This polar bear, along with several others, just finished a huge lunch. These guys store up food during hunting season, and then sometimes go up to six months without food. Unlike the brown bear, polar bears do not hibernate. Many of them, like this one, may live their entire life on sea ice and are therefore considered marine mammals.
This guy was social and curious about us and came right up to the side of our ship to get a closer look. We were all thankful to be onboard a large ship out of reach of these guys. They are huge! What a special treat to be right there among them for an entire afternoon.