Friday, July 27, 2018

Polar bears

Ursus maritimus, the scientific name for a polar bear. They are from the bear family which has __
species including, Brown bear, Black bear, Giant panda and more. The polar bear, unlike any other
bears are located in extremely cold areas.

Appearance
Polar bears are known to have white fur to blend in with the snow and ice that surrounds them.
They have longer necks than other bears and narrow heads. They have large paws so they are able
to swim quicker through the water. The average male polar bear weighs 450 kg whereas the female
polar bear weighs about 150 – 250 kg. A female polar bears height is at 2 meters when they are on their
hind legs and a male's height is at 1.3 meters to their shoulders.


Habitat
Polar bears are located in places that are around the arctic circle, including, Norway, Russia,
Greenland, Canada, The United States as in, Alaska and the Arctic Circle itself. Polar bears prefer
being on the annual sea ice covering, as there is a good amount of seals to feed on. The problem with
this is that its melting away due to global warming, which is causing the polar bear population to
decrease.


Behaviour
A female polar bear eats a lot of food in summer and fall so she can survive the denning period, the
denning period, most den’s are dug on land where the snow is thick (denning is when a pregnant
female polar bear digs a hole and gives birth in it, she stays in it for 3 months) The season of the
denning is usually in Autumn, it may seem like a hibernation but unlike other bears polar bears don't
hibernate, they don't get a drop in heart rate or anything that signals a hibernation. The female polar
bear will give birth to a cub, sometimes two, that weighs one pound. Once the cub/s weigh 20 or 30
pounds the mother will take them out into the wild and then after 2 years the mother will leave her
cub/s. A polar bear has one of the lowest reproductive rates as, In one lifetime a female polar bear can
only produce 5 litters of cubs.  







Diet
Polar bears will travel extremely large distances when the prey is scarce, a polar bears diet consists
mainly of seals but when none are found they will scavenge on, walrus, beluga whale and bowhead
whale carcasses. They also sometimes eat bird’s egg’s, and very very rarely they will eat vegetation.

Polar bears are very quickly becoming extinct, so quickly that no one is having any time to think about
what's happening with global warming, did you know that half of the reason global warming is getting worse
is because of us? With less and less trees the world has less oxygen which is causing the ice to melt,
where are polar bears going to go when it's all gone?

Reflection...
I enjoyed making this because I like writing about animals and bringing awareness to the people who may not know about what is happening to the polar bears, our goal was to write a good piece of writing that explains everything you would need to know about the animal. I think I achieved that goal