| Polar bears are the biggest carnivores on land! They're twice as big as a tiger, and the ultimate polar predators. Hunting alone for anything from seals to large fish, or scavenging for dead whale or walrus, the polar bear uses a sense of smell 100 times better than ours. A clever polar bear technique for catching a seal requires long hours by a break in the ice, waiting for the seal to come up for air so he can grab it. Polar bears can run at speeds close to 40 mph. Some polar bears never step on land, though, and move from one ice floe to another. Even though they are amazing swimmers, with water-repellent coats and partially webbed paws, the bears prefer to use chunks of ice as rafts to get around! The cold, windy, and ice-covered terrain of the Arctic is a polar bear paradise! |
