Polar Bear Cub Hand Puppet

Fun Facts for Kids

• Polar bears are marine mammals because they spend many months of the year at sea. However, they are the only living marine mammals with powerful, large limbs and feet that allow them to cover kilometers on foot and run on land.
• A Polar bear’s fur is hollow and reflects light, so it is not actually white. Their fur is also water-repellent and oily. The bears can shake themselves dry after a swim.
• Polar bears have an extremely well-developed sense of smell, being able to detect seals nearly 1.6 km (1 mi) away and buried under 1 m (3 ft) of snow. Their hearing is about as acute as that of a human, and their vision is also good at long distances.
• Polar bears are excellent swimmers and often will swim for days. With their body fat providing buoyancy, the bears swim in a dog paddle fashion using their large forepaws for propulsion. Polar bears can swim at 10 km/h (6 mph). When walking, they tend to have a lumbering gait and maintain an average speed of around 5.6 km/h (3.5 mph). When sprinting, they can reach up to 40 km/h (25 mph)!
• Female Polar bears prefer to construct their dens using “old snow” from previous years instead of freshly fallen snow.
• Female Polar bears are known to be very good mothers and may adopt other cubs.
• A Polar bear is strong enough to kill an animal by giving it one blow with its paw.
• When curled up, a bear may put a paw over its muzzle to help conserve heat.
• Polar Bears are a vulnerable species.

Polar bears are one of few large mammals that have been able to adapt well to life on the ice. Their fur consists of a layer of dense underfur and an outer layer of guard hairs, which appear white to tan but are actually transparent. The white coat usually yellows with age. The feet of these massive animals are very large to distribute load when walking on snow or thin ice and to provide propulsion when swimming; they may measure 30 cm (12 in) across in an adult. The pads of the paws are covered with small, soft papillae (dermal bumps), which provide traction on the ice. The claws are deeply scooped on the underside to assist in digging into the ice of the natural habitat.