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• Polar bears are very strong swimmers. They can keep up a steady speed of 6 M.P.H. over long distances. Polar bears use their front legs to propel themselves through the water. Their huge front paws make good paddles. The back legs are dragged behind to steer them. Polar bears can make shallow dives underwater and stay there for two minutes. They do not normally dive deeper than six feet.
• Polar bear cubs are born in the winter. A female polar bear normally has twin cubs every two or three years. The cubs are only 7 to 12 inches long when they are born, and they weigh under two pounds. Polar bear cubs are born in a den that their mother has dug under the snow. The female and her cubs stay together inside the den for about three months. The cubs feed on their mother's rich milk.
• The polar bears leave the den for the first time in the spring months of March or April. The cubs are now strong and healthy. They weigh about 20 pounds. The mother bear is hungry. She did not eat all the time she was in the den and is half her normal weight. Now the mother bear needs food, and she will teach her cubs to hunt. They love to play in the snow! A year later the cubs are big enough to look after themselves.
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