Canada | 1993 | Dollar | Polar Bear

 


Polar bear







The Polar bear (Ursus maritimus), a close relative of the brown bear, is a large carnivore native to the Arctic Circle. Adult males weigh 350–700 kg, with females about half as much. Highly adapted to life on snow, ice, and open water, it hunts seals from the sea-ice edge and relies on stored fat when ice is absent. Although born on land, polar bears spend most of their lives at sea, reflected in their name meaning “maritime bear.” Classified as vulnerable, several of the nineteen subpopulations are declining. Once heavily overhunted, populations recovered after restrictions were introduced. For millennia, polar bears have held central cultural and spiritual significance for Arctic Indigenous peoples.

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