Polar Bears

Polar bears are large bears. They have strong legs with large, flattened feet with some webbing between their toes that help with walking on ice and swimming. The wide paws prevent sea ice from breaking by distributing weight while walking. The webbed feet results in making polar bears, unlike other bear species, considered to be “marine mammals” along with seals, sea lions, walruses, whales and dolphins. Taxonomically, however, they are still bears. They evolved 1-3 million years ago from the brown or grizzly bears, which still eke out a marginal life along the northern shore of the arctic oceans.