Description
Along with the grizzly bear, it is the largest land predator. Standing three meters tall and weighing over 500 kilos, the polar bear is twice the size of the Siberian tiger. To cope with the Arctic cold, polar bears benefit from a thick layer of fat. Also equipped with a layer of dense down and a layer of transparent guard hair, polar bears can swim and hunt in very cold weather conditions. Polar bears are very good swimmers: some have already been spotted 300 kilometers offshore. The polar bear's highly developed sense of smell is a great aid in their search for food. They can smell a scent a kilometer and a half away or under a layer of ice a meter thick! Their hearing and sight are comparable to those of humans. Although polar bears live alone, they do not have their own territory and readily play with each other. Mating takes place in May and the female almost triples her weight during the gestation period.