 |
Polar Bear
Diet
Seals
are the main food source of polar bears, and are usually found wherever there
are bears. To catch a seal the bear
waits patiently at a breathing hole for the unsuspecting seal to surface, then
kills it with a rapid blow to the head or lunges and bites. When the ice begins to drift apart as summer progresses,
bears stalk seals basking on the ice by silently crawling up to them and then
pouncing. Ringed seals are the most
common prey, and other species such as harp, hooded and bearded seals and walrus
are killed occasionally.
Other
polar bear food includes white whales and narwhals, although bears do not often
kill these animals. Usually they
are found as carrion washed up on the coast which the bears patrol in late
August and September when much of the ice has melted. If sea birds are nesting nearby, the birds and their eggs may be included
in the bear's diet. Occasionally
they feed upon the carrion of caribou or muskoxen.
Seaweed, lichens, mosses, sorrel, sedges and grasses are also part of the
summer diet.
Polar bears have a great curiosity and tolerance for many diverse foods.
Since European man arrived in the arctic, the bears have expanded their
taste to include such delicacies as bacon, cheese, tea, fruit, engine oil, rope,
rubber boats, tents, snowmobile seats and nearly everything else associated with
camp life.
|
