Bears are mammals that belong to the family Ursidae. They can be as small as four feet long and about 60 pounds (the sun bear) to as big as eight feet long and more than a thousand pounds (the polar bear). They’re found throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
- Only 8 species of bears are extant.
- Unlike many mammals, bears can see in color.
- Polar bears are the largest land predators on earth, standing over 11' high and weighing over 1,700 lbs.
- The giant panda is actually a bear.
- Bears have an excellent sense of smell, better than dogs or possibly any other mammal.
- All polar bears alive today can trace their ancestry back to one female brown bear who lived in Ireland 50,000 years ago.
- A group of bears is called a sloth.
- Under their fur, polar bears have black skin.
- Of the 8 species of bears, the polar bear is mostly carnivorous, the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo and the remaining six species are omnivorous with varied diets.
- Human pollution has caused the average length of polar bears' penises to shrink.
- Koala bears aren't bears: They're marsupials.
- If you eat a polar bear liver, you'll die.
- Humans can't handle that much vitamin A.
- Polar bears can smell its prey on the ice 20 miles (32 km) away.
- Grizzly bears have a bite-force of over 8,000,000 pascals, enough to crush a bowling ball.
- The prehistoric Finns, along with most Siberian peoples, considered the bear as the spirit of one's forefathers.
- Teddy bears were named after U.S. President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt.
- The original word for "bear" has been lost. Medieval people thought that saying the ferocious animal's name would summon it, so they used a euphemism that meant "the brown one" ("bear").
- There are no polar bears in Antarctica, only in the Arctic?.
- Tigers are the only predators known to regularly prey on adult bears.
- A bear fought in the Polish Army in WW2. He carried shells to the frontline and was taught to salute.
- A grizzly bear has to eat almost 20,000 calories a day.
- Russians take guns into space to protect themselves against bears if they land off-course.
- Residents of Churchill, Canada, leave their cars unlocked to offer an escape for pedestrians who might encounter Polar Bears.
- Licence plates in the Canadian Northwest Territories are shaped like polar bears.
- Theodore Roosevelt had a pet bear while in office.
- There's a shark in Greenland that eats polar bears and can live up to 200 years.
- Male bears are called "boars" and female bears are called "sows."
- California's official state animal, the California grizzly bear, is extinct.
- The Brown bear is the national animal of Finland.
- In the 1st century AD, polar bears fought seals in Roman amphitheaters flooded with water
- Female bears give birth during the hibernation period, and are roused when doing so.
- During hibernation, the bear's metabolism slows down,its body temperature decreases slightly, and its heart rate slows from a normal value of 55 to just 9 beats per minute.
- Bears are typically solitary animals, with the exception of courting individuals and mothers with their young.
- Polar bears can swim 60 miles (96 km) without stopping.
- Bears do not urinate while they hibernate. Their bodies convert urine into protein and use it as food.
- Bears have favorite trees and will walk for miles just to scratch their backs on them.