Preview

Evolution Of Polar Bears Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
859 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Evolution Of Polar Bears Essay
Evolution of polar bears

Evolution is the procedure in which different kinds of living species are believed to have developed from earlier forms over many centuries. The two competing theories in evolution are Lamarckism and Darwinism. It is believed that Darwin’s theory of Natural selection best fits the polar bears evolution because the bears adapted to a life of hunting seals and surviving extreme cold. One of the most notable adaptations was that they developed the ability to survive on a fat-rich diet without apparent heart damage. Although Lamarck’s theory was discredited it still plays a large role in the theory of evolution.

Jean-Baptise Lamarck’s theory stated that an organism can pass on characteristics that it has developed
…show more content…
You can see several adaptations in polar bears; most obvious is the polar bear’s colour, which can range from a light yellow to a very pure white. Appearing white like its surroundings provide a natural camouflage for the polar bear. Some other adaptations are that the polar bear has two layers of thick fur that cover it’s black skin to keep it warn in the freezing temperatures of the arctic, the polar bear has adapted to the extreme cold because their ears and tail have gradually shrunk which means there is less surface area for heat loss, their paws have gotten bigger to help the polar bear distribute their weight when walking across ice or snow. Also the polar bear has been able to adapt to eating the fatty skin of seals so that they don’t get heart problems from the prey. Polar bears have very good senses; studies show that polar bears can smell seals from up to 20 miles away which is 32.1869 kilometres. Polar bears began to split from brown thousands of years ago. Estimates of when this began to happen continue to change as geneticists look further into the polar bear genome. After beginning to split off from brown bears; the polar bear's ancestors began to go through series of evolutionary changes to ensure that it can survive in the Arctic. Recent studies suggest that polar bears split from brown bear ancestors 350,000-6 million years ago. Polar bears and brown bears are genetically

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Kermode bears, a certain type of black bear, are white because they have a special a recessive gene called MCR11. MCR1 is a recessive gene that causes the pigmation in the bears skin to turn white. Even though they are white they are not albino (Kermode.) MCR1 is caused by ultraviolet light (No, Name.) Even though the bears are white it doesn’t mean the parents have to be (Bec.) They just have to pick up the gene. Kermode bears are most commonly found on Princess Royal Island in south east Alaska. 1/3 of the bears there are white…

    • 99 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Rooney's Animal Project

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The polar bear mostly eats seals, walruses, and seabirds. The distinctive features about the polar bears is that it has clear fur and black skin. The polar bears are considered to be endangered, mostly because global warming. The skin type of the polar bear is fur.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    biome presentation

    • 904 Words
    • 15 Pages

    The American Black Bear has a thick coat which helps it keep warm in the taiga Arctic Tundra The Arctic fox has adapted a stealthy movement due to its predatory nature. Arctic Ocean…

    • 904 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Polar Bear Analysis

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Polar bears are extreamly well adapted tohunt their prey under water. Keeping warm is no problem for polar bears infact sometimes polar bears have to lay flat on their stomachs on the ice just to cool of. Polar bears have the thickest fur of any bear species. Their fur has two layers. The first layer, the under coat, is the closest to their body it consists of thick, plush, hair that retains heat. The next layer, the outer layer, is a layer made of "guard hairs" and are not actually hair at all they are hollow tubes. the tubes trap air for insulation andalso reflect a visible wavelengths of light in their hollow air space, which combine to make the fur whiteeven though it is in fact colorless. The white coloring provides camoflauge for the bears allowing them to blend in with there white snowy surroundings. Under their fur polar bears have black skin that absorb the sunlight and under that they have a 4-inch layer of blubber. This blubber keeps polar bears warm in the cold water. Polar bears have fur at he bottom of their feet providing extra warmth and traction to the ice. they are adapted to swim 60 miles without a pause to rest. They have have the ability to reduce their metabolic rate when the food is scarce and again when it's…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sci 230 Week 1

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Evolution by natural selection: This theory came about as a result of Charles Darwin trying to find an explanation for “why there are so many different living beings on earth?” (Pruitt, N. L., & Underwood, L. S. (2006). His theory contains two parts, the first part states that species change over generations. The second part states that what causes this change is natural selection.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Black Bear Research Paper

