Is polar bear liver poisonous?

Sources of toxicity The liver of certain animals, including the polar bear, bearded seal, walrus, and moose, are particularly toxic (see Liver (food) § Poisoning). Supplements – Dietary supplements can be toxic when taken above recommended dosages.

Do polar bears get enough vitamin D?

Even polar bears are at risk of developing vitamin D deficiency. At the Denver Zoo, it was observed that polar bear cubs were listless and unable to stand and walk. They were found to be severely vitamin D deficient (5).

Why do polar bears have so much vitamin A?

Since vitamin A is fat-soluble, it builds up in fatty tissue, particularly the liver. Polar bears have lots of fatty tissue, so they accumulate lots of vitamin A, particularly in their liver.

Is polar bear meat poisonous to humans?

Bear meat should be thoroughly cooked as it can carry a parasitic infection known as trichinella and is potentially lethal to humans. It is the single biggest vector of trichinosis in North America.

Does anything eat polar bears?

Adult polar bears have no natural predators except other polar bears. Cubs less than one year old sometimes are prey to wolves and other carnivores. Newborn cubs may be cannibalized by malnourished mothers or adult male polar bears.

Can eating liver cause vitamin A toxicity?

Vitamin A Toxicity It is possible, and even dangerous, to consume too much vitamin A. Eating large amounts of liver can lead to symptoms of vitamin A toxicity. Your own liver cannot process the excess vitamin A quickly enough, so eating a significant amount of liver regularly might lead to hypervitaminosis A.

Has anyone eaten a polar bear?

Throughout 8,000 years of shared history, humans have regarded the polar bear with wonder, terror and fascination. Throughout Arctic history the bear has served as food, though in most indigenous societies, whales, walrus, seals, caribou or reindeer provided the bulk of the diet.

Can you die from eating too much polar bear liver?

“In fact, the way the Inuit used to kill explorers in the Arctic was to feed them polar bear liver, which gave them toxic doses of vitamin A” [4] So yes, if one eats enough of it, one can die from it.

How much vitamin A do you get from a polar bear’s liver?

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin A in humans is 0.9mg, and you can get that from eating just one-tenth of a gram of the liver from a well-fed polar bear. The entire liver contains enough vitamin A to kill as many as 52 adults! If you spread it out and ate just enough to get your RDA every day, that liver would last you 143 years!

What do polar bears eat in the wild?

In the wild, polar bears feed almost exclusively on bearded seals and ringed seals, both of which store high levels of vitamin A in their livers and blubber. If you ate a bearded seal’s liver, you’d suffer from hypervitaminosis A, but the polar bear can tolerate and enjoy the feast.

Why don’t Eskimos eat polar bears?

This is due to their vitamin A rich diet of fish and seals. The Eskimos have long been wary of eating the polar bear for this reason, but it’s something the early Artic explorers found out the hard way. Ingesting the liver can cause vitamin A poisoning known as acute hypervitaminosis A.