Polar bears

Welsh Zootographer

Well-Known Member
I belong to a Facebook zoo photography group and have been seeing photographs of polar bears recently and have a question. Foreign adult polar bears appear white like the cubs but the British adults appear discoloured. What is the reason for this?
 
Also (not necessarily connected to the animals in the UK today), the individual hairs of Polar Bear fur are hollow and in captivity it is common for brown or green algae to grow inside the hairs. It is quite easy to find photos of captive bears which are green or brown.
 
As the song goes, “Polar bears are pigeon toed, they walk on ice, blend in with the snow but they’re really not white; their skin is black, their fur is clear, they live in the Arctic far away from here.”
 
Also (not necessarily connected to the animals in the UK today), the individual hairs of Polar Bear fur are hollow and in captivity it is common for brown or green algae to grow inside the hairs. It is quite easy to find photos of captive bears which are green or brown.


Victoria- the mother of the new cub at HWP seems particularly 'brown.' I think thats also due to the peaty soil in the enclosures there.
 
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