Although while polar bears usually look white, their fur isn’t white at all, it’s clear, and their skin is black.
Polar bear fur is:
- Hollow
- Transparent
- Coarse
- Tapered
The hair has light scattering particles inside. Sunlight travels into the hair and bounces around the hollow part of the hair causing a reaction called luminescence.
This luminescence is accelerated by the light scattering particles which disrupt the beam of light causing it to break up into more beams that are sent off in different directions. This is what causes whitish light to be given off by the hair, helping the Polar bear look white.
Polar bears pick up salt particles from swimming that also contribute to light scattering.
When UV rays from sunlight make contact with the bear’s dark skin it also produces a whitish color due to fluorescence.
A protein called keratin in the hair also has molecules that are slightly white in color and can add to the other effects happening with the fur.
Wow, incredible
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Interesting! I didn’t know this.
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The first photo is just El Chupacabra creepy.
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Lol The vampire goat 🐐
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Just ewwwwww!
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Creepy without it’s hair.
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Interesting. What are your sources?
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Any source can be use since it’s simply a natural condition of Polar Bears but here is a National Geographic link that talks about the skin: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/p/polar-bear/
Here is a nature site that can go into detail on the hair: https://www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/risk/polar-bears-have-clear-hair-so-why-do-they-look-white/
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Okay, thanks. I was just asking as it was something I had never heard of before and wanted to check out.
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NP always happy to share data
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I know what you mean. We are so rarely told accurate facts about the world we live in.
Like this for instance: https://realitydecoded.blog/2018/01/25/your-world-map-is-a-lie/
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ok, but is that really a polar bear on the photo? Why does it have black fur around its head?
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I think you are right on the photo so I changed it to a polar bear in the process of losing fur so you can see what’s underneath.
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I was initially skeptical – until I saw the photo.
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Wow I was fouled
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So much of “reality” is NOT the way we “originally” learned it.
– don’t be fooled by the what you are “programmed” to believe – it’s all a grand illusion.
*** nothing is as it first appears
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Agreed!
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