The Life of a Polar Bear Cub
Found throughout the circumpolar Arctic, the polar bear is one of the largest land carnivores. Surviving mainly on a diet of seal, polar bears also eat kelp, scavenge on carcasses, and occasionally even kill a walrus or a small whale. Aptly titled Kings of the North, or Lords of the Arctic, polar bears are truly fascinating animals with unique characteristics, all of which enable them to survive in a harsh and unforgiving world.
So how does a polar bear start out in life? Well, sometime around midsummer, polar bears mate and then go their own separate ways. This is the point where things get very interesting. The fertilized egg divides into a hollow orb of cells called a blastocyst, then free floats in the uterus for four months before attaching to the uterine wall. This delay allows the female polar bear to build up the fat she needs, roughly 400 pounds of it, before the fetus or fetuses begin to develop. This also insures that the cub or cubs are not born too early. Typically, once the blastula begins to develop, one to three embryos will result with actual gestation taking another four months. Read the rest of this entry »
