That is what the name means, afterall.

This would be a female bear, as she is with her cubs. Polar bears are actually the second most sexually dimorphic mammal. Consequently males are vastly bigger than females.

The most sexually dimorphic? The elephant seal. Those dudes are immense.

Edit: this, I read on wikipedia a couple of years ago. The information is no longer there but the fact that polar bears and elephant seals are among the most dimorphic mammals remains. The precise ranking is perhaps a little more obscure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_bear

I knew it! Seeing them in a Zoo many years back I got the impression they were pretty big but not THAT massive.

If one of the average sized ones rises up in front of you and roars, I bet it would look just as big as that painting.

Can anyone confirm? Probably not.

Yeah, if one ever gets that unlucky you just have to hope they make it quick.

polar bears: "i just love kidding"

Has absolutely nothing to do with actual bears though.

The name comes from the constellation Ursa Major, which in Greek was Arktos Megale. Both mean the Great Bear.

Basically it just means north and not north because the Ursa Major constellation has the North Star in it.

It does just kinda work out that bears are in the northern hemisphere and not the southern hemisphere. There’s only one bear native to the southern hemisphere, the Spectacled Bear native to the Andes mountain in South America. There are no bears native to Africa or Oceania at all.

yeah if you put bears on antarctica they mutually annihilate

There's reasons in rural communities in Canada that polar bears frequent that it is custom to keep your car doors unlocked at all times, so if someone walking runs into a polar bear they can dive into a random car for safety.

You're finally awake !

Kislev salutes you.

According to Wikipedia the largest on record was over 7ft tall, they don't have average heights listed but some other BS site said they range from 4-6.5 ft so it's large but apparently not too incredibly so.

Nah. I've seen larger women.

Imo, the ladder goes:

Rest of the terrestrial animal kingdom < Bengal Tigers < Polar Bears < Hippos < Rhinos < Elephants < Honey Badger.

That's as far as the ratio of animal capability to fuck something up divided by willingness to kick something else's ass goes.

I actually think the Tiger and the Polar Bear are fairly close in terms of power and lethality, and it would all come down to whether the Tiger had the opportunity to stalk, which it probably would avoid doing anyways to something the size of a Polar Bear.

I still do not know where Honey Badger rightfully belongs on Earth's tourney ladders, so I rather err on the side of caution there in case one reads this.