What do polar bears eat?
Polar bears eat mainly seals, especially ringed and bearded seals. They are the largest land carnivores and hunt mostly from the sea ice.
Polar bears often wait beside a seal's breathing hole in the ice, sometimes for hours, then grab the seal when it comes up for air. They also sneak up on seals resting on the ice or break into snow dens where seals give birth. They mainly eat the fat-rich blubber and skin, which gives them the energy they need.
When seals are hard to find, polar bears may eat whale carcasses, walruses, birds, eggs, small mammals and even plants. However, these foods cannot replace the energy they get from seals. An adult polar bear can eat up to 45 kilograms of blubber in one meal.
Melting ice
Polar bears depend on sea ice to hunt. As the Arctic warms and the ice forms later and melts earlier, bears have less time to hunt and must fast longer on land. Scientists see this as the biggest threat to their survival.
Did You Know?
Polar bears have an incredible sense of smell and can detect a seal nearly a kilometer away or under a meter of snow.