How do Polar Bears Stay Warm?

"Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you." -Unknown

Have fun learning about how polar bears keep warm in the Arctic? How do they stay this warm in their harsh habitat? This simple experiment will help answer these questions!

Ingredients:

• Large Bowl

• Ice Cubes

• Shortening

• 2 Plastic Baggies

• Duct Tape

• Food coloring(optional)

Directions:

1. Fill a bowl with ice and water. Add food coloring if desired.

2. If you would like place your hand in the water, for a brief moment, to see how cold the ice water is.

3. Now it's time to get a little messy! Fill one of the plastic bags with shortening.

4. Place one of your hands in the bag with the shortening and the other hand inside a regular plastic bag.

5. Seal the top with duct tap so that the water won't be able to get into the bags.

6. Even though it is a bit messy, make sure your entire hand is covered with the shortening fat.

7. But both of your bag covered hands inside the bowl of ice water. What do you notice? Does the water feel less cold?

The Science Behind It:

Have you been able to guess what keeps a polar bear warm? It's BLUBBER! Blubber, essentially, fat keeps a polar bear warm. Polar bears have their own special type of lard or blubber that they are covered in. The blubber is a thick layer below the skin that can be up to 4 1/2 inches thick. Several factors including the flubber and their fur, help keep them warm.

Polar bears actually have two types of fur. They have long and oily hollow hairs that helps keep water away and traps heat. They also have short insulating fur that keeps the heat closer to their skin. Even though these creatures have white fur, their skin is actually black. Their black skin color help them keep warm by absorbing sun rays.