TY  - JOUR
JF  - Science Advances
A1  - Carolan, Julian
A1  - Jakubec, Martin
A1  - Xavier Jr, Neubi F
A1  - Motala, Adam Pestana
A1  - Bifulco, Ersilia
A1  - Aars, Jon
A1  - Andersen, Magnus
A1  - Schmidt, Anne Lisbeth
A1  - Cabre, Marc Brunet
A1  - Singh, Vikaramjeet
A1  - Colavita, Paula E
A1  - Selfors, Espen Werdal
A1  - Sacchi, Marco
A1  - O'Reilly, Shane
A1  - Halskau, Oyvind
A1  - Tiwari, Manish K
A1  - Hobbs, Richard G
A1  - Holst, Bodil
N2  - The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is the only Arctic land mammal that dives into water to hunt. Despite thermal insulation provided by blubber and fur layers and low Arctic temperatures, their fur is typically observed to be free of ice. This study investigates the anti-icing properties of polar bear fur. Here, we show that polar bear fur exhibits low ice adhesion strengths comparable to fluorocarbon-coated fibers, with the low ice adhesion a consequence of the fur sebum (hair grease). Lipid analyses reveal the presence of cholesterol, diacylglycerols, anteisomethylbranched fatty acids, and the unexpected absence of squalene. Quantum chemical calculations predict low ice adsorption energies for identified lipids and high adsorption for squalene, suggesting that sebum composition is responsible for the observed anti-icing properties. Our work enhances understanding of polar bears and their interactions with their environment and builds on Inuit knowledge of natural anti-icing materials.
ID  - discovery10205951
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ads7321
PB  - AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
SN  - 2375-2548
IS  - 5
N1  - Copyright © 2025 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited.
TI  - Anti-icing properties of polar bear fur
VL  - 11
AV  - public
Y1  - 2025/01/29/
EP  - 13
ER  -