Complete Polar Bear Facts

Dangers to polar bears

Getting hurt - Ouch! Adult polar bears have no natural enemies, but that doesn't mean that they are safe. Boars will sometimes kill another male when competing for a mate. If cubs don't stay close to their mother, boars may also kill them. The ice is always moving and changing which can be very dangerous, especially to young cubs. A fall on the ice can injure the cub, or break a bone, which means it can't keep up with its mother. If a cub can't stay with its mother, it will probably die.	This bear has two scars across his nose from a fight with another bear
Being hungry Young polar bears that are away from their mothers for the first time and still learning to hunt may not be able to find enough food or larger polar bears may steal their food. As the world gets warmer, the ice melts sooner, which means the polar bear has to stop hunting sooner and doesn't put on enough fat to survive until next winter.
Getting sick Polar bears can get sick just like any other animal. They can sometimes get a worm living in them called Trichenella (trik-en-el-ah), which they get from eating seals. This worm can harm their muscles, and if the worm is close to the heart, the bear can die.
Look out! Hunters! The Inuit have been hunting polar bears for thousands of years, and were a natural part of the environment. The Inuit used the polar bears for food, clothing, and bedding. In modern times people were killing many polar bears by using snowmobiles, boats, and airplanes to catch up to them, and guns to shoot them. Although hunting is restricted or banned in all countries, hunting is still a large cause of polar bear death.
Pollution Chemicals, such as PCBs and DDT in the environment move along the food chain. Plankton with chemicals are eaten by fish, and seals eat the fish, and then polar bears eat the seals. The chemicals move along with the animals from plankton to fish to seal to polar bear. The chemicals can make the animals sick. The World Wildlife Fund has more information on risks to polar bears.