Polar bear

The polar bear is a large bear of the Arctic that lives mostly on sea ice and hunts seals. It looks white, but its skin is black, and each hair of its fur is transparent, with no white pigment at all. The fur looks white because it scatters light, much as snow does.^[1] A polar bear is therefore a black animal wearing a see-through coat, and getting away with it.

Colour

The black skin is thought to help the bear absorb warmth from sunlight, while the thick fur and a layer of fat keep the heat in. In zoos in warm places, polar bears have sometimes turned slightly green when tiny algae grew inside their hairs. They were not unwell; they were just briefly on the wrong side of the colour chart.^[2]

• Skin: black.
• Fur: transparent.
• Appearance: white.
• Algae-affected bears: slightly green.

Swimming

Polar bears are strong swimmers and can swim for long distances between pieces of ice. Their scientific name, Ursus maritimus, means “sea bear”. Their front paws are large and slightly webbed, which gives them, in effect, a pair of built-in paddles and the right to describe themselves as marine mammals, which they are.

See also

• White – what it looks like
• Black – what it is underneath
• Ice – where it lives
• Narwhal – a neighbour in the Arctic
• Penguin – never met one either

References

1. Floe, F. (2001). Black Underneath. Arctic Press.
2. Algae, A. (1979). “Why Is That Bear Green?” Zoo Notes 1: 1.
3. Paddle, P. (2008). Sea Bear. Ice Books.