Polar bear (Adult male)
1.52 m (4.987 ft)
Shoulder height
The largest land carnivore alive today, measured at the shoulder. Adult males stand about 1.5 m (5 ft) at the shoulder.
Published
How big is that?
1.52 m is 5.1 times an A4 sheet and 5.6% of a blue whale.
Polar bear is the 5th smallest of the 31 Prehistoric Giants objects, and the 25th smallest of the 109 objects across all three SizeItUp games.
Closest in size from the other games: Bowling pin (Ten-pin) (Classic), 38.1 cm tall and Perseverance (Mars rover) (Cosmic Scale), 3 m long.
Size comparison
To scale, smallest to largest: Polar bear in orange beside the Prehistoric Giants objects nearest in size, in teal.
| Object | Size | vs Polar bear |
|---|---|---|
| Saber-toothed cat (Smilodon fatalis)The Ice Age cat of the La Brea tar pits. Measured at the shoulder. | 1 m tall | 66% of the size |
| Lion (Adult male)Today's big-cat benchmark, measured at the shoulder. | 1.2 m tall | 79% of the size |
| Polar bear (Adult male) | 1.52 m tall | – |
| Hippopotamus (Large adult)Africa's river giant, measured at the shoulder. | 1.6 m tall | 1.1× bigger |
| Adult man (US average)An average adult man, for scale. | 1.75 m tall | 1.2× bigger |
In other units
| Centimetres | 152 |
|---|---|
| Metres | 1.52 |
| Inches | 59.84 |
| Feet | 4.987 |
| Yards | 1.662 |
How it's measured
Shoulder height. Louisville Zoo, converted from 5 ft (San Diego Zoo gives about 1.7 m).
Four-legged animals are measured at the shoulder, which stays put while the head moves.
Sources
- louisvillezoo.org: Males average 7-9 feet with a height of 5 feet at the shoulder.
Checked against the source on .
Could you have guessed it by eye?
Polar bear is one of the objects in Prehistoric Giants, a daily size comparison game: you stretch a shape to the size you think is right beside one you know.