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English: Map showing subpopulation of Polar Bears in the Arctic. This map was improved or created by the Wikigraphists of the Graphic Lab (en). You can propose images to clean up, improve, create or translate as well.
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The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can interbreed.The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land carnivore, with adult males weighing 300–800 kg (660–1,760 lb).
The key danger for polar bears posed by the effects of climate change is malnutrition or starvation due to habitat loss.Polar bears hunt seals from a platform of sea ice. Rising temperatures cause the sea ice to melt earlier in the year, driving the bears to shore before they have built sufficient fat reserves to survive the period of scarce food in the late summer and early fall.
Bear habitats are generally forests, though some species can be found in grassland and savana regions, and the polar bear lives in arctic and aquatic habitats. Most bears are 1.2–2 m (4–7 ft) long, plus a 3–20 cm (1–8 in) tail, though the polar bear is 2.2–2.44 m (7–8 ft) long, and some subspecies of brown bear can be up to 2.8 m (9 ...