NATURAL WORLD : WILD ANIMALS
POLAR BEAR
Cute and cuddly! Fur as white as snow. Oh! I want to hug it!
Wait! That's one of the most dangerous animals on earth - the polar bear. A full grown male is taller and much heavier than a human being. They stand around seven feet tall and are as heavy as a total of 10 humans. Female bears are slightly smaller. But this newborn cub is only as heavy as a puppy.
Their bodies are covered with white fur. The skin underneath is black just like their noses. Under the skin, there is a thick layer of fat which keeps them warm in the icy weather. They evolved from brown bears as they began living in the Arctic regions two to three million years ago. Their paws grew bigger and flatter to help them walk on ice. The extra fat keeps them warm and they also developed webbed feet to help them swim in the icy water.
They are found in the northern regions of Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland and Norway.
The diet
Arctic regions where polar bears live, are covered with ice with little or no vegetation. This makes them carnivorous and their diet consists of the meat of different kinds of seals, walruses and dead whales that have washed ashore. They are experts at tracking seals that live and breed in the ice holes and will spend hours hunting for them. When food is scarce, they will eat any other animal that they can catch.
How are babies born?
Polar bear mothers eat well a few months before the babies are born. Scientists have found that only when a female bear eats enough to grow as heavy as 490 pounds, her body is ready to give birth to cubs.
When winter begins, she digs a hole in the icy ground to sleep for several months. This is called 'hibernation'. This is the period when she gives birth to one t0 three cubs in the cave which is much warmer than the ground outside. They need the warmth of the underground cave to survive or they would freeze to death in the flat ice treeless land.
Newborn pups are almost blind and feed on mother's milk. They emerge from the cave in spring when they are about three months old. They follow their hungry mother who gradually teaches them to hunt. Cubs usually stay with their mother until they are two and half. Polar bears live for 25-30 years.
Are they in danger?
Female bears need to eat enough and grow in size before becoming pregnant. If they cannot find enough food, they cannot have babies. Loss of ice due to global warming means lesser number of animals in this region. This means less food for polar bears. If babies are not born or are born weaker, they do not survive to adulthood. This is already happening in some areas of northern Canada. There is a danger of the polar bear becoming extinct.
Simple lines.....
POLAR BEARS
1. Polar
bears are huge white and furry.
2. They live
around the icy north pole.
3. They eat
the meat of seals and walruses.
4. Mother
bears and cubs sleep in underground caves.
5. This
keeps them warm in the icy weather.
