Polar bear habitat quick facts
- Polar bears live as far south as 50° N, in James Bay, Canada. That is further south than London.
- About 26,000 polar bears live in 19 populations around the Arctic.
- Wapusk National Park in Canada is one of the world’s largest polar bear denning areas.
- In Svalbard, many polar bears hunt at glacier fronts in spring, where ringed seals make their dens.
- One satellite-tracked female polar bear walked 4,796 km.
The five polar bear countries
Polar bears live all the way around the top of the world. Scientists call this a circumpolar range. It takes in five countries: Canada, the United States, Greenland, Norway and Russia.
In the United States, polar bears live only in Alaska. In Norway, they live on and around Svalbard, a group of islands far north of the mainland.
| Country | Where the bears live | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Canada | Hudson Bay, James Bay and the Arctic islands | Home to the southernmost polar bears, and to one of the world’s largest denning areas |
| United States | northern and western Alaska | Shares two populations: the Chukchi Sea and the Southern Beaufort Sea |
| Greenland | its coasts and surrounding ice | Few bears move between Greenland and Svalbard |
| Norway | Svalbard and the Barents Sea | Between 1,900 and 3,600 bears in the Barents Sea population (2004 survey) |
| Russia | the Russian Arctic and Franz Josef Land | Shares the Barents Sea bears with Norway |
Scientists divide the world’s polar bears into separate populations. The Norwegian Polar Institute and the US Fish and Wildlife Service count 19, holding about 26,000 bears between them. Polar Bears International now uses 20. Some populations are shared by two or more countries.
Those lines on the map mean nothing to a bear. Individual bears roam over huge areas, so the populations are well connected.
Why sea ice is home
Polar bears are found all around the Arctic, but only where there is sea ice for a big part of the year. That tells you what really matters to them.
Their food is seals, and seals live in the sea. Polar bears are not fast enough to catch seals in open water. Sea ice gives them a floor to stand on, right above their prey.
From the ice, a polar bear waits beside the small breathing holes that seals keep open, or creeps up on seals resting on the surface. The ice also lets bears travel between good hunting spots.
Not all Arctic ice is the same. Fast ice is fixed to the coast and stays put. Pack ice floats free and drifts with the wind and currents, opening long cracks of open water called leads. Polar bears use both, and seals come up to breathe in the cracks and holes.
So the honest answer to “where do polar bears live?” is not a country. It is frozen sea. The polar bear’s scientific name, Ursus maritimus, even means “sea bear”. It belongs to an ocean ecosystem, as you can read in our Arctic Ocean facts for kids.
A closer look: Svalbard
The Norwegian Polar Institute studies the bears of Svalbard closely, and their findings show how picky polar bears are about where they live.
Svalbard lies roughly halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. In winter much of the sea around it freezes, and that is when the bears spread out over the ice.
Most Svalbard bears are found where there is sea ice. The west coast of the main island, Spitsbergen, has few bears for most of the year. There are many more along the east coast and in the fjords to the north.
In spring, many bears hunt at the fronts of glaciers in the fjords. That is because ringed seals dig their snow dens, called lairs, close together there.
Svalbard bears live in two different ways. Some keep to a home range of a few hundred square kilometres. They hunt on the sea ice in spring, then wait on land through the summer until the sea freezes again. Others follow the ice as it melts back, travelling north-east to hunt at the ice edge or in Franz Josef Land in Russia.
On land, polar bears eat almost anything they find. Some Svalbard bears eat lots of bird eggs in summer, and some even hunt seabirds on steep cliffs. Their main food there is still seals: ringed, bearded and harp seals.
Svalbard’s bears show that polar bears will eat almost anything when they must. The institute has even recorded bears hunting reindeer.
Polar Bear Places
- Spitsbergen's east coast — Has far more bears than the island's west coast
- Glacier fronts — Where Svalbard bears hunt ringed seals in spring
- Franz Josef Land — Russian islands some Svalbard bears follow the ice to
- Kongsøya and Hopen — Two of Svalbard's most important denning islands
- James Bay — Where the southernmost polar bears live, at 50° N
How far south do polar bears live?
Further south than many people expect. Polar bears live as far south as 50° N, in James Bay in Canada. London is at about 51° N, so these bears live further south than London does.
James Bay is the southern tip of Hudson Bay. Around Hudson Bay, the sea freezes in winter and melts in summer, so bears there spend part of every year on land, waiting for the ice to return.
The Hudson Bay coast is also where mothers go to have their cubs. Parks Canada describes Wapusk National Park, on the bay’s western shore, as one of the world’s largest polar bear maternity denning areas.
Dens: where cubs are born
A pregnant polar bear digs a den in the snow in the autumn or early winter. Her cubs are usually born there in December, and the family comes out in March or April.
She usually picks deep snow drifts, often on land near the coast. Inside, the den is a small, snug room with a narrow tunnel leading in, so the mother and her tiny cubs are sheltered from the wind.
A den has to keep a newborn cub warm through the Arctic winter, so mothers are choosy about where they dig. The US Fish and Wildlife Service says dens need enough protection from the cold.
In Svalbard, the most important denning areas are on the islands of Kongsøya, Svenskøya, Edgeøya, Nordaustlandet and Hopen. In Canada, Wapusk is one of the biggest.
A Polar Bear Mother’s Year
- Spring Males find females on the sea ice, and they mate.
