Wednesday, 29 January 2025

How polar bears stop ice from freezing on their fur

 


Image courtesy of Asifphotographer1/Shutte​rstock

Joel Kontinen

Why do the polar bears keep their fur from freezing? This isn’t brought about by evolution but by intelligent design.

”Polar bears have a hidden-in-a-plain-sight superpower that anyone who has watched a wildlife documentary could have spotted: ice doesn’t stick to their fur.

This has long been known to Indigenous peoples of the Arctic, who have utilised this property of the fur, but only now has it been noticed and studied by scientists. Bodil Holst at the University of Bergen in Norway and her colleagues have shown that the ice resistance of polar bear fur is due to natural oils secreted onto the hairs, rather than a property of the fur itself.

Michael Le Page 2025 How polar bears stop ice from freezing on their fur | New Scientist 29 January 2