Last week, we were lucky enough to have a talk from Thea Bechshoft who is a scientist working for Polar Bears International. She told us all about the work that she does and also about how climate change is affecting polar bears. 

Thea also showed us a real polar bear skull, which was much bigger than we thought it would be!

We learnt lots of great facts about polar bears, including the following:

• Polar bears in the wild tend not to growl. In fact, they don't make much noise at all and even fight in silence! Polar bears that live in zoos are much more likely to make noise because of the environment they are in.
• Underneath their white fur, polar bears have black skin.
• Adult polar bears usually weigh between 200 and 400kg, but the heaviest on record weighed 1 tonne!
• Polar bears have good eyesight (similar to humans' level of vision), although they can't see green. They have better nightvision than we do though.
• When underwater, polar bears hold their breath and have been known to hold it for as long as 3 minutes and 10 seconds.

To find out more about the work that Thea does, have a look at their website: Polar Bears International