Will I Die If I Eat Polar Bear Liver? Very Very Big Teddy Bear

While this polar bear might easily make a meal out of you, one chew of his liver may very well be sufficient to send you to the hospital. Liver has long been a staple in lots of diets. Deep-fried rooster livers are a favorite in components of the American South. In Japan, you may order a heaping serving to of sashimi made with uncooked fish liver. As delicious (or disgusting) as some of these dishes could sound to you, not each chook, fish or mammal essentially gives the very best substances for a culinary masterpiece. Journey to Germany and you can feast on traditional liverwurst. The native peoples of the Arctic have never shied away from cooking up some polar bear stew, but they've long known to keep away from consuming the livers of assorted arctic creatures. In truth, if you ever have the possibility to strive polar bear liver, suppose twice -- it could be the final meal you ever eat. Western explorers, nonetheless, learned the laborious way. Maybe essentially the most horrific symptom they encountered was peeling skin. Even the thick pores and skin on the bottoms of a affected person's feet may peel away, leaving the underlying flesh bloody and exposed. The worst circumstances ended in liver injury, hemorrhage, coma and dying. These explorers suffered from acute hypervitaminosis A, a situation resulting from the overconsumption of vitamin A during a brief time frame. While milder cases merely involved flaking across the mouth, some accounts reported circumstances of full-physique pores and skin loss. The polar bear's liver, very similar to these of arctic seals and huskies, incorporates extraordinarily excessive ranges of retinol (the form of vitamin A found in members of the animal kingdom). On the following page, we'll uncover why polar bears carry round so much vitamin A of their livers and the way crucial their retinol tolerance is to their survival. While some vitamins dissolve in water, vitamin A solely dissolves in fats. Instead, it collects within the body's filtration organ, the liver, where it may possibly attain toxic levels. Vitamin A is a vital building block for a lot of animals. Which means that, unlike different vitamins, excess vitamin A would not exit the physique in urine. People solely require it in very small amounts, but it surely performs a significant function in eyesight, reproduction, fetal growth, growth, immune response and the cellular formation of tissue. Vitamin A tolerability in people varies depending on age, gender and physical condition. With out enough vitamin A in your system, you might simply end up going through signs just as dangerous as these associated with hypervitaminosis A. Deficiencies can result in dry skin, diarrhea, blindness, growth retardation and even dying. We sometimes absorb it by means of the consumption of foods such as spinach, broccoli, eggs, milk and various meats. Actually, their physiology advanced to tolerate so much vitamin A for just one cause: to eat seals. Like many animals, polar bears benefit from protecting a certain amount of vitamin A of their system, but there's nothing to indicate they actually require such large portions. For those who ate a bearded seal's liver, you'd undergo from hypervitaminosis A, however the polar bear can tolerate and enjoy the feast. The seals store high ranges of vitamin A as a way to swiftly develop and nourish their tiger teddy bear big size younger in a harsh, chilly atmosphere. Within the wild, polar bears feed nearly completely on bearded seals and ringed seals, each of which retailer high ranges of vitamin A of their livers and blubber. Remember, vitamin A plays a key position in development and natal growth. So if the blue plate particular at your favorite diner is ever sautéed polar bear liver, you would possibly just wish to stick to a salad. The seals depend on this vitamin to rapidly advance them through their vulnerable pup stages. Explore the links on the subsequent page to be taught extra about vitamin A and polar bear liver. One polar bear liver typically contains as a lot vitamin A as 79 to a hundred and fifteen rooster eggs. That award-profitable meal comes in at almost twice the tolerable higher limits of human vitamin A consumption. What does world warming must do with the decline within the polar bear population? Brown, Dan. "Vitamin A Toxicity." Cornell College Division of Animal Science. AZA Bear Tag. "Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)." Association of Zoos and Aquariums Standardizes Animal Care Guidelines. Eliasen, Mogens. "The Dangerous(?) Vitamin A." K9joy Education. Higdon, Jane. "Vitamin A." Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Hicks, R. Marian. "The scientific basis for concerning vitamin A and its analogues as anti-carcinogenic brokers." Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. International federation of Competitive Eating. Lintzenich, Barbara, et al. Brookfield Zoo Conservation Biology and Research Center. Canadian Journal of Zoology. Penniston, Kristina L. and Sherry A. Tanumihardjo. Mos, Lizzy and Peter S. Ross. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The University of Cambridge Dunn Nutritional Laboratory and Medical Research Council. Rodahl, K. and T. Moore. Slaughter, Kip. E-mail interview.