POLAR BEARS FROM SEA WORLD IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

Before we moved to Virginia a little over 30 years ago, we used to live in San Diego.  One of our favorite places to go to was Sea World. Quite a while ago now, our son found an old photo album of the last trip we made.  I started cataloguing all the old photos and putting them on a portable hard drive.  Among the photos were the polar bears. That day they were very active and we thoroughly enjoyed their underwater antics. Our son took all the photos shared today.

We originally moved to San Diego from Virginia when our son was ten years' old. Hubs was still in the navy and on his very first day at his new job he dropped us off at Sea World. We arranged to meet him at the end of the day. It was the first time we had been there and the day was magical, the time just flew by. 

We walked over every square inch and so many shows and exhibits, so many things that first time and we couldn't wait to share our day with his Dad. We told him all about it on the ride home and it wasn't long afterwards that the three of us went back. 

There is a great link here designed for children, and it has a wonderful map of where polar bears live in their natural habitat.

The Polar Bear's scientific name is Ursus maritimus, and they live between 25 to 30 years.

A polar bear's skin is black and its fur is transparent with a hollow core that reflects and refracts light from the sun and off the snow, making it appear white.  This adaptation helps polar bears keep warm as their fur reflects heat from the sun down the hair shaft, so that it can be absorbed by their black skin.

I found that information here.

A polar bear asks another bear for something, such as food, through a nose-to-nose greeting.  The guest bear will approach slowly, circle around a carcass, then delicately touch the feeding bear's nose to ask for permission to share.  I found that information here.

Polar bears are the largest bear species in the world, growing to a maximum length of 8.5 feet (260 cm) and weight of 1,543 pounds (700 kg), with males growing about twice as large as females.  I came by that information here.

Polar bears clean themselves by rolling in the snow.  Staying clean also helps the insultating properties of their fur, so after feeding they will often freshen up by taking a swim or roll in the snow.  Rolling in the snow also helps cool them off when they get too hot.  That information I found at this site.

At the same website I learned that they are quick on their feet.  Polar bears can reach speeds of up to 25 mph (40km) on land.

Quite an amazing animal who are sadly endangered out in the wild.  The biggest threat to polar bears is shrinking sea-ice as climate change is causing it to melt earlier and forming later each year, which means the polar bears have less time to hunt on top of the sea-ice. 

I hope you have enjoyed these old photos of the polar bears.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.