Polar Bears
by Willa

Imagine you are walking on the Arctic tundra, you hear a growling sound. You turn around and you see a white bear. It rears up on its hind legs. You think, “Is it going to hurt me? Is it going to kill me?” But then you see another bear. It tackles the first. They are are just play fighting.
The Polar Bear has many names. Ursus Maritimus is the polar bear’s scientific name. Wow, that is a weird name! Most of us would call it by its common name: the Polar Bear. Some people call it the King of the Arctic. The babies are called cubs and they are so cute! As You can see, the polar bear has many names!
Here are some amazing facts about the polar bear! Like its cousins the brown and black bear, the polar bear has huge and hairy paws This huge majestic mammal has thick white hair. Would you believe that the polar bear has black skin under that fluffy fur! Another amazing thing about the polar bear is that the mothers make a noisy puffing sound called chiffingo, They makes this sound to call back her cubs if they have wandered off. Newborn cubs are about the size of a large rat and weigh 1 1/2 pounds! Two weeks from coming out from the den they start their journey to the sea. Sadly, most of the cubs do not survive their first year.
There are some amazing facts about the polar bear parents. The males can stand up to eleven feet tall and can weigh up to 1500 pounds! Polar bears can live up to 25-30 years old! The mother’s milk has a very high level of fat (30%),compared to the milk we buy in the grocery store. This cow milk only contains a fat level of 2% or 3%! The polar bear is an excellent swimmer. It can swim up to six miles per hour! Isn’t that amazing!
Polar bears can survive easily in their snowy, freezing-cold environment. Did you know that polar bears live in a very dry and cold environment?! All Polar bears live in a dens. Usually they are only one room. The room is about 6 feet by 10 feet.The entrance tunnel is about 6 feet long and 2 feet wide. They live in a cold habitat near the ice ocean. The polar bears main food is seals, but if they have to, they will eat small rodents and walruses. They fish through a hole in the ice called a breathing hole. Even though polar bears can live comfortably in the Arctic, people could not!
Polar bears live in many places. Polar bears live in Canada, United States Russia, Greenland, Svalbard Islands, Alaska and Norway. Sadly there are only 22,000 polar bears left in the world today. Unfortunately for the polar bears, their population is growing ever smaller.
The polar bear is valued for many things. They are highly valued for their hide and oil. People also use their hide for rugs-some with the heads still attached! A long time ago, people called the “Inuits” used 5-6 foot long spears to kill the polar bears. They ate the meat of the polar bear as well as used the hide. Inuits are not alive today. Sadly for these amazing creatures they are highly valued today by hunters.
The polar bear only has a few threats. Their main threat is global warming because9 it melts the ice they live on. Pollution is another threat that is similar to global warming. A third main threat is humans, who hunt and kill the polar bears. If there is not enough food, male polar bears will eat the cubs. I hope my dad wouldn’t do that!
Polar bears face many problems. Now, here are some solutions. We can start by passing laws to reduce global warming and hunting. We could Start trying to stop oil spills, and we could also stop throwing trash in the water. Did you know that two-thirds of the world’s polar bear population could be gone by the year 2050?! Now do you want to help save the polar bears?

Bibliography

Bailey, Jill. Polar Bear Rescue. Austin: Steck-Vaughn, 1992. Print.
Norbert, Rosing. Polar Bears. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2010. Print.
Osborne, Mary, and Natalie Boyce. Polar Bears and the Arctic. New York: n.p., 2007. Print.
Patent, Dorothy. Polar Bears. Minneapolis: Random House Children’s Book’s, 2000. Print.
“Polar Bears .” Animal Encyclopedia. DK Publishing Inc. ed. 2000. Print.
“Ursus maritimus — Overview polar bear.” EOL. EOL, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. .