Polar bears really go for rich, fatty foods and quiet spots where they can hunt or just chill out. They’re absolutely hooked on hunting seals and devouring high-fat meals that fuel them and help them stay warm. Let’s take a look at what they eat, where they hang out, and how those choices shape their lives.
Picture this: a massive bear waiting by a breathing hole or lumbering across the ice toward a seal. Hunting, scavenging, and even those lazy naps on the ice help these animals survive. Their favorite hangouts really do matter for their survival.
What Polar Bears Love to Eat
Polar bears mostly stick to high-fat marine prey to keep warm and bulk up their fat reserves. They really prefer certain seals, but when the ice shifts or prey gets scarce, they’ll eat other animals, plants, or even carcasses.
Seal Hunting and Preferred Prey
Seals make up most of a polar bear’s menu. Ringed seals and bearded seals top the list because their blubber packs a serious calorie punch.
Polar bears hunt from the sea ice. They use breathing holes or hang out along the ice edge, waiting to ambush seals when they pop up for air.
A bear relies on its nose to sniff out a seal, then waits—sometimes for hours—at a breathing hole. When a seal surfaces, the bear lunges or crashes through the ice to grab it. During spring, seal pups on the ice become easy, energy-rich snacks.
Alternative Foods and Scavenging
When seals aren’t around, polar bears get creative. They’ll scavenge whale or walrus carcasses that wash up.
Sometimes, they’ll eat fish, bird eggs, or even berries if they stumble across them. These foods don’t have as many calories as seal blubber, though, so they just help a bear get by for a while.
Scavenging often brings bears closer to the coast, where they might find washed-up food.
Feeding Polar Bear Cubs
Cubs depend on their mother’s hunting skills and her rich milk. Polar bear milk is crazy high in fat, which helps cubs grow fast and build up their own blubber.
Cubs nurse inside the den for months, then follow mom out onto the ice. Early on, the mother gives cubs the best parts of a kill—usually the blubber and skin—so they get the most calories.
Hunting and Feeding Behaviors
Polar bears hunt with a mix of patience and stealth. They’ll stalk seals by crawling slowly and freezing if the seal glances their way.
At about 6 meters (20 feet) away, the bear sprints and pounces, hoping to catch the seal before it dives. Bears use the sea ice as a hunting platform, moving with the ice as it shifts through the seasons.
During fasting times, they live off their stored fat. When the ice melts earlier or comes later, polar bears might have to fast longer or travel farther, which changes how and where they hunt.
Polar Bears’ Favorite Places and Activities
Polar bears spend a lot of time on drifting sea ice, hunting seals and resting near leads. They’ll use snow dens when they need to, and sometimes they play with family or guard cubs in cozy maternity dens.
Living on Sea Ice and in the Arctic
You’ll mostly spot polar bears on sea ice across the Arctic. That’s where they hunt seals at breathing holes and along the edges of the ice.
Sea ice gives them a good platform for spotting and ambushing ringed and bearded seals—their favorites. In spring and early summer, bears gather where ice meets open water because seals are easier to find there.
Sea ice also shapes where polar bears go and how far they travel. They’ll walk, swim short distances, or ride on moving floes to find new hunting grounds.
When the ice breaks up, some bears head to the coast or drift on whatever ice is left until they can hunt again.
Play Fighting and Social Bonds
Young polar bears often play fight to practice hunting and survival skills. Play fights involve rolling, mock biting, and gentle wrestling.
These little wrestling matches help cubs build strength and balance on the ice, and let them practice stalking. Adults, especially young ones, sometimes spar too.
Playtime strengthens social bonds between mothers and cubs or among siblings. Moms usually let cubs play but stay close to keep an eye out for danger, like adult males.
Caring for Cubs in the Maternity Den
When a female polar bear gets pregnant, she digs a maternity den right into snowdrifts or sometimes earth. She wants a safe, warm spot to give birth and keep her cubs cozy.
You’ll almost never spot these dens. The mothers stay tucked inside for months during the harsh winter, nursing those tiny cubs until they’re strong enough to face the world.
The den shields the cubs from the brutal cold and keeps predators at bay. Inside, the cubs grow and gain strength.
Once they finally leave the den, the mother jumps into teaching mode. She shows her cubs how to hunt and survive.
She leads them between snowbanks and across sea ice as they get tougher. Pregnant polar bears actually time their denning so the cubs come out when there’s food nearby on the ice—pretty clever, right?
