What do polar bears eat
Why aren't there polar bears in Antarctica?
The Arctic and Antarctica, while similar habitats in some ways, are home to very different creatures. Both poles host a variety of seal and whale species, but only the Arctic is home to Earth's largest bear, the polar bear.
Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and their tumbly cubs can be found around the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland (part of Denmark), Norway, Russia and, occasionally, Iceland.
A polar bear's fur is specially suited for temperatures that can dip below minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius). They live on ice for most of their lives, feeding on fat-rich seals that keep them energized for long periods between meals.
Antarctica also has sea ice, cold temperatures and seals. So why aren't there any polar bears on the southernmost continent?
The answer has to do with evolution and the geologic history of Earth.
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"Bears are largely a Northern Hemisphere phenomenon," said Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Alberta in Canada who has studied polar bears for nearly 40 years.
Aside from the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus) of South America, bears appear only in the Northern Hemisphere.
Where do polar bears live in antarctica or arctic This would have allowed polar bears to more easily make their way to new regions. Is Antarctica a desert? It is essential to note that polar bears do not inhabit the continent of Antarctica where penguins are found. It is very difficult to estimate the number of polar bears in the world as they tend to travel alone across vast, remote Arctic expanses.There's no specific reason for this, just that some species evolve in some places and some don't. "Biogeography is full of oddities," Derocher said. "Some species made it to new places and some didn't."
For polar bears specifically, there was never a time in their evolutionary history when the North and South poles were connected by ice (or land, for that matter).
People say polar bears are the "biggest terrestrial carnivore in the world, and yet they're not a terrestrial species at all," Derocher told Live Science. The big, white bears live on sea ice for almost their entire lives, only occasionally coming ashore to breed.
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Polar bears are, evolutionarily, a relatively young species.
Where do polar bears live Search for: Search. Consequently, polar bears have had to alter their diets due to these changes, which may have negative implications on their health. Others others. Antarctica is cold If bears evolved from small mammals elsewhere on earth, why not Antarctica?They evolved from a common ancestor of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) sometime between 5 million and , years ago, Derocher said. But even 5 million years ago, the continents were in similar positions to where they are today, so polar bears never got the opportunity to travel from pole to pole. The closest landmass to Antarctica is the southern tip of South America, which includes Chile and Argentina.
To get to Antarctica, polar bears would have to cross the treacherous Drake Passage. The area is also known for powerful storms and rough seas as cold water from the south runs into warm water from the north.
But if polar bears got the opportunity, would they survive on the South Pole?
To Derocher, the answer is simple: "They would have so much fun in Antarctica."
In the Arctic, polar bears feed on seals and the occasional bird or egg.
Antarctica is abundant in all three, with six seal species andfive penguin species.
Where do polar bears live in antarctica They did come close in , when a polar explorer settled some king penguins and macaroni penguins in northern Norway, not far from the Arctic. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Millions of years ago, as glaciers spread across Antarctica, local mammals could have evolved into a species like the polar bear, or returned to the ocean, as seals and whales have done in the past. Antarctica is cold If bears evolved from small mammals elsewhere on earth, why not Antarctica?Plus, none of those animals have evolved to be wary of large, land-roving predators. The Antarctic landscape would be a free-for-all buffet for a polar bear — which is why no one should ever bring polar bears there. Their voracious appetite, combined with the local faunas' ignorance of large land predators, would likely lead to ecological collapse.
It's probably best for the great white bear to remain in the north.
Originally published on Live Science.
JoAnna Wendel is a freelance science writer living in Portland, Oregon. She mainly covers Earth and planetary science but also loves the ocean, invertebrates, lichen and moss.
Where do polar bears live in antarctica today Find out how you can help support polar bears and protect their habitat. The landscape consists of ice, snow, and glacier-covered mountains, with some areas of exposed rock along the coastlines. An accurate head count would be very expensive and almost impossible. While Antarctica is similarly cold and icy, transferring polar bears to the southernmost continent without their necessary adaptations would be risky, as they may struggle to survive and compete with the local species.JoAnna's work has appeared in Eos, Smithsonian Magazine, Knowable Magazine, Popular Science and more. JoAnna is also a science cartoonist and has published comics with Gizmodo, NASA, Science News for Students and more. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in general sciences because she couldn't decide on her favorite area of science.
In her spare time, JoAnna likes to hike, read, paint, do crossword puzzles and hang out with her cat, Pancake.