Bear Facts

1. Sloth bears are the only bears that are more active at night.
2. Polar bears have a thick coat with 9,677 hairs per square inch.
3. Most bears are born without fur. Only polar bears and giant pandas are born with thin white fur.
4. Bears have nonretractable claws like dogs and unlike cats.
5. While most bears have bare feet, the paws of polar bears have fur on the bottoms and between the toes. Bears lose most of their heat from their paws.
6. Like people, all bears except pandas walk by putting their feet flat on the ground. This kind of walking is called “plantigrade.” In contrast to bears, other large animals including dogs, horses, and even elephants walk on their toes.
7. The claws on the front feet of bears are longer than the claws on the back feet. Some large bears have claws almost 5" long.
8. Bears are the only large predators that regularly eat both meat and plants. For this reason, they have different teeth specifically used for meat eating and plant eating.
9. During hibernation, a bear does not defecate. Its body can somehow recycle body waste into protein, a process scientists still do not understand.
10. Not all bears hibernate. Asiatic black bears, American black bears, some brown bear species, and pregnant polar bears hibernate. Sloth bears live in warm places with abundant food, so they don’t need to hibernate.