Characteristics:Polar bears are related to grizzly and brown bears. They have special features that help them survive in the frozen north. Their creamy white fur provides good camouflage and protects them from the cold. The outer layers of fur have special guard hairs that shed water easily. Their dense undercoats and thick layers of fat (blubber) protect them from the cold.
They have short tails, short fluffy ears, and very sharp teeth. Polar bears have huge, twelve inch front paws. Their toes are partially webbed so they can swim. Back paws are smaller and all have pads of fur to protect them with short thick claws. Their wide paws allow them to walk on deep snow, but they would rather stay on the ice or hard ground.
They are excellent swimmers and divers and can swim 60 miles without stopping.
(Eskimos) once used spears and bows and arrows to kill the polar bears. They provided them with food and warm skins for clothing.

Habitat:They live in the Arctic and similar areas near the shore where pack ice forms. They use the pack ice as seal-hunting platforms. Between 3,000 and 4,000 polar bears live along the northern coast of Alaska. They are also found in far northern Canada, Norway, Svalbard Islands, Greenland, and Siberia.

Diet:Polar bears hunt seals, but will also eat a dead beached whale, fish, and crabs. On land, they eat baby birds, eggs, Arctic hare, reindeer, and plants. Thick layers of fat (blubber) allow them to go for weeks without food. They may hunt over 100,000 square miles of wilderness.