Help us save polar bears... more info to come in the near future..

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Common Name: Polar bear Ours blanc; ours polaire (Fr); Oso polar (Sp)
Scientific Name: Ursus maritimus
Habitat: Arctic
Location: Arctic (northern hemisphere)
Biogeographic realm: Nearctic and Palearctic

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Status
With 20-25,000 polar bears living in the wild, the species is not currently endangered, but its future is far from certain. In 1973, Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway and the former U.S.S.R. signed the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears and their Habitat. This agreement restricts the hunting of polar bears and directs each nation to protect their habitats, but it does not protect the bears against the biggest man-made threat to their survival: global warming. If current warming trends continue unabated, scientists believe that polar bears will be vulnerable to extinction within the next century. WWF provides funding to field research by the world's foremost experts on polar bears to find out how global warming will affect the long-term status of polar bears. To learn more about the topic, read the WWF report Vanishing Kingdom: The Melting Realm of the Polar Bear . WWF's report, Polar Bears at Risk, provides a more detailed analysis.

Read more about World Wildlife Fund's work to stop global warming and help save polar bears.

More on the Ecology of the Polar Bear

Physical Description
Habitat and Distribution
Diet
Reproduction
Why is this species important?
Of all of the wildlife species in the Arctic, the polar bear is perhaps the most fitting icon for this ecoregion. Its amazing adaptations to life in the harsh Arctic environment and dependence on sea ice make them so impressive, and yet so vulnerable. Large carnivores are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. Polar bears are studied to gain an understanding of what is happening throughout the Arctic as a polar bear at risk is often a sign of something wrong somewhere in the arctic marine ecosystem.