Near human settlements, they often acquire a taste for garbage, bringing bears and humans into perilous proximity.Millions have seen the heart-wrenching video of a polar bear clinging to life, its white hair limply covering its thin, bony frame. Polar bears are attractive and appealing, but they are powerful predators that do not typically fear humans, which can make them dangerous.

In fact, male polar bears may even kill young of their species.

Females aggressively protect their young, but receive no help from their solitary male mates. Young cubs live with their mothers for some 28 months to learn the survival skills of the far north. They give birth in winter, usually to twins. Breeding and Behaviorįemales den by digging into deep snow drifts, which provide protection and insulation from the Arctic elements. These Arctic giants are the masters of their environment and have no natural enemies.

If the opportunity presents itself, polar bears will also consume carcasses, such as those of dead whales. They also stalk ice edges and breathing holes. In search of this quarry they frequent areas of shifting, cracking ice where seals may surface to breathe air. These powerful predators typically prey on seals. But under their fur, polar bears have black skin-the better to soak in the sun's warming rays. The bear's stark white coat provides camouflage in surrounding snow and ice. Fur even grows on the bottom of their paws, which protects against cold surfaces and provides a good grip on ice. Polar bears live in one of the planet's coldest environments and depend on a thick coat of insulated fur, which covers a warming layer of fat. Some polar bears have been seen swimming hundreds of miles from land-though they probably cover most of that distance by floating on sheets of ice.

They are very strong swimmers, and their large front paws, which they use to paddle, are slightly webbed. Polar bears roam the Arctic ice sheets and swim in that region's coastal waters.

Skin polar patrolman value