🦈 Great white shark vs Polar bear 🐻❄️
The great white shark is about 4 times as long as the polar bear. The great white shark weighs about 4 times as much as the polar bear.
Getting the animals ready…
| Row | 🦈 Great white shark | 🐻❄️ Polar bear |
|---|---|---|
| Size The great white shark is about 4 times as long as the polar bear. | 20 ft6.1 m1 | 4.9 ft1.5 m2 |
| Top speed We don't have a checked number for the polar bear yet. | 35 mph56 km/h3 | no checked number yet |
| Weight The great white shark weighs about 4 times as much as the polar bear. | 2 tons1.8 tonnes1 | 399 to 1,450 lb181 to 658 kg2 |
| Lives The great white shark usually lives about twice as long as the polar bear. | 30 to 70 years30 to 70 years1 | 25 years25 years2 |
| Eats Both eat meat. | seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales | mostly seals, caught at holes in the sea ice |
| Lives in They can live in the same kind of place. | cool coastal seas around the world | the Arctic, on the sea ice around the North Pole |
Which one? Great white shark or polar bear
🏁 Who would win the race?
We don't have a checked top speed for the polar bear yet, so there is no race.
We only race. Real animals mostly avoid each other. A race is the only fair contest: who reaches the tree first, by top speed. Our face-off books compare real numbers, and nobody gets hurt.
10 things to know about Great white shark vs Polar bear
- The great white shark: The biggest fish that hunts, with rows of spare teeth waiting.
- The polar bear: The biggest bear, at home on the frozen Arctic sea ice.
- They are different kinds of animal. The great white shark is a fish, so it breathes with gills; the polar bear is a mammal, so it breathes air with lungs and feeds its babies milk.
- The great white shark is about 4 times as long as the polar bear: 1 against 2.
- The great white shark weighs about 4 times as much as the polar bear. That is 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the polar bear.
- The great white shark usually lives about twice as long as the polar bear. Usual lifespans: 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the polar bear.
- Both eat meat. The great white shark eats seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales; the polar bear eats mostly seals, caught at holes in the sea ice.
- The great white shark lives in cool coastal seas around the world. The polar bear lives in the Arctic, on the sea ice around the North Pole. They can live in the same kind of place.
- The great white shark: needs help (Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List). 4
- The polar bear: needs help (Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List). 5
Wow facts
🦈 Great white shark
- A great white keeps growing new teeth its whole life.
- It can feel the tiny electric signals of other animals.
- Its body stays warmer than the water around it.
🐻❄️ Polar bear
- Under its white-looking fur, a polar bear's skin is black.
- Each hair is clear and hollow, not white.
- Its huge paws work like paddles and snowshoes.
Questions kids ask about Great white shark and Polar bear
Which is bigger, great white shark or polar bear?
The great white shark is about 4 times as long as the polar bear: 1 against 2.
Which is heavier, great white shark or polar bear?
The great white shark weighs about 4 times as much as the polar bear. That is 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the polar bear.
Which lives longer, great white shark or polar bear?
The great white shark usually lives about twice as long as the polar bear. Usual lifespans: 1 for the great white shark and 2 for the polar bear.
What do great white shark and polar bear eat?
Both eat meat. The great white shark eats seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales; the polar bear eats mostly seals, caught at holes in the sea ice.
Where do great white shark and polar bear live?
The great white shark lives in cool coastal seas around the world. The polar bear lives in the Arctic, on the sea ice around the North Pole. They can live in the same kind of place.
Do great white sharks eat polar bears?
The great white shark eats seals, sea lions, fish and dead whales. Polar bears are not in that list, which comes from its page.
Do polar bears eat great white sharks?
The polar bear eats mostly seals, caught at holes in the sea ice. Great white sharks are not in that list, which comes from its page. And the great white shark is about 4 times as long as the polar bear.
Who would win, great white shark or polar bear?
We never show fights, because a fight is not a fair way to compare animals. They can share the same kind of place, and real animals mostly keep out of each other's way. What we can compare is how big, how heavy, how fast, how long they live and what they eat, as above.
📤 Share this pair
The link carries only the two animals’ names: peabody.kids/animals/compare/great-white-shark-vs-polar-bear
Where these numbers come from
- NOAA Fisheries, checked 30 October 2026.
- National Park Service, checked 30 October 2026.
- NOAA Science On a Sphere, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.