A majority of people are not aware of the fact that the polar bear is a marine mammal.The polar bear is on the list of marine mammals because unlike other species of brown bears, the polar bear spends its whole life near the water. They catch their prey by swimming underwater.Polar bears are famous for swimming for food, and when swimming, these animals often stay below the surface for 3-30 seconds. They can not breathe underwater, however, they can stay underwater for longer periods of time (about three to four minutes at best) if they’re looking for their prey, but the longest dive ever recorded till now was only three minutes and 10 seconds. The bears are also known to hold their breath for a maximum of two minutes underwater when they are covering long distances. There is no data that tells us about a polar bear’s capacity or how deep a polar bear can dive underwater, but the estimation is around 20 ft (6 m) in natural habitat.If you enjoyed reading the article on how long polar bears can dive and are interested in knowing more about such facts about animals, do also look at our other articles on how do volcanoes affect the Earth and brown bear vs polar bear here on Kidadl.How many miles can a polar bear swim without stopping?Polar bears are strong swimmers, and they take long swims when stalking prey but are you aware that polar bears can swim for days? Swimming polar bears can cover vast distances and continuously swim in icy water for several hours to move from one sheet of the sea ice floe to another sea ice floe, and they can also attain speeds of up to 6 mph (9.6 kph) in the water.The huge paws of the polar bears’ species are designed specifically for swimming, and they use them to paddle through the sea while keeping their hind legs straight like a rudder. In long-distance swims in freezing water, the polar bear is kept warm by its thick coating of fat that can be up to 4 in (11 cm) thick. According to a study, polar bears’ capacity to swim great distances may allow them to survive as yearly sea ice disappears owing to changing climate.Can polar bears drown?An adult, mainly male polar bear, is believed to have drowned when forced to travel enormous areas of open surface water that exceed the great polar bear swimming capacity, according to scientists. New research also demonstrates that polar bear cubs are drowning as well, underscoring the threats posed by ice loss to the species’ survival, thus, making them threatened species.Biologists researching polar bears off the North Pole and southern Beaufort Sea have discovered that when young pups are forced to swim marathons with their mothers due to less ice or sea ice loss, results in nearly half of them dead. Cubs with less body fat are less well protected and lightweight, making them more susceptible to freezing and drowning. As polar bears are scared of sudden climate change and loss of ice surface, they straight away start to dive under the water. However, the sudden force of water, which happens as climate change, results in polar bears drowning.Do polar bears sleep in the water?A polar bear swimming underwater cannot last longer than three to four minutes at the most. These creatures only dive when they want to catch their food, mostly ringed seals and bearded seals, or when they have to cross the water for sea ice floe. Other than that, there is no information that tells us of polar bears sleep in the cold water. This arctic animal cannot take a breath underwater and can instead hold its breath.Polar bears, like humans, sleep for seven to eight hours each day. They also take a lot of naps to save energy. According to the reports, polar bears sleep with their backs towards the wind, curling up and digging shallow holes in the snow. One of the fun facts about polar bears is that, unlike other natural world bears, polar bears give birth to young pups when they are in the period of hibernating. As you may know, the bears give birth after their hibernation period is over, but the polar bear’s case is entirely different.Why can’t polar bear cubs swim alone?The studies show that a young polar bear cub usually stays close to the mother bear until at least two years of age or more. Mother bears are often seen feeding their cubs while sitting, sometimes also by lying down on their side or usually on their back.The mother bear teaches them to swim at a young age but never lets the young cub swim alone. The reason behind this is that when the bear is young, they are lightweight and don’t have any type of fat in their body. The fat helps a polar bear to stay warm inside the water, and therefore without body fat, a young cub can catch a cold and freeze to death.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for can a polar bear stay underwater for long? The truth revealed, then why not take a look at ancient alien facts: unravelling mysteries that are out of this world, or 115 Lake Chad facts to know about the shrinking water body?
A majority of people are not aware of the fact that the polar bear is a marine mammal.
