Longest underwater dive by a polar bear

The longest scientifically documented underwater dive by a polar bear (Ursus maritimus) lasted 3 minutes 10 seconds for a bear being filmed by the naturalist and polar expedition leader Rinie van Meurs (Netherlands) in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in Summer 2014. The bear, described as "emaciated", had silently slipped beneath the ice while stalking three bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) lying at the edge of an ice floe; although it finally "exploded" on to the ice to lunge at its prey, the bear failed to catch any of the seals. The footage was analysed and confirmed as a record by Dr Ian Stirling (Canada) from the University of Alberta in Canada. The dive was documented in the scientific journal Polar Biology (August 2015, Vol. 38, Iss. 8, pp. 1,301–04). Prior to this, the longest recorded dive for a polar bear was believed to be 1 minute 12 seconds in 1970.