Omaha’s zoo has a pretty awesome polar bear. Her name is Bam
Bam. She loves long swims in her pool and large melons during her bear feeding.
Polar bears can be found in the Arctic Circle by the Arctic Ocean. These bears
are very large and can almost weigh as much as 1500 lbs for males and females
about half the size of that. An interesting fact about polar bears is that even
though they are born on land, they spend most of their life at sea. This is how
they get their scientific Latin name, maritinus, from “maritime bear.”Maritime
means, connected with the sea. Polar
bears like to find their prey at the edge of the ice by the sea. They prefer to
have seals since they have large amounts of fat that helps them stay warm. The fat acts as a good insulator, blubber, under
the fur to almost 4 inches. That’s a lot of blubber!
At one point, polar bears were thought to be their own
genus, Thalarctos. However, there is a strong similarity in characteristics between
polar and brown bears that still keeps them within the same genus as other
bears. However, some differences you may
see with a polar bear are that they have large, fluffy feet for traction on ice
and a thicker fur coat to help keep them warm.
Despite being a mammal and spending most of their life at
sea, polar bears are actually considered to be marine mammals. However, a cool
fact is that they are the only living “marine mammal” that has powerful limbs
and feet that allow them to travel far miles on foot and run on land.
Bam Bam
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