How did the polar bears get their white fur?

Answer 1

Polar bears do not have white fur, but semi-transparent fur. The polar bear's fur seems colourless and for many years, scientists worked on the theory that the individual hairs act as fiber optics bringing sunlight directly to the skin. This has recently been proven to be incorrect, and the hairs are not truly transparent, but contain keratin. Viewed side-on, the hairs appear colourless; viewed lengthwise (as if one was looking down a telescope) the hairs no longer appear transparent.
Polar Bears are white because the sun washed the color out of the sun and turned the fur folicoles white.
Actually this is common misconception. Polar bears do not have white fur, rather they have "transparent" hair or hollow tubes as hair that easily reflect the visible light spectrum and make them appear white. Mainly it is for camouflage in the bear's natural habitat, which is snow and ice in order to more easily hunt seals, fish and walrus.
Actually this is common misconception. Polar bears do not have white fur, rather they have "transparent" hair or hollow tubes as hair that easily reflect the visible light spectrum and make them appear white. Mainly it is for camouflage in the bear's natural habitat, which is snow and ice in order to more easily hunt seals, fish and walrus.

Answer 2

a polar bears coat is not white, it is clear, the snow around makes the apperance of 'white'
Polar bears have transparent fur over black skin. Reflection of the sunlight from the densely packed transparent hairs makes polar bears seem to be white. The bears' black skin absorbs heat from the sun. The transparent fur is made up of hollow hairs called guard hairs. These air-filled guard hairs help transmit heat from the sunlight to the polar bear's black skin as a solar heat collector. In turn, the reflection stops the heat being lost from their black skin. Their fur is also waterproof, so it helps keep the bears warmer when they are in water.

Answer 3

Actually, a polar bear's fur is not white, but clear or transparent and hollow. It looks white from light reflection.

Under the "white" fur (actually made up of clear, hollow hairs), it has black skin. (Animal Encyclopedia).

How this happened:

All animals change when they infiltrate new habitat to adapt to life in that location. It is believed, based on fossil record and DNA, that the brown bear, Ursus arctos, became isolated during a period of glaciation in the Pleistocene period and the animals who adapted to that colder harsh environment eventually became a new species, the polar bear, around 200,000 years ago. It was advantageous for them to blend better with their snowy environment to be a better predator and the hollow transparent hair allowed that since the light reflection made them look white like the snow. The hair is hollow so that it can hold insulating air and help keep the bears warm in the Arctic.

Animals change/evolve to adapt and survive as habitats and food sources change. They can change over long time periods into an entirely new species that is stronger and better suited to the current conditions because of the adaptations. The ones that manage to do well live to produce more offspring with the newest adaptations. While those who do not change, or have changes that do not provide improvement for survival in the new habitat, die. The offspring with each adaptation are a bit better able to thrive in that environment and more and more of the new offspring have the evolved characteristics that have been successful. These things continue on and on over hundreds of thousands of years through the genetic processes of mutation and evolution.

Answer 4

Genetics. It is an evolutionary adaptation to make them less visible to their prey (and fortuitously to humans who are their chief predators).

Answer 5

This is camouflage and makes it easier for the animal to sneak up on animals it intends to overpower and eat.

Answer 6

it is because they are like sheep although they like to lie in snow

They are really black, with see throught fur. But the sun light makes them look white

Answer 7

there skin is not white their fur is but their skin is black

Answer 8

They do not have white fur.They have clear fur,but it looks white.

Answer 9

Polar bears are naturally white.

Answer 10

To blend in