Polar Bear

Ursus maritimus

Difficult (Promiscuous)

The **Polar Bear** (*Ursus maritimus*) is a large Holarctic mammal featured in the Arctic Pack DLC for *Planet Zoo*.

## Zoopedia Description

### General

**Population in the Wild:** 20,000-25,000

The polar bear (or *Ursus maritimus*) is a large ursine species that lives in the Arctic Circle and the sub-Arctic regions. With a completely white coat, dark eyes and a dark nose, they are stocky in build, with sturdy legs and a large feet that are well adapted to swimming. To minimize heat loss, the bears have small ears and a short tail. Males are between 2.4 and 3.0m long, weighing between 350 and 750 kg; females are between 1.8 and 2.4m long, weighing 150 to 250 kg. Both sexes feed on both ringed and bearded seals.

The bears are vulnerable due to climate change melting the sea ice on which they live and feed. With reduced prey availability, the bears struggle to eat enough food to survive throughout the harsh winters. This also means females are far less likely to have cubs, as they require a lot of feed to gain a significant amount of weight prior to pregnancy. In order to try to conserve the polar bear, joint efforts by Russia, Canada, Norway, Denmark (Greenland) and the USA have led to the signing of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which has committed to researching and protecting the population.

### Social

With the exception of a mother with her cubs, polar bears are solitary. They only interact with each other to mate or fight over mates. Occasionally, male bears form strong bonds and spend time sleeping and playing together.

### Reproduction

Male polar bears track females through the scent of their urine. Multiple males may track the same female, resulting in fights to determine which gets to mate. In these cases, it is the larger, older bears that often win; the male and female will then spend approximately a week together, mating multiple times. After this, the female spends 4 months eating a huge amount to gain a lot of weight, before digging a den in the snow where she will enter a hibernation-like state. After between 195 and 265 days of gestation, she will give birth to between 1 and 4 cubs - most often 2. Her young will suckle from their mother for 3 months in the den, afterwards emerging to accompany her on hunts for solid food. The cubs will spend 2 to 3 years with her, until she eventually chases them away for them to live alone. They will then reach sexual maturity at between 3 and 5 years old, becoming fully grown at between 5 and 6.

## Animal Care

 FEEDING STATIONS
 FOOD ENRICHMENT
Large Fixed Roller Feeder · Tree Scatter Feeder · Block of Frozen Fruit · Tree Forager · Bamboo Feeder · Block of Frozen Fish · Underwater Fish Feeder
Ice Block · Bobbin · Cardboard Box · Firehose Ball · Herb Scent Marker · Large Ball · Prey-Scented Sack · Rubbing Pillar · Wind Chimes · Large Snow Ball · Gift Box · Bobbin Drum · Small Tyre · Scots Pine/Tamarind Scratching Tree · Submarine Buoy

## Trivia

### Zoopedia Fun Facts

* Polar bears are the largest land carnivores in the world.
* Polar bears do not need to drink as they can produce water through digesting seal blubber.
* Polar bears are one of the most sexually dimorphic animals (males and females differ extremely in size), surpassed only by the elephant seal.
* Polar bears have small bumps called papillae on the pads of their feet to stop them from slipping on ice.
* Polar Bears are insulated by 10 centimetres (around 4 inches) of fat tissue under their skin to keep them warm; they will overheat in temperatures over 10°C.

### Other Trivia

* The Polar Bear was the first bear to be added in a DLC.
	+ It is also the first bear to have the Aquatic biome.
* In Update 1.6 the Polar Bear was given 'Deep Diving'.
* Prior to the 1.1.1 Update, polar bears had the largest habitat space needs of any animal; they required a land space of 12,000km2 and a water space of 6,000km2.

## Gallery

### Image Gallery

A polar bear that just appeared in the enclosurePolar bear in the waterPolar bear eatsPolar bear cub sleeps next to momPolar bear playingPolar bear sniffs the boxPolar bear and brown bearPolar bear at nightBaby and adult