Peterson Field Guides

Polar Bears are land mammals during the arctic summer, but come fall, when the pack ice begins to grow again and draw near to shore, these large animals move out to sea. 


A Polar Bear's diet consists primarily of seals, as well as other marine mammals and birds as they may catch them. Though they're fast runners and strong swimmers, they need the ice for catching their prey: most often they will wait at the seals' breathing holes or at the edge of ice floes and catch the animals when they come up for air. 


On land food is much harder to come by, and many bears subsist on what they can find, living mostly off stored fat reserves until the return of the autumn pack ice (which is why the threat of climate change and reduced/late pack ice is so serious for them). 


Seals usually migrate with shifting pack ice, and Polar Bears will go where the food goes. A single bear may range over 1000 km (600 mi), hunting for prey.

[Photo by Susan van Gelder (susanvg) on Flickr; CC-licensed]