February 27 is National Polar Bear Day

Happy National Polar Bear Day!

              Since we have been dealing with our own Arctic weather here in York County, PA, I thought polar bears would be a great topic this week, especially since February 27^th is National Polar Bear Day.  Let’s look at some cool (no pun intended!) polar bear facts.

            Polar bears are related to brown bears but are their own unique species.  They have black skin but their fur is actually made of clear or colorless guard hairs that reflect light and make their coats appear white.  

Cubs weigh about a pound when born but grow to a whopping 500-1200 pounds as adults, and some adult males are 10 feet tall when standing on their hind legs.  Wild polar bears live 15-18 years.  There are approximately 25,000 of them inhabiting the Arctic Circle which includes areas of Canada, Alaska, Russia, Norway and Greenland.  Not a place I would want to visit since the average temperature is minus 29 F!  And we thought -2 F was cold!

            A polar bear’s favorite food is seal blubber.  Eating seals helps them retain fat in order to survive those super cold temperatures. 

          One other fact that I thought was really interesting was that polar bear liver has such a high vitamin A content from eating all of that seal blubber that it is actually toxic to humans if eaten.

         So, what happens if you eat polar bear liver?  A group of European explorers in 1596 found out the hard way and experienced some pretty gruesome symptoms.  They became sluggish, got severe headaches and bone pain, and started vomiting.  And then things got worse.  Their skin started to peel off—some were lucky and just lost a little, but others sloughed all their skin head to toe.  Finally, they slipped into comas and died. Not a good way to go.  Fortunately, native Inuit people know to stay away from the polar bear’s poisonous liver but they do use the bears’ meat and hides. 

     Hopefully our deep freeze will end soon so we don’t have to live like polar bears.  Stay warm, and remember, if someone tries to get you to try polar bear liver for dinner, just say no!  Happy National Polar Bear Day!

Polar bear facts taken from LiveScience.com and howstuffworks.com.

This blog brought to you by the Patton Veterinary Hospital serving Red Lion, York and the surrounding areas.