Polar Bears and Penguins

*"Well, I'm down in the bay with the Eskimos*

*With the polar bears and the Arctic snows*

*With a party of penguins who do not know*

*How I can get back to thee."*

— Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, *Supernaturally*

The primary difference between the Arctic and the Antarctic is that one has polar bears and one has penguins Polar bears are found in the Arctic, not the Antarctic. That’s why polar bears and penguins will never meet; they’re found in the north while penguins are found in the south.

In Christmas Specials, children's cartoons and comics, there will literally be a South or North Pole that looks just like the striped poles outside barbers' shops.  Christmas Elves, reindeer and Santa Claus will no doubt be somewhere nearby, at least in the case of the *North* Pole. For the record, the North Pole is a frozen sea and the South Pole is an actual frozen continent

Advertising

Coca Cola mostly averts this It may be justified, if the bears were travelers.

In the 1970s, TV adverts for Cresta soft drinks in the UK featured a polar bear with penguins. (*It's frothy, man!*)

Anime and Manga

In one episode of the *Lupin III: Part II* series, Lupin tries to bring polar bears to the South Pole and the penguins to the North.

Asian Animation

In *Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: Joys of Seasons* episode 47, which takes place on a snowy day, Wolffy steals the skins of polar bears and penguins he sees about to use for himself. Besides the fact that polar bears and penguins don't live in the same place, the series takes place in China, where neither animal can be found.

Board Games

In *Polar Dare*, you try to direct penguins across a river while avoiding a polar bear.

Comic Books

In one issue of the DC Comics *Looney Tunes* comic, Wile E. Coyote gets blasted to the South Pole and starts chasing a little penguin.  One of the coyote's misfired schemes results in him being attacked by a polar bear. It turns out the bear was on vacation.

Eastern Animation

In the Soviet cartoon *Laughter and Grief by the White Sea*, a man telling Tall Tales states that they have both white bears and penguins. The penguins, as he explains, do not live there, but do visit as tourists.

Film - Animation

In the Christmas Special *Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town*, the young Kris Kringle runs into a penguin who is trying to find the South Pole.

*Happy Feet*. Despite being a movie about adorable dancing emperor penguins, not a single polar bear can be seen. In the sequel, Sven's flashbacks include polar bears.

*Surf's Up* doesn't feature any Polar Bears.

*The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea* has Melody traveling up north to the Arctic, where she encounters penguins along with narwhals and walruses.

In the German kid’s film *The Little Polar Bear*. There is a penguin in the North Pole.

*The Nightmare Before Christmas*: There are penguins all over the place in Christmas Town, while a wind-up polar bear gives rides to young elves and Arctic animals appear on the carousel.

Film - Live Action

*Elf*, which portrays the North Pole as a magical land with clay-animation creatures and a talking snowman, supposedly would be able to get away with this. Instead, it averts it by having polar bears and *puffins* instead, which *are* arctic animals.

Puppet Shows

The Christmas Special *A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa* plays with the trope. At the airport, the Muppets discover that they can get to the North Pole via North Pole Airline, and wonder who would want to fly to the North Pole. The question is answered by a pair of penguins, who enter the scene loudly declaring to each other that they can't wait to visit the North Pole because they're sick of the South Pole, and maybe they'll see some polar bears.

Video Games

The main villain of *Club Penguin* is a polar bear named Herbert who left the North Pole because he was sick of the cold and accidentally ended up all the way in the south.

One game for the iPad had you launch a penguin across icy hills to escape a polar bear.

In *Doki Doki Penguin Land* and its sequels, polar bears are the penguin's enemies.

You can find Cubchoo and Beartic, the polar bear Pokémon, and Piplup, the penguin Pokémon, together in the Shivering Snowfields area of *New Pokémon Snap*.

Western Animation

Walter Lantz's cartoon penguin Chilly Willy is friends with a polar bear named Maxie.

Looney Tunes

The Bugs Bunny cartoon *Frigid Hare* has him turning up at the South Pole, where a penguin is being pursued by an Eskimo.

Another Bugs Bunny cartoon, *8 Ball Bunny*, has Bugs trying to return a lost penguin to the South Pole.

In *Adventure Time,* the Ice King says that it is natural for polar bears to eat penguins.

In the 1930 *Silly Symphonies* "Arctic Antics", polar bears, walruses, and penguins all make appearances.

*The Lion Guard*: Polar bears and penguins appear in the Tree of Life during Season Three.