No Polar Bears do not eat penguins because polar bears live in the arctic region (north pole) while penguins live in Antarctica and the southern hemisphere. As both polar bears and penguins live poles apart so there is no chance for the polar bears to eat penguins. This can be regarded as one of the main reasons why don’t polar bears eat penguins.
The polar bear is the top predator of the arctic region and it likes to eat seals mostly. When the seal is not available it goes for carcasses of whales, walrus, and narwhals. When it is unable to find any of these then it may also eat fish, shellfish, rodents, waterfowl, muskox, kelp, berries, human garbage, and reindeer for its survival. All of these are available in the arctic region and are part of the ecosystem in which the polar bears live. Penguin is not part of such an ecosystem so polar bears cannot eat them. Besides this, we can still be curious whether polar bears do not eat penguins or polar bears can not eat penguins. This is an interesting question. Continue reading to know in detail about do polar bears eat penguins and answers to some more interesting questions that might pop into your mind.
Do Polar Bears Eat Penguins
As we already know that polar bears do not eat penguins as they are not part of their ecosystem. They live thousands of miles apart from each other so there is not even a chance for them to meet each other. It is a fact that Penguins are found in Antarctica and there are no polar bears in Antarctica. Similarly, Polar Bears are found in the Arctic regions and there are no penguins in the Arctic region. So the next question that arises is that polar bears do not eat penguins only because that they are not available in the north pole or there could be some other reasons too.
Polar Bears mainly feed on seals because they provide them with the essential fats that are necessary for their survival in the extreme cold of the north. It has been observed that polar bears like to eat the blubber of the ringed seal which is not only a source of thousands of calories but also provides the fat which helps in surviving its fasting days. Penguins do not have such blubber that is rich in fats and could also provide it with thousands of calories. Since penguins do not have these essential fats so there is no possibility that they can form part of the polar bear’s primary diet. However, it has been observed that polar bears do eat birds such as waterfowl for survival when their primary diet is not available. Thus there is still a chance that polar bears might eat penguins if it is available and the polar bear cannot find its primary diet.
So the question that does polar bears eat penguins if answered on facts is that they do not eat penguins as there are no penguins in the arctic region where a polar bear is found. On the other hand, a polar bear can eat penguins if the following three conditions are fulfilled:
- The polar bear is extremely hungry and needs food for survival
- The primary diet of Polar bears is not available
- Penguins are available
Do Polar Bears Kill Penguins – Polar Bear Eating Penguin
Polar bears eating penguin or killing it has never been observed in the wild nor captivity. So there is no possibility that you can see a polar bear eating a penguin. Just for the sake of answering the question that does the polar bear eat penguins or do polar bear kills penguin, putting a hungry polar bear with a penguin in captivity is animal abuse.
How many penguins can a polar bear eat in one sitting?
In a hypothetical environment :
- where both the species are together
- assuming that the polar bear is hungry
- polar bear primary diet is not available
A polar bear on average eats 150 pounds of meat in one sitting. The average weight of an emperor penguin is about 85 pounds so a polar might eat three penguins in one sitting assuming that it does not eat the whole of the penguin.
Why Don’t Polar Bears Eat Penguins – Video
