The Science Behind the Polar Bear’s Camouflage

Polar bears are one of the most important apex predators in the Arctic. Their presence helps to keep the populations of aquatic animals, such as seals and walruses, in check. Were they not there, these populations would grow out of control, depleting the ocean of fish and other marine life. This would create chaos for marine animals in the Arctic.

The reason polar bears are so effective at controlling these and other populations is their exceptional hunting skills. Outside of being patient and waiting by air holes in the ice for an animal to expose itself, polar bears are well camouflaged. This is not done by accident. There is science behind the polar bears’ camouflage. Without this camouflage, polar bears would stand out against the stark Arctic landscape, making them far less successful at hunting than they are today.

Why Polar Bears Need to Camouflage Themselves

Polar bears appear white. However, that is because of the fur on its body. In reality, polar bears have black skin, and without camouflage, they would stick out in the stark white Arctic. Given that polar bears live in the Arctic, many may think that their skin is white. Their skin is black, though. Having black skin allows polar bears to absorb the sun’s heat and maintain their body temperature.

But having black skin in the Arctic does not work from a hunting standpoint. If polar bears had dark fur, their prey would be able to see them coming from far distances. This would make hunting significantly more difficult. This is why polar bears have fur that camouflages them.

The fur may appear to be white, but it is actually translucent and composed of hollow strands of hair. With a double layer of fur, not only do polar bears stay warm, but they can also disguise their body color and blend into the Arctic environment with ease.

A Polar Bear’s Fur Is Its Best Camouflage

The polar bear’s fur is its best camouflage. This is because not only is it disguising the fact that polar bears have black skin, but the translucence of the fur also helps the polar bear blend in better in their Arctic environments.

Because the polar bear has translucent fur, the fur catches the sunlight and reflects it. While this may not seem like a particularly effective camouflage technique, it actually is. This is because the fur appears to be reflecting the sun just like the snow does. This allows polar bears to blend in with their surroundings without being noticed.

The effects of this are even more pronounced when polar bears are hunting. As polar bears lie in wait for a seal to come into contact with them, the way the sun glistens off their fur makes them appear to be a pile of snow. Consequently, seals may not even see a polar bear before it is too late, helping polar bears to gain weight during the spring and summer before winter sets in and hunting becomes more sporadic.

Polar Bears Keep Their Fur Clean for Two Reasons

Polar bears may be able to stay warm because of their black skin, fur, and thick layer of fat, but they have to keep their fur clean for both warmth and camouflage purposes.

Living in the Arctic, it may not seem like there is much to get polar bears’ fur dirty. However, between hunting and areas of dirt and mud that can make fur disheveled, polar bears constantly have to contend with keeping their fur clean and mat-free. To do this, polar bears have to clean themselves using snow and ocean water, drying themselves by shaking off or pushing themselves along in the snow.

This is necessary because it helps the fur keep its translucent look. The translucence helps with the required camouflage needed to hunt. However, in addition to keeping fur clean, if there are mats in the fur, it will also contribute to body heat loss. If polar bears lose heat from their bodies, they can indeed get cold.

While it is unheard of for polar bears to suffer from hypothermia, if their bodies do become too cold, they may have to stop hunting activities to find ways to warm up, such as digging dens, finding windbreaks, or even slowing their activities to conserve energy. For short periods, this is not detrimental to polar bears. But if these activities prevent them from putting on weight while seals and other animals are plentiful in the Arctic, this can lead to extreme weight loss during the cold months, which can prove to be harmful to polar bears’ health.

Polar Bear’s Thick Fur Can Make Them Prone to Overheating

The Arctic can get to incredibly low temperatures. During the winter, the temperature can drop to -30°F. These low temperatures do not bother polar bears. Instead, it is when the weather starts to warm up that polar bears have problems. The same black skin and translucent coat that helps polar bears with their camouflage can also lead to them getting overheated when temperatures soar in the Arctic.

Climate change is causing regions of the planet to warm at an alarming rate. The Arctic temperatures are rising at four times the rate of the rest of the world. As the temperatures reach the 70°F range, which is 30°F to 40°F above normal, the polar bears’ thick coat can cause them to overheat.

While polar bears can withstand warmer temperatures in the 50°F range for a short time, the effects of the higher temperatures become clear quickly. As the weather gets warmer, polar bears start to “pant and drool” in excess to cool themselves off. If this does not work, going into the water to cool down can help. But polar bears cannot live in the water. Polar bears need cooler temperatures. Otherwise, they will suffer heat stress.

If the warmer weather does not subside, polar bears quickly begin to deteriorate. As a result, they can overheat, suffer heat stroke, and even die. Therefore, while the camouflage of the fur is helpful when it is chilly in the Arctic, if the weather continues to warm year after year, polar bears may struggle to acclimate to the changing conditions. This will lead to fewer polar bears and a complete shift in the population of animals in the Arctic, should a very important apex predator go extinct.

Polar Bears Also Use Water to Camouflage Themselves

While the translucent fur is the best camouflage that polar bears have in the Arctic, there is another way that polar bears make themselves blend into the environment so that predators cannot see them coming. This camouflage technique involved using the frigid water.

Polar bears are fantastic swimmers. They can reach speeds of up to 6.2 miles per hour. Unfortunately, as the Arctic ice has melted at a staggering rate over the last several decades, polar bears are having to swim longer distances to find food.

While polar bears can swim, it is not how they would like to spend their pastime. However, if they need to dunk themselves into the water to ensure their prey does not see them, they will. In fact, if a polar bear wades into the water to go after prey, it is not uncommon, according to some, to see them covering their noses with their paws to make their face as camouflaged as their body. While Indigenous people have noted this phenomenon, the scientific community remains divided on whether polar bears exhibit this behavior. However, the point of doing this is that the water and translucent fur allow the polar bear to blend into the environment, making it much easier for them to pursue their preferred prey.

Although the concept of polar bears covering their noses remains a topic of debate, the fact that they do go into the water to get closer to prey is not. Therefore, by using their fur and the tools of their environment, polar bears have become one of the most successful apex predators in the Arctic, if not the most successful.

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