Powder the Polar Bear

Hello, My name is Powder the Polar Bear. But my friends call me "Bob."

My mission is to make it north of the artic circle.

The polar bear, Ursus maritimus, or the sea bear, evolved about 200,000 years ago from brown bear ancestors.

Polar bears range throughout the Arctic in areas where they hunt seals at openings in sea ice called leads. Five nations have polar bear populations: the United States (Alaska), Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway.

Adult male polar bears weigh from 775 to 1,200 pounds. A few weigh more than 1,200 pounds, but they would be exceptional. Females normally weigh 330 to 650 pounds. It's not uncommon for female polar bears preparing to enter maternity dens in the fall to weigh over 600 pounds. 

Around the age of four or five the female polar bear can start having babies. They usually only have two cubs and they have these babies in a cave they've dug in a large snow drift. They stay there over winter and come out in spring with the babies.

The babies are much smaller than human babies when they're born. They are the size of a rat and weigh little more than a pound. They can grow to full man size in a year if they have lots of food. 

Polar bears roam the Arctic ice sheets and swim in that region's coastal waters. They are very strong swimmers, and their large front paws, which they use to paddle, are slightly webbed. Some polar bears have been seen swimming hundreds of miles from land—though they probably cover most of that distance by floating on sheets of ice.

Polar bears live in one of the planet's coldest environments and depend on a thick coat of insulated fur, which covers a warming layer of fat. Fur even grows on the bottom of their paws, which protects against cold surfaces and provides a good grip on ice. The bear's stark white coat provides camouflage in surrounding snow and ice. But under their fur, polar bears have black skin—the better to soak in the sun's warming rays.