- Autumn The pregnant female digs a den in a snow drift.
- December Her cubs are born inside the den.
- The next spring The mother and cubs leave the den.
How far polar bears roam
The sea ice is huge and always changing, so a polar bear’s home range can be far larger than that of any other bear.
Most polar bears keep to a home range a few hundred kilometres across. Some travel much further. Scientists tracked one female by satellite as she walked 4,796 km.
On the ice, polar bears walk at about 5 to 6 km an hour. Mothers with small cubs slow down to 2.5 to 4 km an hour. They are powerful swimmers too, and adult bears can spend days at a time in the water, travelling long distances at sea.
To learn more about the bears themselves, read our polar bear facts for kids. There is also a guide to what polar bears eat.
Polar Bears by Numbers
- 50° N — How far south polar bears live
- 4,796 km — How far one satellite-tracked female walked
- 5 to 6 km/h — How fast a polar bear walks on the ice
- 2.5 to 4 km/h — How fast a mother walks with small cubs
- A few hundred km — How far across most polar bears' home ranges are
A home that is shrinking
Because polar bears need sea ice, anything that shrinks the ice shrinks their home. As the Arctic warms, the ice forms later in autumn and melts earlier in spring. Bears then have less time to hunt and more time waiting on land.
Land is a poor substitute. Bird eggs and scraps do not come close to the energy in seal blubber, so a bear stuck on land for too long slowly uses up its fat.
The ice-hunting season shapes a bear’s whole year. The Norwegian Polar Institute says polar bear weight changes hugely with the seasons. Females can more than double their body weight between spring and late summer.
It is sometimes asked whether a polar bear could simply move somewhere warmer. We looked at that in can polar bears survive in the desert? The short answer is that its whole body is built for ice and cold water.
Three things people get wrong
Polar bears live in Antarctica. They do not. Polar bears live only in the Arctic, in the north. Antarctica, at the other end of the Earth, has penguins but no bears at all.
Polar bears only live at the North Pole. A few do roam the ice near the pole, but most live much further south, around the Arctic coasts. Some live as far south as James Bay in Canada, at 50° N.
Polar bears are always pure white. The Norwegian Polar Institute says they are usually off-white, and can look anything from grey to yellow.
Did you know? Polar bears are rarely pure white. The Norwegian Polar Institute says they are usually off-white, and can look grey or even yellow.
Polar Bear Homes: Fact or Myth?
- Polar bears live in Antarctica.
- Some polar bears live further south than London.
- Polar bears are usually pure white.
- Some Svalbard bears eat lots of bird eggs in summer.
- A female polar bear weighs about the same all year.
- Polar bears have been seen hunting reindeer.
- Every polar bear population belongs to just one country.
- Seals are the main food of Svalbard's polar bears.
Try it
Find James Bay in Canada on a map or globe, then find London. Compare how far north each one is. The polar bears of James Bay live further south than London.
Knowledge check
Why is “sea ice” a better answer than “the North Pole” for where polar bears live?
Show answer
Polar bears live across a huge area of the Arctic, wherever there is sea ice for much of the year. The ice is where they hunt seals, and most bears live far from the pole itself.
Name the five countries where polar bears live.
Show answer
Canada, the United States (Alaska), Greenland, Norway and Russia.
Frequently asked questions
Where do polar bears live?
Polar bears live across the Arctic, on and around the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean. Their range covers five countries: Canada, the United States (Alaska), Greenland, Norway and Russia.
Do polar bears live in Antarctica?
No. Polar bears live only in the Arctic, in the far north. Antarctica, at the other end of the Earth, has no bears.
How far south do polar bears live?
Polar bears live as far south as 50° N, in James Bay in Canada. That is further south than London, which is at about 51° N.
Where do polar bears have their babies?
Pregnant polar bears dig dens in the snow, where cubs are born in December. Important denning areas include Wapusk National Park in Canada and islands such as Kongsøya and Edgeøya in Svalbard, Norway.
How many polar bears are there?
About 26,000 polar bears live in the wild, in 19 populations around the Arctic. The Barents Sea population, shared by Norway and Russia, was estimated at 1,900 to 3,600 bears in 2004.
How far do polar bears travel?
Most polar bears keep to home ranges a few hundred kilometres across, but some go much further. One female tracked by satellite walked 4,796 km.
Sources
- Norwegian Polar Institute: polar bear — range, southern limit, populations, Svalbard bears, denning islands, food and colour
- Polar Bears International: habitat — range countries, home ranges, the 4,796 km journey and walking speed
- Polar Bears International: life cycle — when dens are dug and when cubs are born and emerge
- US Fish and Wildlife Service: polar bear — the two US populations, dependence on sea ice and den needs
- Parks Canada: Wapusk National Park — one of the world’s largest polar bear maternity denning areas
- NASA Earth Observatory: polar bears struggle as sea ice declines (2020) — sea ice forming later in autumn and breaking up earlier in spring, and bears spending more time on land, fasting
Polar Bear Habitat Final Challenge
- Which Canadian national park is one of the world's largest polar bear denning areas?
- What are a ringed seal's snow dens called?
- How many polar bears did a 2004 survey find in the Barents Sea population?
- Which two polar bear populations does the United States share?
- What does a polar bear den need, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service?
- What does 'circumpolar range' mean?
