Preview

How To Write An Essay On Polar Bears

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
628 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How To Write An Essay On Polar Bears
In our dynamic world, there are several animals and plants currently at risk for extinction. The animal that I am interested in learning more about is the Ursus maritimus, commonly known in North America as a Polar Bear. Ursus maritimus is the Polar Bear’s scientific name which means sea bear; it received this name because it is heavily involved in the water and is the only bear considered to be a marine mammal. There is one documented Polar Bear that undertook a 426-mile swim that took nine days and did not rest on land; they are phenomenal swimmers.
Polar Bears are found in the wild in the Circumpolar North, which consists of countries such as the United States, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. Contrary to popular belief, they do not live in the Southern hemisphere with Penguins; the two animals live on opposite sides of the world. The majority of Polar Bears live in Canada; it consists of approximately 60% of their population. And although the animal is found in the United States, it is only found in the state of Alaska . In the 1960s and 1970s, Polar Bears faced extreme over-harvesting due to both commercial and sporting hunting. The hunting escapades were so severe that the five nations that
…show more content…
In order to catch its prey, Polar Bears usually stalk their breathing holes and wait for the seal to emerge for air. Each seal has anywhere from ten to fifteen air holes, so the Polar Bear must be extremely patient in order to catch its prey. They can stalk one hole for days at a time in order to catch one seal. Along with stalking their breathing holes, they also stalk them on top of the ice. Polar Bears will slowly stalk their prey until they are close enough to use their dynamic speed to pounce on their prey. In order to sustain a healthy population, Polar Bears need the ice to catch their prey. Without it, they cannot successfully reach the daily amount of calories that they

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Crabeater Seal Fact Sheet

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Location: Crabeater seals spend their entire lives in the pack-ice zone surrounding Antarctica, resting, breeding and moulting on the pack-ice, and feeding in the surrounding water.…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Polar Bear Analysis

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Polar bears are extreamly well adapted tohunt their prey under water. Keeping warm is no problem for polar bears infact sometimes polar bears have to lay flat on their stomachs on the ice just to cool of. Polar bears have the thickest fur of any bear species. Their fur has two layers. The first layer, the under coat, is the closest to their body it consists of thick, plush, hair that retains heat. The next layer, the outer layer, is a layer made of "guard hairs" and are not actually hair at all they are hollow tubes. the tubes trap air for insulation andalso reflect a visible wavelengths of light in their hollow air space, which combine to make the fur whiteeven though it is in fact colorless. The white coloring provides camoflauge for the bears allowing them to blend in with there white snowy surroundings. Under their fur polar bears have black skin that absorb the sunlight and under that they have a 4-inch layer of blubber. This blubber keeps polar bears warm in the cold water. Polar bears have fur at he bottom of their feet providing extra warmth and traction to the ice. they are adapted to swim 60 miles without a pause to rest. They have have the ability to reduce their metabolic rate when the food is scarce and again when it's…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Arctic wolves lives in the Arctic, the region is located above 67° north latitude. The land is covered a lot of snow and ice for most of the year, except for a brief period over the summer.…

    • 261 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    It has very thick, transparent fur, which makes the bear appear white. This helps the bear camouflage against the ice and snow. The Polar bear also has large canines for tearing the flesh of seals, fish and whale carcasses. Because it spends so much time in the water, the Polar Bear is considered a marine mammal. Consequently, you would expect it to have adaptations for swimming. It absolutely does. The Polar bear has several adaptations that enable it to swim. Its front paws are wide and slightly webbed to help propel it through the water. These larger than normal paws also act like snowshoes and help the bear walk over snow and ice without slipping or sinking. The Polar bear can even dive to find food and has been observed diving to depths of up to 6 feet. Once out of the water, special oils in its fur helps it dry quickly to reduce heat loss. The Polar bear has other adaptations that keep it warm as well. It has very thick skin and an extra layer of insulating fat which can be over 4 inches thick. It also has smaller ears and tail than other species of bears which reduces heat loss. A Polar bear is actually more likely to overheat than to…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sun Bears Vs Black Bears

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The black bears can be found from Canada to northern Mexico. They are typically live in the forests but are also found in mountains and swamps. Despite by their name, the black bears can actually appear in a variety of colors. There are…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grizzly Bear Diets

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Even without annual and seasonal variation, discrimination of foods can occur between sexes. Larger males rely more on animal protein to sustain their large body mass, whereas females can persist on vegetative diets alone. ( Munro, R. H., Nielsen, S. E., Price, M. H., Stenhouse, G. B., & Boyce, M. S. 2006). In this study, we will take a sample of Grizzly bears and test to see if the food they choose depends on the sex of the bear or if the time of year effects the food preferred. Since the diet of the Grizzly bear is ever-changing the food sources available also encounter growths and declines as well. Once the majority of the Grizzlies diet was Cuttthroat Salmon, however since the predation on the salmon was so high for a great length of time in the Grizzlies' diet and forced the Salmon numbers to decline dramatically the Grizzly diet has switched. New evidence suggests that the decline of native cutthroat trout has caused omnivorous grizzly bears to kill more elk calves in some areas. (Middleton, A. D., Morrison, T. A., Fortin, J. K., Robbins, C. T., Proffitt, K. M., White, P. J.,…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Red Wolf Memo

