Three Crazy Facts About The Polar Bear
You probably thought you knew everything there was to know about the polar bear, however we at Udopt reckon we can still surprise you with a few little known facts about this magnificent animal. Here are three amazing facts about the polar bear.
Polar Bears Performed In Ancient Rome
It’s no secret the ancient Romans had a penchant for blood sport, immortalized in the movie Gladiator. What we bet you didn’t know is that Romans also enjoyed watching the death of animals as well. Usually the show consisted of hunters fighting an array of deadly animals, however sometimes the Romans would pit animal against animals. Tigers would often fight lions and bulls would battles bears. Not all fights were fair however; sometimes the Romans would fill the amphitheatre with water and seals and then release polar bears in what was a very once sided bloodbath.
Polar Bears Are Not White
This seems paradoxical after all everyone knows that polar bears have a wonderful white coat. Don’t be fooled because looks really are deceiving. The outer hair of the polar bear’s coat are actually transparent and the undercoat has no colour which begs the question why do polar bears appear to be white? The reason why is there is a hollow pocket of air within each guard hair and when sunlight hits the outer coat, the wavelengths of light are reflected from the air pockets and this makes the polar bear appear white. Even more bizarre is the polar bear is not always white. Depending on the position of the sun and the time of year, polar bears can appear either brown or yellow as well. Polar bears who live in captivity can even appear to be green because of algae which grows inside their guard hairs. If you peel away all the fur however you will see the true colour of the polar bear which is black and designed to absorb heat from the sun which keeps it warm in the cold weather of the Arctic.
Polar Bears Can Swim Nonstop For Over A Week
Polar bears have prodigious swimming ability that puts even Michael Phelps to shame. The polar bear is perfectly designed for the water as a result of their huge webbed paws. It can swim through the ocean as fast as 10 kilometers per hour and to put that into context an Olympic swimmer like Phelps can manage 7 kph at best. So if a polar bear is chasing you in the water no matter how many gold medals you may have you will still end up as lunch.
Polar bears don’t just have speed they have endurance as well and can swim up to 100 kilometers non stop. Some polar bears have even clocked as much as 321 kilometers away from sure. The record for the longest distance swum by a polar bear was set in 2011 when a polar bear and her set of cubs tried to cross the Beaufort Sea to search for a new home as a result of melting ice. The mama bear swam an astonishing 680 kilometers over nine days however her cubs did not manage to make it all the way. Whilst the feat is certainly impressive it is a drastic reminder of the real challenges the polar bear faces in the wake of global warming.