Know Before You Go

Correct Answer: Iceland

Explanation: The five countries where polar bears are found in the wild include Norway, Canada, United States, Russia and Greenland.

Correct Answer: 2,210 pounds

Explanation: The largest polar bear ever recorded weighed in at 2,210 pounds, which is the same as a 2016 Chevrolet Spark subcompact car!

Photo Credit—Eric Rock

Correct Answer: two knees and two elbows

Explanation: Polar bears have a knee on each of their hind legs and an elbow on each of their front legs, a characteristic shared by all quadrupeds (animals that have four feet used for walking).

Photo Credit—Ralph Lee Hopkins

Correct Answer: An area of ocean within pack ice that remains ice-free throughout the winter

Explanation: A polynya is a geographical term for a section of open, unfrozen sea within the ice pack. Polar bears have been known to swim as far as 40 miles across polynyas to access sea ice. (A “Pollyanna” is an excessively cheerful or optimistic person...which describes our naturalists when they spot a wild polar bear.)

Photo Credit—Ralph Lee Hopkins

Correct Answer: 25 mph (top speed of an African elephant)

Explanation: Despite their large size, polar bears can sprint as fast as 25 miles per hour, but only for short distances. (How fast does a walrus have to move to evade a polar bear? Faster than any of its walrus friends.)

Photo Credit—Brad Josephs

Correct Answer: Tasiilaq

Explanation: Nanuq is Inuit, beliy medved is Russian, and isbjorn is Norwegian for polar bear. Tasiilaq is a tiny town in Greenland near Natural Habitat's Base Camp Greenland.

Photo Credit—Brad Josephs

Correct Answer: 3 to 4 months

Explanation: Throughout the summer and fall, polar bears subsist mainly on stored fat reserves while they slowly lose weight. The hungry bears then regain the lost weight during their winter seal hunts.

Photo Credit—Eric Rock

Correct Answer: The size of a guinea pig

Explanation: At birth, polar bear cubs are blind, helpless and not much bigger than guinea pigs, each weighing about 20 ounces.

Photo Credit—Ralph Lee Hopkins

Correct Answer: 3 minutes

Explanation: In August 2014, the longest polar bear dive was observed by Natural Habitat Adventures guide Rinie van Meurs during an expedition in Svalbard. The dive lasted 3 minutes and 10 seconds and was caught on video by one of van Meurs' passengers. The previous record dive lasted about 72 seconds in 1970. Van Meurs' observation was published as an official record in the Journal of Polar Bear Biology.

Photo Credit—Bejamin Hagerstand

Correct Answer: Transparent

Explanation: Believe it or not, each individual polar bear hair is transparent and pigment-free. Polar bears’ overall coat color only appears white to the human eye because it reflects and scatters visible light.

Photo Credit—Henry Holdsworth