What & how do polarbears eat?

These guys are big. And so naturally they get hungry.
A Polarbear needs 2kg of fat per day to survive. A Ringed Seal weighing 55kg can provide a polarbear with up to 8 days energy. 55kg is a lot to eat. A polarbears stomach can hold 15% to 20% of its bodyweight.
A polarbear assimilates 84% of the protein and 97% of the fat it eats.

Mostly polarbears eat Ringed Seals and Bearded Seals. These poor little critters are by far the favorite snack of the hungry Polar bear. They also eat Harp & Hooded seals.

Of course seals aren't the only thing a Polarbear eats. They will scavenge the carcasses of Beluga Whales, Walruses, Narwhals, & Bowhead Whales. In addition to scavenging the already dead carcasses the bears will sometimes kill and eat young Walruses & Beluga Whales - they adults are too big for the Polarbear to attack.
[Link in pictures of seals & walrus]

The polarbear isn't too fussy an eater, especially during times of scarce food, s/he can also eat reindeer, small rodents, seabirds, ducks, fish, eggs, vegatation (including kelp), berries & human garbage when other more usual food is not available.

When a polarbear captures a seal it bites it on the head & neck several times before dragging it away from the water to eat.
The bear eats the skin and fat first then it'll eat the meat.
S/he will often stop to wash during eating, using either water or nearby snow. And sometimes it will leave bits of the carcass behind rather than eating the whole lot.

On the darker side of a polarbear diet, males will sometimes eat the cubs and very malnourished mothers may eat her own cubs as well.
And if a Polarbear is giving you funny looks, he probably intends to have you for dinner as well.

The adult male will spend 40% of his time hunting in summer and during spring he'll spend 25% of the time hunting.
A female with cubs will spend 19% of the time in spring & 38% of the time in summer hunting.
Cubs learn to hunt by watching their mother. They will try hunting in their frst year but they usually won't be successful until they are over 1 year old - even then they'll only spend about 4% of their time hunting. By the time they're two years old they'll spend about 7% of their time hunting and catch a seal every 5 or 6 days.

Still Hunting
The most common technique that the polarbear will use for hunting is what is called Still Hunting. What the bear does is stands motionless on the edge of a seals breathing hole or on the ocean ice edge. Here the polarbear waits, sometimes for hours on end, until a seal appears. The bear then bites the head or upper body of the seal and flips the seal onto the ice.

Stalking on Land
When the seal is on the ice a bear may slowly stalk the seal. Gradually creeping up on the seal. At a distance of about 15 to 30m the bear charges the seal. Using its claws and teeth the bear will attempt to grab the seal befor eit can get into the water.

The Aquatic Stalk
The Aquatic stalk is when the seal is on the ice & the bear is in the water. The bear will swim up to the edge where seal is, and then propel itself out of water and grab the seal with claws or teeth.

Stalking Birth Lairs
Polarbears seem pretty damn clever at times. Stalking birth lairs is often used in spring when the seals have pups. The seals have these pups in little snow drift lairs on the ice. When clever bear finds this lair and it will go near the lair then raise itself up on its hind legs. The bear then crashes down on the lair roof with its front paws, crashing it in. This technique may take several attempts to crash through the roof, during which the seals may escape.

This unique style of hunting is often used by mother bears with cubs less than 1 year old. Since seal mums and cubs have high fat content this type of snack is better for the mother bears and her growing cubs. Also since these lairs are often on ice that is attached to land the bear cubs don't need to cross water to get a feed.

When a polarbear captures a seal it bites it on the head & neck several times before dragging it away from the water to eat.
The bear eats the skin and fat first then it'll eat the meat.
S/he will often stop to wash during eating, using either water or nearby snow. And sometimes it will leave bits of the carcass behind rather than eating the whole lot.