Celebrate International Polar Bear Day

The polar bear, which weighs up to 800 kg and can reach a height of up to 160 cm, is considered the largest predator on the planet. It is also the most carnivorous of the bears and lives in extreme conditions. This species is found mainly in areas of Arctic sea ice, i.e. on the frozen sea in the northern hemisphere.

They do not venture onto land very often, mostly in the summer when the ice melts (unless the ice floes move north to areas with permanent frost). Time spent on land is usually difficult for polar bears. Their main source of food is seals, which they attack when they are resting on the ice or when they appear on the surface of the ice to breathe. On land, they hunt seabirds, eat fish, seaweed and dead animals. It often happens that the ground literally melts under the bears’ feet and they are forced to swim in the open sea to find more stable ice. Although polar bears are excellent swimmers (and can even hunt underwater), it is a huge challenge for them to cover distances of more than 40 km (and sometimes even hundreds of kilometres) in the open sea.

International Polar Bear Day was established by Polar Bears International, a leading global organisation dedicated to the protection of polar bears and the Arctic. Excessive consumption of energy and natural resources threatens the entire natural world. The enormous amount of waste, the waste of drinking water and electricity, the unnecessary use of cars, the delivery of food from distant regions and overfishing… all these everyday activities affect the nature around us, but also the entire Earth.