Polar Bears

Now let's see what we can talk about this time, umm... ah, yes! Polar bears! I remember when I was still training in the Vancouver Aquarium, I learned some fun facts about polars bears that was quite interesting to me. One thing for sure was their fur. They have two layers of fur, like a husky, the bottom layer is soft and dense to keep them warm and very coarse on the outside and that's not the part that strikes me as fun, the fun part is, their fur color isn't white, it's actually crystal clear, like snow!! Think about it this way, if snow is melted, it naturally turns into water and water is clear, right? Well, it's the same way as the poler bear's fur!

Here's something we can think about, since polar bear's fur is clear, how can they keep themselves warm during the harsh winter in the Arctic's? Give you a hint, it's their skin that can absorb heat from the sun.... No luck guessing? Well, their skin is actually black, so if we shave a polar bear naked, all we see is a pitch black bear standing in front of us.

When mating season arrives, males travel hundreds and hundreds of miles to find a mate. Here's something that's really painful for the males, the males actually have a bone inside their penises and they at least occasionally break during vigorous mating to impress the female. But don't worry about them though, I have asked around with the employees in the aquarium, which took days to get an answer I need, they all think that the fracture would heal up and start the cycle again, since their numbers, although decreasing because of global warming, are still quite many.

Polar bears, also known as Thalarctos Maritimus, are distributed in the Arctic regions, they can weigh as much as 650 lb (or 300kg) for females, at least double the weight for the males and can be as tall as 8 feet (or 2.4 meters) standing up or 5.5 feet (or 1.7 meters) on all fours.

Their diet includes fruits, roots, insects and meat. Females hibernate during the cold winter with their cubs and come out at spring while the males tend to be active all the time. They are great swimmers and can swim for hundred miles from one land to another. Their furry paws can give them a nice grip while traveling on slippery ice.