When polar bears hunt like sharks in the movies

This image illustrates the diving hunting technique used by polar bears to capture moulting geese © Madeleine-Zoé Corbeil-Robitaille Researchers describe a novel technique used by polar bears to hunt snow geese Bylot Island, Nunavut, August 8, 2021, 1 p.m. A polar bear approaches a pond where some thirty moulting snow geese - unable to fly - have taken refuge. The bear enters the water, swims stealthily along the surface towards a goose and, once within 30 meters of it, disappears beneath the surface of the wave, then suddenly emerges.. just a little too far away to capture it. He repeats this maneuver for 15 minutes and, on the fourth attempt, grabs the goose in his mouth, brings it back to shore and makes it his afternoon snack. This technique of hunting snow geese by polar bears had never been reported before," points out student researcher David Bolduc, who witnessed the scene and who, along with other researchers from Laval University's Department of Biology and Centre d'études nordiques, is co-authoring a study on this behavior in the journal Arctic Science . We don't yet know how widespread it is, but no other Arctic predator uses it." The polar bear's diet consists mainly of seals, which it captures on pack ice or on the ice floes that break away from it. They use two strategies to hunt these skilful swimmers.