polar bear
...ype of birth is a single birth, or singleton. When they are born in late November to early January, it follows a two-month pregnancy after the egg was implanted into the uterus in mid-September to mid-October. Even though the egg is not implanted until then, the mating most often occurs in April and May. After the long mating and birthing process though, comes a small polar bear ready to mature into a large polar bear like its parents. As a twenty-five centimeter cub, the polar bear is born with its eyes shut with a layer of fine hair, so thin that it almost appears hairless, covering their entire body. The time that a young polar bear remains with its mother varies depending on the location, but the most frequent age that a cub leaves its mother is at two and a half years. When this happens, and the bear goes off on its own, the first year is usually the hardest, seeing how they are young and naive. Eventually at age four or five though, the age at which females are just about full-grown and when they have almost mastered the art of hunting, they being to mature sexually. Most females at this time are ready to produce young, therefore they proceed in mating and producing them, however, the majority of males do not begin to actually mate until they reach about eight to ten years of age, when they are full grown. The polar bear continues to live its life mating, hunting, and changing until it reaches the mid to late twenties where their life usually ends. It is uncommon for a polar bear in the wild to live up to more than thirty years. In the thirty years that a polar bear is present on the earth, it changes into a very large and powerful creature with a unique body structure, except for some similarities to those of any other type of bear. Although it is equipped for water though, its body structure is still very similar to that of other bears, especially its feet. Its feet, like other bears’ feet except flatter, are called plantigrade feet – feet that have both the sole and the heel coming in contact with the ground at all times. Different than other bears though, the polar bear’s foot has five claws that are sharp and curved in order to make grasping ice and holding onto prey and easier task. Also, to make living on the ice easier, their feet have long hair between the pads. The long hair provides protection from the cold as well as traction on the ice. To swim through the water in which they live, on their forelegs they have stiff hair and their front feet are rather broad. The polar bear’s unique foot structure is very helpful while living and maneuvering themselves throughout the ice and water, but is not the only helpful thing that helps them in these parts. In comparison to other bears, brown ones in particular; the polar bear has a longer neck and skull. Different from the brown bear as well, its eyes are smaller, but similarly its teeth are large in order to coincide with its carnivorous eating habits. At birth, the polar bear is born with a small head, gentle features, and soft, white fur; eventually developing into wide, muscular face with thick, whitish, but sometimes yellowish, fur. The face starts to fill out after approximately eight months until it gets longer at about two to five years and then finally at the age of five develops full facial muscles and becomes wider. Also, while the face of the polar bear develops into a replica of that which the adults have, the hearing and smell also improve. The hearing, though, does not play a huge part of the bear’s success in the wild, for they have small ears covered with fur inside and out to protect them from the cold temperatures. The ear canal even closes when the polar bear dives under water. Due to the lack of hearing, the polar bear relies mainly on smell. The average bear is able to smell and locate prey up to forty miles away. This is very important for them because hunting season is not that long and they must have enough stored body fat to last them all the way through the ‘off-season’. The prime hunting time for the average polar bear takes place during the months of April through July. At this time ringed seals, the preferred food of the polar bear, are easily spotted and caught. In order to catch a seal, a few different tactics can be utilized by each polar bear. Some of the more common tactics, however, are the ‘stalk’ hunt and the ‘still’ hunt. When the polar bear i...