When people think of polar bears they think of a cute cuddly creature that won't hurt anyone.  But there's more to them then that.  People have to remember that they are wild animals.  Polar bears are magnificent animals that are becoming endangered.

    Polar bears are normally found around the edge of the polar basin.  Their homes are found on arctic sea ice which also serves as a hunting platform.  The polar bears can be found in Canada, Alaska, Norway, Russia, Greenland, and the poles.  They also inhabit continental coastlines, water, and arctic sea ice.

    Polar bears are patient hunters and will wait for hours over a seal's hole for the seal to come out for a breath.  They can eat a beluga whale but they mainly hunt ringed and bearded seals on the sea ice the entire year.  In the spring and early summer they will break into seal dens.  The dens are not visible from the surface but polar bears have a very high sense of smell.

    What color do you think a polar bear's skin is? White? Well guess what...you're wrong.  Believe it or not, polar bears actually have black skin, but they have dense, yellowish-white fur to hide their skin.  They also have a thick layer of fat to keep them warm.  Their front paws are very wide for paddling through the water and their back feet act as rudders.  Adult polar bears measure 6.5-8.5 feet long and female  polar bears can weigh anywhere from 330-550 pounds while males can weigh more than 1300 pounds.

    Polar bears are endangered and most people don't know why.  People started to think that they were being hunted too much and that is not the reason why.  Another reason a lot of people believe is global warming.  This is true.  The ice-caps in the north and south poles are melting and polar bears have no ice to live on.  The final reason is the most important and killing the most polar bears.  This is because of the chemical mercury that ends up in the water and goes through the food chain and kills them.  There are many reasons they are endangered and there are only 20-25,000 polar bears left in the wild.

    There are many ways to help save polar bears and these are only some ideas.  You could donate money and "adopt"a polar bear at many different wildlife places. Since everyone knows that global warming is a problem then we have to try and end global warming.  One way to affect global warming is to carpool instead of driving alone.  This saves on gas which saves money and isn't putting harmful gases into the atmosphere.  You can also ride the bus which does the same thing as carpooling.  One more idea is just to turn off your computers because computers can consume 60-250 watts a day.

    In conclusion polar bears aren't cute and cuddly animals.  Please try to help by doing simple things and work together to get them off the endangered species list  They are magnificent and beautiful.