Polar bears live in the Arctic, on ice-covered waters. Polar bears rely on sea ice to access the seals that are their primary source of food, as well as to rest and breed.

Antarctica is a continent. It is Earth’s fifth largest continent. Antarctica is covered in ice. Antarctica covers Earth’s South Pole.

Antarctica

The Antarctic is almost a geographic opposite of the Arctic, because Antarctica is a land mass surrounded by an ocean. The open ocean allows the forming sea ice to move more freely, resulting in higher drift speeds. However, Antarctic sea ice forms ridges much less often than sea ice in the Arctic.

Q: Why do polar bears need ice and snow to survive? A: Because of the extremely cold climate, polar bears need food with a high content of fat and that makes seals their ideal prey. Polar bears need ice to capture their prey. Without sea ice, bears won’t be able to catch any seals.

For polar bears, the sea ice is a crucial platform for life. They use the ice to travel long distances to new areas. They hunt for seals by finding their dens or sitting next to gaps in the ice, waiting for the unsuspecting prey to pop up.

Polar bears could disappear by 2100 due to melting ice, climate change, study says. A new study suggests the Arctic species is at risk of being starved into extinction by the end of the century. A new study now suggests the Arctic species is at risk of being starved into extinction by the end of the century.

Scientists agree that global warming causes both the ice in the North and the South Pole to melt. Air temperatures are climbing, and so are water temperatures. This makes the ice melt faster. Because the Arctic and Antarctic are cold, remote, and full of ice, they are often thought of as nearly the same.

A hungry polar bear (Ursus maritimus) will eat just about anything. Oh sure, they prefer to dine on nice fatty seals (I mean, what Arctic creature wouldn’t?), but when push comes to shove they’ll eat caribou, walruses, nuts, birds, and even stinky, rotten whale carcasses. Oh yeah, they’ll also eat eggs.

Food Preferences & Resources When other food is unavailable, polar bears will eat just about any animal they can get, including reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, waterfowl, fish, eggs, vegetation (including kelp), berries, and human garbage.

There are two main reasons why fish is not part of its main diet: Most of the fish in the Arctic are deep down in the sea beyond the reach of Polar Bears. Fish cannot be an alternative to the seal fat required for the survival of the polar bears.

However, fish and meat are important sources of protein and fat, though most non-coastal bears rely on carrion (including winter-killed animals). Others live in areas where salmon, suckers or other fish spawn for part of each year. When bears emerge from their dens in the spring, food is in short supply.

It might come as a surprise that polar bears rarely drink water. Consequently, polar bears have evolved so that they don’t need to drink free water. Polar bears get their water from the chemical reaction that breaks down fat. This is why a polar bear’s diet is high in fat but low in protein.

Polar bears live in the Arctic, but not Antarctica. Down south in Antarctica you’ll find penguins, seals, whales and all kinds of seabirds, but never polar bears. Even though the north and south polar regions both have lots of snow and ice, polar bears stick to the north. Polar bears don’t live in Antarctica.

An adult polar bear is seen dragging the body of a cub that it has just killed across the Arctic sea ice. Polar bears normally hunt seals but if these are not available, the big predators will seek out other sources of food – even their own kind.

What Birds Do Polar Bears Eat?

In general, wolves depend upon ungulates for food year round. The have, however, been known to eat almost every available type of small prey, including small mammals, birds, snakes and lizards, fish, and even insects and earthworms.

Polar bears are the only animal predators of Arctic wolves. If a young wolf cub wanders out of the cave, it can be killed by a bear or another wolf. When humans venture out to where the Arctic wolves live, they pose a threat to them as well. An Arctic wolf can survive for 4 or 5 months without eating.

Food Preferences & Resources On occasion, polar bears kill beluga whales and young walruses. When other food is unavailable, polar bears will eat just about any animal they can get, including reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, waterfowl, fish, eggs, vegetation (including kelp), berries, and human garbage.

Bears will also occasionally kill wolves as Joslin (1966), and Pimlott et al. (1969) reported in Ontario, Canada. In both instances, black bears were responsible for the deaths of individual wolves. According to Joslin (1966), a black bear killed a female wolf protecting her pups at a den site.

Adult polar bears have no natural predators, though walruses and wolves can kill them.