If you ever worry about how polar bears freezing to death, don’t! Polar Bears have a unique feature, their fur is ice-repelling. The sebum, a natural oil, prevents them from surviving in cold environments. Senior author and physicist, Bodil Holst discovered this intriguing idea while she was watching a tv quiz program. She later contacted Micheal Le Page, a New Scientist, and spoke to him about how she has never seen a polar bear covered in ice after a deep dive in below-freezing water.
Holst, swarm an international research group and compared iced resistance samples, four samples were tested. Washed and unwashed polar bear fur, human hair and hair-based ski equipment lathered in chemicals called fluorocarbons. These samples were tested by calculating how much force it took to remove an ice block off.
After this experiment, scientists noticed that the ice was less difficult to stick to unwashed polar bear fur compared to oily human hair. Although when the polar bear fur is washed, it performs the same way human hair does. After many experiments, they discovered that sebum is the reason why polar bears’ fur doesn’t ice over, no matter how cold the weather.
