Ten Trivia Facts About Polar Bears

1. Though a polar bear's fur is white, its skin is black.

2. A polar bear's liver is fatal to those who eat it. It contains a lethal amount of Vitamin A.

3. The scientific name for a polar bear is ursus maritimus. Ursus maritimus means "sea bear" in Latin.

4. Polars are only found in Alaska (the United States of America), Russia, Canada, Denmark (Greenland) and Norway.

5. There is an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears in the world.

6. The average life span of a polar bear in the wild is 15 to 18 years. The average life span of a polar bear in captivity is more than double that in the wild, often living into their mid- to late 30s. The oldest polar bear on record lived to be 43 years old.

7. Polar bear cubs generally stay with their mother until they are 2½ years old.

8. The Inuit word for polar bear is nanook.

9. About 500 polar bears are killed every year by sport hunters in Canada, usually by using local guides and dog-sled teams.

10. At birth, a polar bear cub weighs about 1 pound (half a kilogram) and is 12 to 14 inches (30 to 35 centimeters) long.