Q 01/05

What is the scientific name for the polar bear?

A) Ursus americanus

B) Ursus arctos

C) Ursus maritimus

D) Ursus malayanus

Answer · why

C) Ursus maritimus

Ursus maritimus is Latin for 'sea bear', a fitting name for a bear that spends most of its life out on the frozen ocean, hunting from the ice and swim...

Q 02/05

Explorers looking for wild polar bears would search in vain in which icy region?

A) Greenland

B) Russia

C) Canada

D) Antarctica

Answer · why

D) Antarctica

Antarctica has no bears of any kind; polar bears live only around the Arctic Ocean, so in the wild they never cross paths with penguins, which live al...

Q 03/05

What color is a polar bear's skin underneath its fur?

A) Pink

B) White

C) Gray

D) Black

Answer · why

D) Black

Black skin soaks up the heat of the sunlight that reaches it through the coat, helping the bear stay warm in the Arctic cold.

Q 04/05

Polar bears feed primarily on which part of the seals they catch?

A) Blubber

B) Liver

C) Muscle

D) Bones

Answer · why

A) Blubber

Polar bears eat the blubber first and often abandon the rest of the carcass; a seal's fat layer packs far more calories than its muscle or organs.

Q 05/05

What is an adult female polar bear called?

A) Sow

B) Cow

C) Doe

D) Mare

Answer · why

A) Sow

An adult female polar bear is a sow and a male is a boar, the same names used for pigs; the sow raises her cubs entirely on her own, with no help from...