Polar Bear experts are on hand during Polar Bear Cam season to weigh in on your frequently asked questions!
Today’s Question: What do polar bears eat?
Polar bears have evolved to feed on seals, specifically seal fat—the highest calorie food source possible. The bears prey on both ringed and bearded seals. Ringed seals, which are smaller, are the most accessible, especially to younger bears and females. Male polar bears also hunt bearded seals, which are larger. Polar bears capture seals when they surface to breathe, or hunt them in their lairs, where young seals are nurtured.
“Most other foods that polar bears may eat are opportunistic—unpredictable by definition. The majority of these, with the exception of beached marine mammal carcasses, don’t provide enough energy to sustain the polar bear’s massive body size or to build up the bear’s own fat reserves,” said Geoff York, Polar Bears International’s senior director of conservation and a polar bear biologist. “Polar bears did not evolve into the largest land predator in one of the most energetically challenging places on earth by eating berries, kelp, and eggs- they got there from eating energy dense, fat rich seals.”
