Bear Strength

[Polar]

(06-03-2016, 03:38 AM)Pckts Wrote: Wouldn't the shoulder impede the polar bears main purpose?
The reason they have a thinner skull and neck is so they can penetrate seal pup burrows under the snow correct?
The reason they would have more massive limbs and hindquarters would be for dragging prey such as walrus and beluga out of the water I would think.
I also assume that the need for blubber out weighs the need for excess muscle in an are where they don't require it.... In the shoulders. Polar bears aren't diggers while brown bears are which I assume is why they have the embellished shoulder hump. 
That's just my theory on it, nothing more.

That is incorrect that fat grows on the shoulder of the polar bear instead of muscle. Polar bears, at times, have to plow through thick ice (anywhere from a foot to two meters thick) to get a seal pup or a pregnant female seal. In fact, during my 2013 Polar Bear International trip, most of the polar bears' shoulders I have felt were inbedded in pure muscle (though not as voluminous as the hump of a brown bear; these were juvenile specimens with some adult females.)

Sometimes, they even plow through the thick icebed from underwater, which is even harder. And that is also why it wouldn't hurt to have a shoulder hump if you are a polar bear.

Also, the statement that polar bears have thinner skulls is a complete myth. At equal weights, a polar bear's skull is just as thick as a brown bear's skull, albeit more narrow and adapted to carnivorous habits. At weight parity, the neck is just as thick as a brown bear's neck; it just looks thinner because of its elongatedness.

The blubber/excess fat that any bear gains, regardless of species, tends to be stored more at the hips, waist, and around the abdomen and neck that's it. I have never even felt an inch of fat on a polar bear's limbs; just pure muscle. But everywhere else, a little more than an inch of fat.

Yes, like big cats, polar bears have more massive limbs to drag prey. And brown bears have more massive shoulders since their life depends on digging and burrowing. Reply