Eat, wash up, repeat; eat, wash up, repeat…polar bears do it too!

Ah, that never-ending treadmill of meal preparation and cleanup. You might be surprised to find out that polar bears do it too.

I found an interesting description of polar bears washing during and after feeding, by a young Ian Stirling in one of his earliest published polar bear papers (Stirling 1974). At the time, he was observing polar bears on southwest Devon Island (74°43′ N; 91°10′ W, see Fig. 2 below) between 24 July and 8 August 1973. Even today, there’s ice for hunting seals in mid-to-late-summer in that part of Canada (Fig. 3).

Here’s what Stirling says (pg. 1194, sadly, no photos):

“Another important feature of feeding behavior was washing. After an initial feeding period of 20-30 min, a bear typically went and stood with its forepaws at the edge of, or actually in, a pool of water. The bear then licked off the upper and lower parts of the paws and its face, alternating between rinsing and licking. The washing procedure was repeated every 5 to 10 min thereafter. At the termination of feeding, up to 15 min might be spent in a final washing. From its frequent occurrence in all observations, it is apparent that washing is an integral part of feeding behavior in the polar bear.” [my bold]

References
Stirling, I. 1974. Midsummer observations on the behavior of wild polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Canadian Journal of Zoology 52:1191-1198. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z74-157#.UvJWiLQ29lo