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The purpose of this memo is to explain the causes of extinction within the Red wolf population and the Black bear population. The topics chosen explain how this issue came about, what factors created, and provided some solutions on how to prevent it and keep these endangered species’ population thriving. There were several ways the black bear and red wolf came to the brink of extinction and these article provide multiple solutions to sustain and endangered species.…

    • 1055 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Department of the Interior protects America’s natural resources while honoring our various heritage, cultures, and tribal communities as well as supplies the energy of the future. The primary focus is within the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Federal Government. The existence of wildlife and plants is constantly threatened as a direct result of humanity. Global Warming is finally receiving acknowledgement necessary to make a difference in the wasteful and destructive routines of human expansion. Artic wildlife is experiencing the most difficulties as the surrounding glaciers are all melting. Our primary focus is on polar bears as they rely on masses of ice to rest after hunting for food. With the emergence of warmer climate, the areas of ice are diminishing leaving polar bears swimming for even longer until they drown from exhaustion. A federal regulation was passed in May of 2008 to protect the polar bear species from extinction by adding them to the endangered list. This should be a wake-up call to every individual living on the planet Earth as it is time to take responsibility for our actions and start making serious changes. Continued decrease of sea ice levels is expected in the future which affects the entire span of polar bears which reclassifies their status as threatened and endangered.…

    • 2559 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this essay I will be talking about The ‘Evolution of Polar Bears from Brown Bears, specifically skin and fur colour, skull and ear shape, and digestion of seal fat’ ill also talk about the two theorists Jean-Baptiste Lamark (1744-1829) and Charles Darwin (1809-1882).…

    • 594 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Bear Research Paper

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The world's most common species, Black Bears are found in forested, sparsely settled areas of the northern United States and Canada. They are known to sometimes venture into human settlements to forage for food in rubbish bins and crop fields. Their front paws are highly dexterous, with some bears even able to open screw-top jars and door handles!…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Polar Bear Evolution

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Under the polar bears thick, white fur they have black skin that reflects light of the freezing arctic landscape. Their fur is oily which helps them to be water repellent; the polar bear's solid fur and a remarkably thick layer of fat under its skin protect it against the cold temperatures of the ice .The fat is important when the bear is swimming, because the fur cannot keep the insulating air trapped in it. The hairs are hollow, so the black skin underneath can absorbed light from the UV rays; these genetic traits allow them to have a better chance of survival in temperatures below zero. The polar bear’s fur grows from 5 to 15 cm long. The growth of the fur is the same amount of insulation from the cold that the polar bear receives. The physical features that defined this species include longer neck and head; this trait allowed the polar bears to reach for their prey. During the day polar bears can locate seals from a long distance. The polar bears are patient when it comes to stalking their prey. They flatten their bodies on the icy surface, their forefront feet are under them and only their hind feet provide the force when moving closer. Sometimes they push a small blocks of ice in front of them to camouflage their dark noses, or cover their noses with their white paws to avoid their prey from seeing them. Polar bears spend a lot time in water; the use of the polar bear limbs in…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    microeconomics

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages

    C Polar bears in the Arctic, Common Resource, this characteristics of the good would make it difficult to be provided by the private market or the government…

    • 293 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black bears are the only specie of bear that live in New England. (Whittle) Normally humans and black bears are able to coexist peacefully, however, the population of black bears in New England is growing–and it’s causing problems for the locals. In fact, there are currently around 36,000 bears in Maine, 6,000 more than there were five years ago. (Whittle) While some states are calling for hunters to increase the number of bears they kill during hunting season, some people are saying this method of population control is inhumane. Instead, they suggest trap and release methods be used in order to relocate bears to areas away from humans. There are different types of traps used to capture bears, however, most of them are dangerous and possibly…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “ 61 people have been killed by black bears while hundreds of black bears have been killed by hunters in New Jersey” Does the bear hunt really matter that much? The bear hunt isn’t necessary, and some people may not believe this but it doesn’t change anything. The bears will just keep on growing so why should we murder them for no reason while there are other ways to prevent them from hurting our people. Hunting black bears is a horrendous sport which lets hunters get lots of money for doing something wrong. When has murdering and torturing animals become a sport? What have the bears ever done to us or the hunters? They kill people because they are terrified of us. It is not their fault. When people are terrified they do the same thing. We should end the bear hunt because when we hurt bears that is…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Effects Of Grizzly Bears

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Grizzly bears of North America have huge cultural significance on native American and European heritage (Kellert, 1994). Indigenous cultures revered these majestic species, its example can be seen in art and literature and Europeans settlers appreciated them for their economic values (Kellert et al., 1996). However, as our society evolved, we became distant from nature and “reverence for the bear was replaced with fear, exploitation, and subordination” (Kellert et al., 1996). Modern culture holds negative perception of them and one of the prime reason for that is the conflict experienced between humans and Grizzly bears. Human-Wildlife conflict, per the proceedings from International Union for the Conservation of Nature World Parks, occurs…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays