Molly and Fox 2014 February | Page 30

PB Cool facts Polar Bears are not white So why do they look white? Well, inside each hair is a hollow pocket of air. When sunlight hits a polar bear’s outer coat, the light bounces off these air pockets, causing the polar bear to appear white. They can swim notstop for over a week Polar bears have some serious swimming skills that put our olympic swimmers to shame. Their huge, webbed paws are perfect for cutting through the ocean at 10 kph. It doesn’t matter how many gold medals you have, you’ll still end up as polar bear brunch. Mum is definitely the boss Polar bear cubs learn to freeze and remain still while their mother hunts. If they move, the mother disciples them, with a whack to the head. They are invisible to infrared cameras A dirty snow den Female polar bears would rather build their dens in “old snow” from previous years rather than the freshly fallen snow. Polar bears also have the magical power of invisibility, at least when it comes to being spotted by infrared cameras. Only their nose, eyes, and breath are visible to these cameras. http://youtu.be/R5kdjrhuzrs