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The bear family is extensive, diverse, and widespread. But despite their huge numbers and diversity, there are only eight main species of the Family Ursidae.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Final Study Guide

    • 8883 Words
    • 36 Pages

    f. Lamarck: proposed first theory of evolution, incorrect mechanisms in which he said it depends on what the organism does in its lifetime for what it will pass down.…

    • 8883 Words
    • 36 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    -Lamarck hypothesized that organisms evolved through inheritance of acquired characteristics, where the body is modified due to use or disuse or parts & that all organisms have innate drive for perfection. He was incorrect in that acquired characteristics are not inherited as Mendel and genetics had not been discovered yet.…

    • 2651 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Geology Questions

    • 2397 Words
    • 10 Pages

    3. What is Jean Baptiste de Lemark's theory that new traits arise in organisms according to need somehow being passed onto their descendants?…

    • 2397 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The human impact on today’s enlivenment for polar bears isn’t the best. Polar bears are finding harder to service with ice melting earlier in the spring and refreezing later in the fall. With larger oil companies moving closer into the arctic it is affecting the bears even more. Already having to deal with clement change and ice melting faster, big oil has moved in and poring toxins in to the environment. With the working of the oil rigs, oil is spilling out into the water poising the polar bears food sources. Other sea life is ingesting the oil then the polar bear eats the food and then is poising themselves. Polar bears with low health are not able to mate and have cubs, if the bears do have cubs the cubs die at an early age do to the lack…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Do Bears Survive

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Bears have very good adaptations that have helped them survive for years. The first adaptation the bear has that is very useful is hibernation. Hibernation is what helps the bears get through winter because food is hard to find. The second adaptation is the fact is that their skin under their fur is very thick so that way they can't feel the bees sting them when they try and get honey. The third adaptation is their claws, their claws help them dig dens and help catch fish or defend their…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Why Do Polar Bears Decline

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages

    These bears are very large bears with a thick layer of fur and fat that protect them from the cold conditions. Polar Bears are considered great swimmers, they are at the top of the food chain, and are very important to the cultures and economic parts of the Arctic civilians. There are predictions saying that most Polar Bears will be gone by the year of 2050 if the ice in the arctic zone keeps melting, causing habitats of the Polar Bears to…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Both Lamarckism and Darwinism were theories of evolution rooted in the concept of adaptation and an organisms response to environmental changes, however they differed in the mechanisms of how it happens. Lamarckism is in support of a theory that organisms evolve by acquiring favorable characteristics in response to their environment and directly pass them onto their offspring. In addition, according to Lamarckism, genetic variation occurs in a favorable direction, meaning that evolution is progressive from generation to generation. For example, Lamarckism evolution would argue that if a species lived in an environment that favored hairy coats, animals would perceive this need, grow the coats, and pass it on to their ancestors.…

    • 258 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    evolution

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sometime during the mid-Pleistocene period (roughly 100,000 to 250,000 years ago), a number of brown(same as grizzly) bears (Ursos arctos) probably became isolated by glaciers. Many probably perished on the ice; however, they apparently did not all disappear. Some survived due to the fact that "organisms vary" (Gould, 1977); that is, every litter of grizzlies has a variation in coat thickness, coat color, etc., which imparted a slight evolutionary advantage to some individuals of each litter. Successive, successful individuals repeated this simple process, yielding a rapid series of evolutionary changes (driven, presumably, by the combination of small population, and extreme selection pressure) in order to survive. Note that these new variants were not necessarily "better" in any absolute sense, or on any absolute "bear" scale of perfection: they were simply more in keeping with their new environment than their immediate ancestors or their more unfortunate siblings. Today, polar bears are adapted to their harsh northern environment.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Central to the theory of evolution, is natural selection. Evolutionary theory was developed by Charles Darwin to explain the ways in which animals adapt to their environments (Akert, Aronson, Sommers, and Wilson 43). Natural selection, is the process by which heritable traits that promote survival in particular environments are passed along to…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays