reductions in climate change pollutants.

Because they spend so much time in the ocean, polar bears are classified as marine mammals. Polar bears evolved from brown bears to survive in extreme northern environments. Polar bears are the largest terrestrial predator on the planet, with large males standing more than 11 feet 3.

When necessary or playing, polar bears communicate with each other with grunts, growls, roars, or squeals. What does a polar bear roar sound like?