Ursus maritimus   Phipps, 1774

Polar bear
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Ursus maritimus

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | CoL | ITIS | WoRMS

Mammalia | Carnivora | Ursidae

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Demersal.  Polar

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic: Ursus maritimus maritimus: Canada, Northwest Territories, Baffin Island, Greenland, Svalbard, Russia, Labrador, Newfoundland, Quebec, Iceland, Norway; Ursus maritimus marinus: Russia, Beaufort Sea, Alaska, Bering Sea, Kamchatka, Kuril Island, Sea of Okhotsk, Japan (Ref. 1522).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm Max length : 250 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1394); 200 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 800.0 kg (Ref. 1394); max. published weight: 800.0 kg

Short description Morphology

Fur color: white, yellow, grey, or almost brown, depending on season and light conditions; black skin, including nose and lips; plantigrade; claws not retractable.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Generally associated with ice, but they have been swimming at sea many kilometers away from the nearest land. Feeds on ringed, bearded, harp and hooded seals, and rarely walruses and white whales; sometimes eat arctic cod and other forms of animal and vegetable matter (Ref. 1394). Generally associated with ice, but they have been swimming at sea many kilometers away from the nearest land. Feeds on ringed, bearded, harp and hooded seals, and rarely walruses and white whales; sometimes eat arctic cod (Ref. 1394), charr, sculpin, and plants (Ref. 81152). They display migration patterns and spend time on the ice for hunting, a positive energy state, and move to their terrestrial habitat, a negative energy state, when the ice melts. Earlier ice break-ups show earlier arrival of polar bears ashore (Ref. 93189).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Jefferson, T.A., S. Leatherwood and M.A. Webber. 1993. (Ref. 1394)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Vulnerable (VU) (A3c); Date assessed: 27 August 2015

CITES status (Ref. 108899)

Appendix II: International trade monitored

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Appendix II: Migratory species conserved through agreements

Threat to humans

Human uses

Fisheries: commercial
FAO - Fisheries: species profile | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Tools

E-book | Field guide

Internet sources

BHL | BOLD Systems | CISTI | DiscoverLife | FAO(Fisheries: species profile; publication : search) | Fishipedia | GenBank (genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Gomexsi | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | PubMed | Tree of Life | Wikipedia (Go, Search) | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Resilience (Ref. 69278): High, minimum population doubling time less than 15 months (K=0.52-0.78; tm=4.1).
Vulnerability (Ref. 71543): Moderate vulnerability (41 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.