Hunting takes patience and persistence. The survival of every species is reliant on feeding, but it’s harder for some than others. Polar bears only make a successful kill about once in 20 hunts, each time expending energy and depleting resources.
In this BBC Earth footage, David Attenborough narrates the hunt of a hungry polar bear, approaching a seal. This polar bear doesn’t have a huge amount of weight on her – so the hunt is more critical than ever.
Watch a polar bear’s ambush of a seal
As apex predators at the top of the Arctic food chain, polar bears are efficient hunters with a deft ability to catch prey. Although they can swim, they aren’t quick enough to catch seals in open water, making the seal resting on sea ice perfect prey.
The polar bear makes a wide sweep of the sea ice, so she can be downwind of the seal. This means the seal isn’t able to smell her on her approach, so she has the element of stealth on her side. She approaches quietly in the water, ready to pounce.
The seal realises, but it’s too late. The seal enters the water, but the polar bear follows suit, her immense size matched by quick reflexes. There is a ripple, and then silence. The action unfolds underwater.
When the polar bear reemerges, she has caught the seal. The blubber of this seal alone contains 100,000 calories, enough to sustain the polar bear for a week. It’s been a successful hunt.
Top image: Polar bear on sea ice hunting a seal, Nunavut and Northwest Territories, Canada (credit: Getty Images)
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