The Facts About Polar Bears: What You Need to Know and How You Can Help
- Melina Rights
- Nov 19, 2021
- 6 min read
Updated: Nov 21, 2021
By Jacob Lilien
November 6, 2021
Description:
Polar bears are one of the coolest species of bears out there. Living in arctic environments, their thick, white fur helps keep them nice and warm. A very interesting fact about polar bears is that they actually have black skin and clear hair, but because of luminescence, their fur appears white! This is great because their white appearance makes it easy to blend in to the snow and arctic area.
Unlike most bears, polar bears do not go into hibernation during the winter. However, female polar bears that are pregnant will dig themselves a den in the ice and hibernate for a short period of time. She will stay in her den until she gives birth to her cubs and will take care of them in the den for a couple of months. Then, once the spring time rolls around, the female polar bear and her cubs will emerge from the den and roam around on the ice.
Male polar bears and female polar bears can be quite different. Males are much bigger and can weigh up to 1600 pounds! They usually reach 8-10 feet in length by the time they are fully grown, while females are around 6-8 feet in length. One unique feature that polar bears have are their sharp claws. These claws help them catch prey, dig through ice, and gain stability and traction on the slippery, icy ground.
Polar bears are carnivores, which means they prey on other animals, and one of their favorite meals is seals. In order to catch seals, polar bears wait for them on the ice and strike when they come up for a breath. Even if the seal escapes, polar bears can jump in the water and chase after it using their great swimming skills. While most other four-legged mammals use their front and back legs to swim, polar bears are unique in that they only use their front legs while swimming.
Geography and Population of Polar Bears:
Polar bears have adapted to living in cold environments because they are able to warm themselves very well. If polar bears were placed in a warmer habitat, they wouldn’t be able to survive very long because they would overheat. As you can see from the map, polar bears live in a small range, close to the poles, where it is coldest. Most of them can be found in the Arctic Ocean which contains ice floating around on the water. However, the habitat of polar bears is slowly diminishing. Because of climate change, glaciers are melting and the icy ground is turning to water, decreasing the range where a polar bear can live. Currently, it is estimated that there are around 22,000 - 31,000 polar bears in the world. However, scientists estimate that by 2050, the number of polar bears will decrease by about 30% because their habitat range will be much smaller from the effects of global warming.
The Listing and Status of Polar Bears:
Today, polar bears are classified on the IUCN red-list as a vulnerable species because their population is threatened in the future. Very soon, because of climate change, they could become endangered or even extinct in the wild. Polar bears were first listed on the IUCN red-list in 1965 and were given a “less rare but believed to be threatened-requires watching” status. Then from 1982 until the last assessment in 2015, polar bears were mostly listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN red-list. The main reason this species is listed as vulnerable is because scientists believe that climate change will greatly decrease the range of where a polar bear can live and may even wipe out its habitat completely. Polar bears need a cold and icy climate in order to survive and if Earth’s temperature keeps increasing, this climate may not exist anymore.
The Recovery Plan:
This is very sad! Luckily, recovery plans have been put into place to help save the habitat of polar bears. The Fish and Wildlife Service have put together a plan called the “Polar Bear Plan” that aims to help preserve the polar bear species. According to the Fish and Wildlife Services, the Polar Bear Plan involves seven main actions that will help this species.
1: “Limit Global atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases to levels appropriate for supporting polar bear recovery and conservation, primarily by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
2: “Support international conservation efforts through the Range States relationships.”
3: "Manage human-bear conflicts.”
4: “Collaboratively manage subsistence harvest.”
5: “Protect denning habitat”
6: “Minimize risks of contamination from spills.”
7: “Conduct Strategic monitoring and research.”
The Polar Bear Plan was put into place in 2016 and has been very beneficial for polar bears. Each step is very important and helps polar bears in different ways. By limiting the amount of greenhouse gases in the air, this will decrease the effects of climate change and sustain the habitat of polar bears for longer. By getting help from Range States, more organizations will contribute to these conservation efforts. Managing “human-bear conflicts” will decrease the amount of polar bears killed by humans. Also, managing subsistence harvest will help to prevent people from hunting polar bears for food or other reasons. By protecting the denning habitat, pregnant polar bears will have a place to go and will be able to support cubs during hibernation. Minimizing the risk of contamination from spills will help keep the arctic waters clean and unpolluted. Finally, conducting research and monitoring polar bears will help create new ideas to preserve them and their habitat. Throughout the 5 years that this plan has been implemented, it has costed about $67 million. That is a lot of money, but it is all worth it to preserve the polar bear population. There is no specific population target that the Polar Bear Plan aims to have, but from continuing this plan, polar bear numbers will slowly start to increase and their habitat will be preserved.
What you can do to help:
The Fish and Wildlife Service is doing their part to help polar bears and you can do your part too! Although you are just one person and your contributions may seem very small, any action to help save polar bears can make a big difference. The most helpful thing that you can do is to help reduce the amount of carbon emissions emitted in the air, which will slow the effects of climate change. You can start reducing your carbon footprint right now by following some of these very simple steps:
Take public transportation, ride a bike, or walk to destinations more often.
Use reusable items for daily activities. Some reusable items include shopping bags, re-usable water bottles, or Tupperware containers.
Reduce the amount of meat you are eating.
Turn down the heater in your house by a small amount. Even just 1-2 degrees can make a difference.
Turn equipment off when not in use: light switches, running water, a phone charger, etc.
Use energy efficient products (Many products are graded on the EWG site. Use products only with a high grade and start using different products if you are using one with a low grade).
Reduce the amount of waste you are putting into the environment and try to re-use as much as you can.
By doing your part to help reduce the effects of climate change, you are helping to save polar bears and their habitat. Although climate change may not seem like an imminent threat to polar bears, we need to do something now before it is too late. Polar Bears are awesome! Don’t let them become endangered or extinct. Do your part to save their habitat. Additional links on what you can do to help can be found below.
How to reduce your carbon footprint: https://europa.eu/youth/get-involved/sustainable%20development/how-reduce-my-carbon-footprint_en
Ways to reduce your carbon footprint: https://cotap.org/reduce-carbon-footprint/
Works Cited
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Polar Bear. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/animal/polar-bear.
Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; notice of ... (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/09/2017-00127/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-notice-of-availability-of-polar-bear-conservation.
How to reduce my carbon footprint? European Youth Portal. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2021, from https://europa.eu/youth/get-involved/sustainable%20development/how-reduce-my-carbon-footprint_en.
Kruger, Elizabeth. Polar Bear Status and population. Polar bear status and population | WWF Arctic. (n.d.). Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://arcticwwf.org/species/polar-bear/population/.
Øystein Wiig (IUCN SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group), Kristin Laidre (Polar Science Center, A. P. L. U. of W., Amstrup, S. C., Atwood, T. C., Lunn, N., Obbard, M., Regehr, E. V., & Thiemann, G. W. (2015, August 27). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22823/14871490#assessment-information.
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