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Take a look at some of the terrific winners from this month’s Kids Zooworks contest! These wonderful entries, featured in Zoobooks Polar Bears, really show each artist’s talent for drawing our Arctic friend the polar bear. They’re all definitely some imaginative and “cool” pictures. Do you have a favorite?
Since it is only recently that more than a few scientists have traveled to the Arctic to study polar bears in the wild, there is still a lot we have to learn about them and their behavior. You can be like a polar bear researcher too, thanks to Alaska Zoo’s polar bear cam!
While polar bears are usually solitary animals when they are not mothering cubs, they do enjoy one another’s company more than we once thought. Now we know that a lot of the time we see two polar bears fighting they are just doing it for fun.
However, polar bears are sometimes competitive with each other, especially about food. They will often chase off other polar bears that may try scavenging their hard earned meal from them. Females are also very protective of their young cubs. If they feel their cubs are being threatened, these mothers will not hesitate to drive off much larger male polar bears and other predators.
Whenever we have to venture out in really cold weather, humans are sure to layer on many layers of warm clothing. And there’s no way we can safely attempt swimming in extremely cold water without a wetsuit. Polar bears, on the other hand, have bodies especially adapted to living in the intense cold of the Arctic. During warmer weather, polar bears are sometimes even uncomfortable because they are so good at staying warm on their own.
Their heavy fur coat works similarly to the heavy winter clothing humans wear. The hairs that make up polar bear fur are hollow, however, so the sun’s rays can pass through and warm their skin. They also have a rubbery layer of fat, called blubber, just beneath the skin. The blubber shields the bear’s body from icy cold water. On some parts of the body, polar bears can have up to four inches of blubber!
