450 kg992 lb
An adult male polar bear typically weighs about 450 kg (around 990 lb), and most males fall between 350 and 590 kg (772 to 1,300 lb). Females weigh about half as much, though a pregnant female can reach 500 kg. The heaviest on record, an Alaskan male shot in 1960, was reported at 1,002 kg (2,209 lb).
| Heaviest on recordMale shot near Kotzebue, Alaska, in 1960; disputed | 1 t2,210 lb |
|---|---|
| Pregnant female before denningUp to about 500 kg after gaining 200 kg or more | 500 kg1,100 lb |
| Typical adult maleUsually 350 to 590 kg | 450 kg992 lb |
| Typical adult femaleUsually 150 to 295 kg | 220 kg485 lb |
| Cub leaving the den10 to 15 kg in late March or April | 12 kg26.5 lb |
| Newborn cubLittle more than half a kilogram | 600 g1.32 lb |
Males are much bigger than females. Polar Bears International says adult males normally weigh 350 to 590 kg (772 to 1,300 lb) and adult females 150 to 295 kg (331 to 650 lb), with bigger females in some regions. Other sources set the bar a little higher: Guinness World Records gives 400 to 600 kg for adult males, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says very large males can reach 800 kg (1,760 lb).
The spread is wide because a polar bear’s weight depends on its age, where it lives and, above all, the time of year. A male of about 450 kg is a typical, well-fed adult, not a giant.
Polar bears live mainly on seals they catch from the sea ice, and they store the fat for leaner times. A hungry bear can eat more than 45 kg (100 lb) of blubber in one sitting, and a bear can bulk up its body mass by about half in the good months.
When the ice melts, bears in places like Hudson Bay are stuck on land with almost nothing to eat. A study of bears held without food in Churchill, Manitoba, found they lost about 1 kg a day, and free-roaming bears eating berries, kelp and goose eggs lost weight just as fast.
Pregnant females swing the most. They need to gain at least 200 kg (441 lb) before denning, then spend half the year or more in the den without eating or drinking while they give birth and nurse. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance puts their loss at about 40% of their body weight. Researchers estimate that a female weighing less than about 189 kg in the fall can no longer raise cubs.
The heaviest polar bear on record was a male shot in 1960 on the pack ice of the Chukchi Sea, west of Kotzebue, Alaska. A Guinness animal record book by zoologist Gerald Wood reported him at 1,002 kg (2,209 lb), and he measured about 3.5 m (11 ft 6 in) from nose to tail.
Guinness World Records now lists him at an estimated 900 kg (1,984 lb) and notes that the figures have been disputed. Even so, it calls him the most likely candidate for the heaviest bear ever taken in the wild. Either way, he weighed about twice as much as a typical adult male.
Guinness World Records names the polar bear the largest land carnivore. Its only real rival is the Kodiak bear, a brown bear from the islands of southern Alaska, which is usually shorter but more heavily built. Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game says brown bears there can reach about 680 kg (1,500 lb), and the heaviest wild Kodiak bear on record weighed 751 kg (1,656 lb), well short of the 1960 polar bear.
If you count seals, which spend part of their lives on land, the southern elephant seal is far heavier: Guinness gives bulls up to 3,500 kg. Polar bears spend much of their time on sea ice and in the water too, so the title depends a little on how you define "land".
An adult male usually weighs 772 to 1,300 lb, and a typical male around 990 lb. Adult females usually weigh 331 to 650 lb, and the heaviest bear on record was reported at 2,209 lb.
A newborn polar bear weighs about 0.5 to 0.7 kg (1 to 1.5 lb), tiny next to its mother. It grows to 10 to 15 kg (22 to 33 lb) by the time the family leaves the den in late March or April, and to more than 45 kg (99 lb) by eight months.
Adult females usually weigh 150 to 295 kg (331 to 650 lb), about half as much as males. A pregnant female fattening up for her den can reach about 500 kg (1,102 lb), then loses around 40% of that while she fasts and nurses her cubs.
They are the two largest bears and overlap a lot in size. Guinness World Records ranks the polar bear as the largest land carnivore, while the Kodiak bear is usually shorter but stockier. The heaviest wild polar bear on record (1,002 kg) also outweighs the heaviest wild Kodiak bear (751 kg).
An adult male is about 2.4 to 2.6 m (7 ft 10 in to 8 ft 6 in) from nose to tail, according to Guinness World Records. Standing on its hind legs, a big male can be about 3 m (10 ft) tall.
Last checked October 2, 2026.
