Water Bear Ecological Niche

The Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encircling the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and land masses. Although it is closely related to the Brown Bear, it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological forte, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice, and open water, and for hunting the seals which make up most of its diet. Though there are many theories surrounding evolution, the two stand outstanding hypotheses applying to the modification from Brown Bear to Polar Bear are Lamarck’s theory of Use and Disuse, and Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. The intention of this paper is to compare these thesis and determine the most appropriate in

It was in Eurasia, within 500,000 years ago, that brown bears roamed the land. It was a time when Eurasia was found coated in ice and the Arctic ocean became it. A pack of brown bears were forced to separate for the hunt for food. It is believed that glaciers forced isolation upon the packs resulting in the deaths of many bears. Isolation was an important part of the evolution between the two bears as it forced those with an evolutionary advantage, such as the colour and thickness of their coats, to enhance these advantages and managed to survive and breed. Unlike those who were unable to cope with the environment. This generation then made new adaptations to further increase their likelihood of survival in the polar environment (PBS, 2015). For example, the bears required differently shaped teeth. As seen in the picture below, the back teeth of a polar bear are less in number and size. However, it is clear that the front teeth are larger and sharper. This is because of the change in environment forcing a change in diet for the bears; instead of eating berries the bears had to consume seals and needed sharper teeth to tear through skin. In order to camouflage themselves the bears, overtime, grew white fur to blend in with the snow. Another adaption made the these bears is the hunting technique used; at first only seal carcasses that had washed ashore were eaten by them however over time the bears

The predicted droughts will likely have a large effect on the bears’ food sources. Droughts can warm river temperatures, negatively affecting fish (a lesser food source of bears) [5]. Droughts also lead to suppressed plant growth, as they don’t receive enough water to thrive [6]. The majority of bears’ food comes from plants and trees [3,4], meaning that they will have a harder time finding food. In addition, there is a significantly higher risk of forest fires during a drought, which destroy a lot of

The Ursus Arctos otherwise known as the grizzly bear lives in North America around Northern Canada, Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. A grizzly bear lives in the wild and hunts for its food such as fish, deer, elk, or any other animal. They live inside of caves for protection from the weather, they will also live under trees or anything that will provide them shelter. I believe that grizzly’s have evolved into animals that can survive in many climates and environments.

The polar bear lives up in the Arctic region where global warming and climate change are melting the ice caps that the bears thrive on. They use the ice as a platform from hunting and rest. The random pocket holes in the ice, where the seals pop up at, is where the polar bear catches its prey. With this reduction of ice, “the abundance of seals, and increases the amount of energy and time needed for hunting, leaving less energy for reproduction” (Endangered Species and Habitats).

Sun bears have a unique diet. Their dies consist of berries, insects, leaves and lizards. Sun bears favorite snack is honey. Cubs have very few predators. Their predators are snakes and large birds. Since cubs can’t turn their necks as far they’re more vulnerable than adults.

withstand extreme desiccation. When the water bear is hydrated it makes tons of proteins and

If the bear has low water in the blood the hypothalamus is triggered and this sends messages to the pituitary glands to release ADH, which is a hormone that determines the concentration of the urine, when released this hormone reabsorbs water from the urine. If there is too much water in the body then the production of ADH slows down and can even stop to help reduce the amount of water that is being absorbed. A polar bear can also obtain water by eating different food sources, for example a polar bear needs a high in fat diet, this is because it’s the chemical reaction which allows the body to absorb the water from the food source, that’s why they eat large animals like seals. The blubber of the seal is high in fat which means the body is able to absorb lots of water from it.  Polar bears are able to gain water from eating the snow, however, this is an expensive process for the bear as it takes to much energy to break down the snow enough to get the water from

the last thirty years three quarters of floating ice cover has been lost, which has greatly affected the Polar Bears. This has been due to our use of fossil fuels. This photograph was captured in order to send the message that Polar Bears are losing their homes on the rapidly melting ice caps due to global warming and change has to be done.

Polar bear eat fish, seals, whales, and bird eggs if they cannot find something different. How they get their prey is by waiting at breathing a hole and wait on a seal to come up. Sometime they cannot find something to eat, and they can stay alive on their body fat. But they have to find food soon or they can die. They can smell their prey on ice about 20 miles away (Beening).Their habit is very cool and icy.

Can you imagine going from your warmy, sunshine state to the cold, tundra Artic? The polar bear and the Anglerfish are adapted to the extreme enviornments in which they live in. The polar bear and the anglerfish have characteristics to match each habitat they live in. The polar bear lives where the air, ice, and air intersect. They live most of their lives on sea ice. Where, the temperature an drop as low as 50 degrees Farenheit. On occasion, they might visit land only to build birthing dens for females. The famous polar bear may sound like it hibernates because you must think all bears hibernate, but believe it or not, the polar bear does not! They hunt year round which leaves no time to hibernate. The polar bear is the world's largest carnivore

A polar bear is one the most well adapted animals to its environment. They are very advance at hunting for prey like seals. Polar bears have white fur that can be used to be camoflauged when hunting for food, for its children and itself. Polar bears rarely ever seen when ever they are hunting for prey. Although polar bears need to eat a lot of food per day to be able to survive properly. The white fur can also be used to hide from predators. Polar bears could easily avoid predators with their fur and if they're seen they could also flee. Polar bears run can pretty fast on land but if they we're in the water they're a bot slow. Polar bears are great swimmers, it's just that they don't swim very fast. All polar bears need is a male and a female

Polars bears are top predators in the Arctic and are therefore exposed to high levels of pollutants through their food. The popular belief that polar bears live in a pure frozen wilderness is a fantasy.

Extant polar bears and brown bears are morphologically and genetically different species although with new mitochondrial DNA and fossil records and the ability to understand these findings it is evident that polar bears are a lineage of the Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos). Research indicates that polar bears evolved from the ancestral brown bear, and in this paper, I will discuss the history and discovery of polar bear evolution and how it will affect polar bears for the future with implications of climate change.

 One of species that is being impacted by climate change is the polar bears. The melting of the polar ice caps has had a devastating impact on the polar bear’s arctic habitat. Their populations are currently being threatened by starvation. Although their major food supply has not decreased, they are endangered due to the loss of the ability to be able to hunt their main food source. The polar bear’s primary prey are