(_Ursus maritimus_)
Living amid eternal ice and snow, the polar bear, which is equalled
in bodily size only by some of the huge brown bears of Alaska and
Kamchatka, evidently owes its white, or in some instances pale
cream-coloured, coat to its surroundings; this white livery, like that
of the polar hare, being worn throughout the year. The species is
always alluded to simply as the polar bear, although its full title
should be the north polar bear; the Antarctic, so far as we know at
present, having no land mammals.
In its native haunts the polar bear is found alike on the ice-bound
coasts and islands, and on the ice-fields themselves, where it obtains
much of its food, this being captured both on land and in the water.
Indeed, this great carnivore is fully as much at home in the sea as on
_terra firma_, and is capable of swimming long distances at a stretch.
In former days it is probable that the polar bear ranged considerably
farther south than is the case at the present day, when it is but
rarely seen even in the south of Greenland. The species, like Arctic
animals generally, has a nearly circumpolar distribution, and has
been divided into a number of local races. These are at present
distinguished by skull-characters, but if a sufficient series of skins
were available in museums for comparison, there would probably be found
local differences in the colour, length, and character of the fur.
Polar bear skins are, however, of great commercial value, so that no
collection contains a large series of specimens. Moreover, the exact
locality of most of the skins offered for sale by furriers is unknown.
Against the intense cold of its Arctic home the white bear is well
protected by its long and dense coat, as well as by the thick layer of
fat underlying the skin. By means of the hairy covering of the soles
of the feet--which in other bears are naked--the animal is enabled to
obtain a firm foothold on the ice; upon which, as well as on land, it
is a swift and long-winded runner. As special adaptations in the bodily
form to swimming and diving, may be mentioned the thin, compressed
body, the long neck, the small ears, and the long pointed head, which
offer the least possible resistance to progression in water. The strong
limbs, with broad paws and webs between the toes, form efficient oars
when swimming; while the oily nature of the fur keeps the water off
the body. The white bear is, in fact, as admirably adapted to a life
among the Arctic ice as is the lion to the deserts of Africa; and both
animals may be regarded as the absolute rulers of their respective
domains.
[Illustration]
In the pursuit of its prey the polar bear displays great craft and
ingenuity. When it spies a seal sleeping by a hole in the ice, or on
the edge of an ice-floe, if it succeeds in approaching undetected, it
glides swiftly and silently into the water, swims a certain distance
under the surface, and then rises to observe the situation of its
victim. In this manner, by alternate dives and risings, it progresses
till within a short distance, when it makes a final dive, to rise near
the sleeping seal, which it generally manages to capture. In summer
these bears are almost complete vegetarians, subsisting on grass,
berries, lichens, moss, and sea-weed. At other seasons their chief food
consists of the flesh of seals, walruses, and the smaller cetaceans,
such as the white whale and the so-called blackfish. In some districts
they capture fish of various kinds, and more especially salmon. In
addition to the above, numbers of the smaller polar mammals, such as
the Arctic lemming, are caught and eaten; while the young and eggs of
various sea-birds, especially auks and guillemots, also form a portion
of the diet.
White bears are seldom seen in numbers except where the carcases of
whales have been left to rot by the whalers; and generally these
animals go about in pairs, accompanied by one or two cubs, which the
female will defend with her life.
Only when driven by hunger will the white bear venture to attack human
beings. Sealers, who were formerly much afraid of them, nowadays attack
the bears armed only with lances, and kill large numbers.
In the far north white bears disappear for the most part during the
long Arctic winter, and it is believed that many hibernate, especially
as they have occasionally been found in holes. In the winter lair the
female gives birth to her tiny, short-haired, and blind cubs, which are
usually one or two in number, although triplets occasionally occur.