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POLAR BEARS: MUM AND CUB

Svalbard, The Arctic

Featured in Earth - The Movie from 2007

Polar bear (Ursus maritimus)

Fab fact

Although a newborn polar bear cub is no bigger than a rat, when it is an adult it will measure 8.5ft tall and will weigh over 90 stone. This Earth clip shows mother and cub together.

RELATED INFORMATION

Common name

Polar bear

Species name

Ursus maritimus

ARKive fact

Polar bears show some amazing adaptations to their Arctic life and are able to detect prey that are almost a kilometre away and up to a metre under the compacted snow using their heightened sense of smell.

Conservation status

Vulnerable

Distribution

Found throughout the circumpolar Arctic on ice-covered waters, from Canada to Norway, parts of the US, the former USSR and Greenland (Denmark).

Habitat

The preferred habitat is the annual ice near the coastlines of continents and islands, where there are large numbers of ringed seals, on which these bears feed.