Polar bears are not only outstanding swimmers, but also superb divers.
According to the latest discovery, a polar bear in Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard broke a new record with its three-minute dive.
The experts suggest that polar bears are known to dive for food. Generally, they stay submerged between three and 30 seconds. Sometimes, for looking for help, they will dive longer but one minute and twelve seconds is the limit.
Having a bigger prey for food made this polar bear create a new record.
The emaciated polar bear slipped into water and proceeded an over three-minute diving for hunting.
Since the entire hunt was recorded by video allowing researchers to confirm that the polar bear had not come up for air before lunging onto the ice.
Researchers suppose that the polar bear's ability of holding a long breath could be associated with global warming which leads to a dearth of sea ice. According to researchers, due to global warming, having less ice on which to hunt causes polar bears spending longer time in the water to hunt.
Researchers said "It is possible that the ability to hold its breath for so long may indicate the initial development of a significant adaptation for living and hunting in its marine environment."
(Agencies)
