Polar Bears - Data, Pictures and Videos

[Spalea]

@GreenGrolar 

About #257: something I don't understand in your interesting post... In the link you mentionned it is written: " However, polar bears have one big disadvantage: their skull morphology. Due to their flattened heads, the stress on a polar bear’s jaw bones is very high when biting at full force. Grizzly bears don’t have this problem, meaning that they can use the maximum bite force in a fight. "

It sounds like a bit contradictory to me... Due to their flattened heads, the polar bear aren't able to bite at full force... If it is really the case, polar bear aren't allowed to use their big bite force (bigger than the white shark's one), thus why these powerful jaw muscles do exist if they must not to be used ? If a skull is made weaker by its flattened form, nature must reinforce it by an other way, because the nature abhors a vacuum and the useless. If the huge muscles of the polar bear jaws really exist, what are they for ? Correct me if I am wrong but the polar bear's skull bones are thick and huge, even when compared with the other bears ?

The comparaison with the white shark is timely. When a white shark bites a prey, it tears the flesh and, often in a case of huge prey, get away with a big piece of meat in its mouth. Nothing like it with a polar bear, like mostly mammalian predators it puts a pressure on the prey and maintains it in order to kill it (the prey). In this video, even if the polar bear is only killing a walrus cub we clearly see that it can put a pressure on its preys. So the question is: are you really sure that the polar bear's biting force is so strong ? 

Nevertheless it's not the first time I read something about the polar bear's submissive attitude when confronted in front of a big brown bear. As if something, a limiting factor, prevented them to developp their full strenght potential. Reply