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The polar bear, Ursus maritimus, is the largest carnivore on earth and is known as the "King of the Arctic." Twice as big as lions or tigers, a typical adult male weighs a thousand pounds and approaches five feet high at the shoulder. Polar bears live in the more than eight million square kilometers of circumpolar land and frozen sea. They can run about thirty miles an hour in a smooth, flowing gait, and are able to swim nonstop for a hundred miles by using their front paws as oars. Although adults usually dive headfirst into the water, they will slide in back feet first when stalking prey.
The polar bear's favourite food is seal meat, but they will also eat other animals as well. One of the reasons why polar bears are such good hunters is that they have extremely sensitive noses. Believe it or not, they are able to scent and locate potential prey at a distance of over 20 miles (32 km)! There are a number of ways that these clever bears can hunt for food:
The polar bear will bury himself in the snow near his prey and then cover his conspicuous black nose with a paw. When the animal gets close enough, the polar bear will burst from his hiding place and chase down the target.
Patience is definitely one of the polar bear's virtues. A polar bear will stand or lie motionless near a seal's breathing hole for hours, sometimes even days, waiting for the seal to surface. When the seal comes up for air, the polar bear will whack it with his one-foot-wide paw, breaking the seal's neck with one blow.
Another technique that polar bears will use when hunting seals is to dive into the water from about twelve hundred feet away, and then swim under the ice toward the unsuspecting seal. Coming up for air at seal holes along the way, the bear will patiently work his way toward the seal over the span of half an hour, and then suddenly attack when he is close enough to catch the seal.
Polar bears have developed a clever ruse to overcome the fact that seals will not return to a lair that seems to be changed or damaged. The bear will carefully dig a hole into the seal's lair and then stick his head in it, thus preventing light from getting in and giving the seal the impression of an undisturbed lair. When the seal surfaces in the lair, the bear kills it.
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