WHAT DO THEY EAT?

FOOD INTAKE

1. A polar bear's stomach can hold an estimated 15% to 20% of its body weight. A polar bear generally eats this much only when its energy demands are high. A bear can assimilate 84% of the protein and 97% of the fat it eats. 2. Polar bears need an average of 2 kg (4.4 lb.) of fat per day to obtain enough energy to survive. A ringed seal weighing 55 kg (121 lb.) could provide up to eight days of energy for a polar bear. 3. Hibernating polar bears do not eat.

FORAGING AND EATING

1. Still hunting. • Still hunting is the most common method of hunting year-round. • The polar bear remains motionless beside a breathing hole or lead edge waiting for a seal to surface. When a seal surfaces, the polar bear bites onto the head or upper body, then flips the entire seal onto the ice. • Still hunting usually takes less than one hour, but polar bears will wait much longer. 2. Stalking on land. • Stalking is a hunting method used when seals haul out on sea ice. • Once spotted, the seal is slowly and steadily stalked by the polar bear. At 15 to 30 m (49-98 ft.) away, the polar bear suddenly charges the seal. With its claws or teeth, the polar bear grabs the seal before the seal can leave the ice. 3. Aquatic stalk. • The aquatic stalk is a method also used to hunt seals hauled out on sea ice. • The polar bear swims toward a hauled-out seal. Once the polar bear reaches the ice edge, the bear quickly emerges from the water and grabs the seal with its claws or teeth. 4. Stalking birth lairs. • Stalking ringed seals at their birth lairs is a hunting method polar bears use in spring, when ringed seals give birth to their pups. • Ringed seal birth lairs are caves built under snow drifts next to a hole in the ice. The snow drifts are on stable sea ice attached to land. • Once a polar bear identifies a birth lair, it slowly and quietly positions itself next to the lair. If a polar bear smells or hears a seal in the lair, it slowly raises up on its hind legs and crashes down with its front paws to break through the lair's roof. • To break the roof's hard surface, several tries are sometimes needed, which may allow the seal to escape into the water. • This method is most commonly used by polar bear females with cubs under one year old. ° Mother seals and pups have the high fat content needed for hungry polar bear mothers and their growing cubs. ° Male polar bears that may attack young polar bear cubs don't normally hunt seals in birth lairs. ° Birth lairs are usually on sea ice attached to land, allowing young cubs (who have little protective fat) to avoid crossing water. 5. Eating. • Once a seal is captured, a polar bear bites it several times on the head and neck to disable it before dragging it several meters from the water to feed. • A polar bear eats the skin and blubber first, then the meat. • Polar bears often stop to wash during feeding, using water nearby or rubbing in the snow. • Polar bears don't always eat the entire kill. Carcass remains are scavenged by other bears, arctic foxes, and gulls.