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🐾 Polar Bears
The biggest hunters on land live where the sea freezes — and under their white fur, their skin is black.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
📍 Where is it?
📍 Svalbard, Norway — see it on the big map →
Polar bears live around the Arctic Ocean, the icy sea at the top of the world. The islands of Svalbard, north of Norway, are one of the best places to find them. They are the biggest land hunters on Earth — a large male can weigh more than 500 kilograms, as much as a small car.
Polar bears are brilliant swimmers. They paddle between ice floes with their huge front paws and can swim for hours. Their favourite food is seals, which they catch at holes in the ice where seals come up to breathe.
A polar bear's fur looks white, but each hair is actually a hollow, see-through tube that traps the sun's warmth. And underneath all that fur, a polar bear's skin is black, which soaks up even more heat. It is a perfect coat for the coldest place in the northern world.
🤩 Wow fact!
A polar bear's fur looks white, but its skin underneath is black — the dark skin soaks up warmth from the sun.
🧠 Quiz time!
What colour is a polar bear's skin under its fur?