1. Polar bears can run at 25 miles an hour and jump more than six feet in the air.
2. The number of polar bears in the world is estimated to be between 22,000 and 31,000, of which around 70 per cent are in Canada.
3. The first polar bear in Britain arrived during the reign of Henry III (1216–72) and is thought to have been a gift from Haakon IV of Norway.
4. Polar bears were simply called “white bears” until the late 18th century.
5. The word for “pertaining to a polar bear” is “thallasarctine”.
6. A polar bear can smell a seal on the ice 20 miles away.
7. Unlike brown and black bears, polar bears do not hibernate.
8. Polar bears have stiff fur on the soles of their feet which stops them from slipping on snow and ice as well as letting them move around silently.
9. One pound of polar bear liver contains enough vitamin A to fulfil a human’s needs for 20 years.
10. A 19th-century team of Arctic explorers all died from a vitamin A overdose after they ate a polar bear liver.