Canadianbiologist Ian Stirling has said that he has witnessed a polar bear hold its breath underwater for three minutes in Norway.

The researcher witnessed an emaciated bear staying underwater for 3 minutes and 10 seconds, while he was on an expedition off Norway's Svalbard Islands. Stirling said that the bear was trying to catch bearded seals on an ice floe. He also said that the polar bear was very thin and was desperate for food.

The report said that the dive was longer than any dive earlier recorded. The bear had to make a longer dive as there was no ice cover and only open water. If the area had ice, he could have periodically come up for air without being seen.

Experts said that the polar bears depends on Ice for hunting but as the ice cover vanished during summer months, the species is resorting to other ways to get food. Polar bears have been recorded moving onto land to catch snow geese and caribou. Polar bears can hold breath for longer time and this allows them to go deeper and make longer dives for hunting.

Stirling collaborated withDutch co-authorRinie van Meurs on the report. Their paper titled, Longest recorded underwater dive by a polar bear, is published in the August edition of Polar Biology.