Polar Bear
| Health points |
30 |
|---|---|
| Behavior |
Neutral (adult) |
| Attack strength |
Adults only:
|
| Hitbox size |
In Java Edition: |
| Spawn |
Snowy Tundra and variants |
| Items usable on |
Polar bears are neutral mobs that live in icy biomes.
Contents
Spawning[edit]
Polar bears spawn above grass or ice in snowy tundra, snowy mountains, ice spikes, regular and deep frozen ocean biomes in groups of up to two at light level 7 or higher. If there is a group, the second polar bear is a cub.
They can also spawn in frozen rivers and legacy frozen oceans in Bedrock Edition.
Drops[edit]
An adult polar bear drops one of the following when killed:
- 1–3 from player or tamed wolves kills.
- There is a 3⁄4 chance of dropping 0 to 2 raw cod. The maximum amount can be increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0 to 5 with Looting III.
- There is a 1⁄4 chance of dropping 0 to 2 raw salmon. The maximum amount can be increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0 to 5 with Looting III.
Dropped fish is always raw, even if the polar bear is on fire when killed.
Killing a baby polar bear yields no items or experience.
Behavior[edit]
Polar bears can exist in a passive or hostile state. The cubs are passive; adults are hostile when with cubs or provoked.
If a cub is attacked, all adults within a 41×21×41 area become hostile toward the player or mob, regardless of difficulty, although in Peaceful difficulty their attacks do zero damage to players.
Attacking an adult who is within a 16×8×16 area of a cub also provokes other adults within a 21×21×21 area of the attacked adult.[JE only]
Polar bears also attack foxes.
- In Java Edition, adult polar bears attack any fox that stays near it for a while, hitting it once every few seconds. Cubs are more aggressive and attack foxes within 16 blocks.
- In Bedrock Edition, adult polar bears attack foxes within 16 blocks. Cubs do not attack foxes.
Polar bears attack by rearing on their back legs and mauling down with their front paws. Their swimming speed is equal to the player's, making them difficult to get away from if they are attacking in water.
Polar bears cannot breed and cubs' growth cannot be sped up.
They do not take freezing damage from powder snow.
Sounds[edit]
| Sound | Subtitle | Source | Description | Namespaced ID | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polar Bear groans | ? | Randomly when adult | entity.polar_bear.ambient | subtitles.entity.polar_bear.ambient | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Polar Bear hums | ? | Randomly when baby | entity.polar_bear.ambient_baby | subtitles.entity.polar_bear.ambient_baby | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Polar Bear dies | ? | Polar bear is dying | entity.polar_bear.death | subtitles.entity.polar_bear.death | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Polar Bear hurts | ? | Polar bear is hurt | entity.polar_bear.hurt | subtitles.entity.polar_bear.hurt | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Footsteps | ? | Polar bear is walking | entity.polar_bear.step | ? | ? | ? | 16 | |
| Polar Bear attacks | ? | Polar bear is attacking | entity.polar_bear.warning | subtitles.entity.polar_bear.warning | ? | 3 = 0.9; 1, 2, 3 = ? | 16 |
Data values[edit]
ID[edit]
| Name | Namespaced ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|
| Polar Bear | polar_bear | entity.minecraft.polar_bear |
| Name | Namespaced ID | Numeric ID | Translation key |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polar Bear | polar_bear | 28 | entity.polar_bear.name |
Entity data[edit]
Polar bears have entity data associated with them that contains various properties.
- Entity data
- Additional fields for mobs that can become angry
- Additional fields for mobs that can breed
- Tags common to all entities
- Tags common to all mobs
Advancements[edit]
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Namespaced ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Adventure | Adventure, exploration, and combat | — | Kill any entity, or be killed by any entity. | adventure/root
|
History[edit]
| March 7, 2016 | Jeb hints at a neutral mob with a light gray "base texture" color. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 8, 2016 | Jeb tweets a picture of the polar bears. | ||||
| Java Edition | |||||
| 1.10 | 16w20a |   Added polar bears. | |||
| pre1 | Adult polar bears now jump in water, if on fire. | ||||
| pre2 | Polar bears now have sounds: entity.polar_bear.baby_ambient, entity.polar_bear.ambient, entity.polar_bear.death, entity.polar_bear.hurt, entity.polar_bear.step, and entity.polar_bear.warning. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w32a | The entity ID has now been changed from PolarBear to polar_bear. | |||
| 1.13 | 18w19a | Polar bears can now spawn on top of ice. | |||
| 1.14 | 18w43a | The textures of polar bears and baby polar bears have now been changed. | |||
| 19w07a | Polar bears now attack foxes. | ||||
| 19w14a | Polar bears are no longer a valid mob for earning the Monster Hunter advancement and are no longer required to complete the Monsters Hunted advancement. | ||||
| 1.15 | 19w39a |  Due to a bug, the baby polar bear model is currently broken. | |||
| 19w40a | The baby polar bear model has now been fixed.[1] | ||||
| 1.17 | 21w13a | Polar bears are now immune to freezing. | |||
| Now drop cooked cod or salmon instead of raw cod or salmon if on fire when killed or killed by a fire source. | |||||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Added polar bears. | |||
| 1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | The entity ID has now been changed from polarbear to polar_bear.
| |||
| Polar bears no longer hurt players in Peaceful difficulty. | |||||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 | Polar bears can now spawn on top of ice. | |||
| 1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | The textures of polar bears and baby polar bears have now been changed. | |||
| 1.13.0 | beta 1.13.0.1 | Adult polar bears now attack foxes. | |||
| 1.17.0 | beta 1.16.230.54 | Polar bears are now immune to freezing. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU43 | CU33 | 1.36 | Patch 13 | 1.0.1 | Added polar bears. |
| New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
| 1.7.10 | Added polar bears. | ||||
Issues[edit]
Issues relating to "Polar Bear" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[edit]
- According to Jeb, polar bears were added after his son Björn was born. Coincidentally, "björn" is Swedish for "bear".[2]
- Unlike most other baby mobs, polar bear cubs have a unique sound effect that is not just a sped-up version of the regular polar bear sound effects; this is also reflected in subtitles.
- Polar bears are the first bears added into the game, later followed by pandas.
- During the development of the frozen ocean biome, polar bears were removed from spawning, due to being deemed too "sad". They were added back in because it is more accurate to the polar bear's real life status.[3]
- in Java Edition, the polar bear is the only mob whose baby variant can grow up, but the adults cannot breed or be bred.
Gallery[edit]
Screenshots[edit]
Development teaser screenshot by Jeb.
Image from 16w20a blog post.
A polar bear on its hind legs, attacking the player.
In other media[edit]
Lego Minecraft Polar Bear.
References[edit]
