The polar bears are the largest and most dangerous predatory mammal on land. The weight of representatives of the family of Bears can reach 400-800 kilograms For comparison, we give the weight of the largest of the cats – the male tiger has a mass of about 200 kilograms. As you can see, the difference is grand!
Polar bears don’t eat penguins, but why?
To gain such weight, the polar predator needs a lot of protein. Their favorite prey is fish, sea animals, and bird eggs. First of all, the polar bear eats the skin and fat of its victim and (only being very hungry) also eats meat. An adult consumes about 6-8 kilograms of food, and an overly hungry animal can eat all 20.
Hunting skills it is close to perfection. Keen eyesight allows you to see for several kilometers, an incredible sense of smell gives you the ability to smell prey over 800 meters, your sensitive hearing picks up any sounds lurking under the snow or soil, the animal, and the color makes North bear invisible in the snow. In addition to everything else, the red beast is an excellent swimmer, can reach speeds of up to 6.5 km/h.
Penguins, in turn, the inability to fly more than compensate for the ability to swim. It seems that the water is their true element because there they keenly see and can accelerate to 10 km/h while on land they are nearsighted, clumsy and unwieldy.
So why is such an excellent hunter, as the polar bear does not eat such easy prey?
The answer is simple to outrageous. In fact, these animals live at different poles of the earth and are simply not able to meet each other. The habitat of polar bears and the North pole: the Arctic, Northern regions of Eurasia and North America. For the penguins home the South pole: Antarctica, the South-Western part of Africa.
So, even with all the desire, shaggy giants will not be able to enter the penguins in their diet. And they have such a desire, frankly, is unlikely to occur. If you compare a flightless bird with a favorite prey of bear, a walrus, or a seal, which, as mentioned above, the animal eats only the skin and subcutaneous fat, it appears that there is a he, in this case, will be absolutely nothing. Fat in a penguin is a meager 2-3 cm, and the skin covered with feathers… these Are modern realities.
