POLAR BEAR - CANADIAN WILDLIFE SERIES - 2016 1 oz Pure Silver Coin - Color & Antique Finish

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is a large bear, approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi).[3] A boar (adult male) weighs around 350–700 kg (772–1,543 lb),[4] while a sow (adult female) is about half that size. Although it is the sister species of the brown bear,[5] it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche, with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures, for moving across snow, ice and open water, and for hunting seals, which make up most of its diet.[6]