Whereas this polar bear could simply make a meal out of you, one chew of his liver could be sufficient to send you to the hospital. Liver has long been a staple in lots of diets. Deep-fried rooster livers are a favourite in elements of the American South. In Japan, you possibly can order a heaping helping of sashimi made with raw fish liver. As scrumptious (or disgusting) as a few of these dishes may sound to you, not each hen, fish or mammal necessarily presents the perfect elements for a culinary masterpiece. Journey to Germany and you'll feast on traditional liverwurst. The native peoples of the Arctic have by no means shied away from cooking up some polar bear stew, however they've long identified to avoid consuming the livers of assorted arctic creatures. In truth, should you ever have the chance to try polar bear liver, suppose twice -- it will be the final meal you ever eat. Western explorers, nevertheless, realized the onerous approach. Maybe the most horrific symptom they encountered was peeling pores and skin. Even the thick skin on the bottoms of a affected person's feet could peel away, leaving the underlying flesh bloody and uncovered. The worst circumstances ended in liver damage, hemorrhage, coma and loss of life. These explorers suffered from acute hypervitaminosis A, a condition resulting from the overconsumption of vitamin A throughout a short time frame. While milder cases merely involved flaking around the mouth, some accounts reported circumstances of full-body pores and skin loss. The polar bear's liver, much like these of arctic seals and huskies, accommodates extremely high levels of retinol (the type of vitamin A present in members of the animal kingdom). On the next web page, we'll discover why polar bears carry around a lot vitamin A in their livers and the way essential their retinol tolerance is to their survival. While some vitamins tiger teddy bear big size dissolve in water, vitamin A solely dissolves in fat. Instead, it collects in the physique's filtration organ, the liver, where it could actually attain toxic ranges. Vitamin A is a crucial building block for many animals. Because of this, not like different vitamins, excess vitamin A does not exit the body in urine. People solely require it in very small amounts, however it performs an important function in eyesight, reproduction, fetal growth, progress, immune response and the cellular formation of tissue. Vitamin A tolerability in people varies relying on age, gender and bodily condition. Without sufficient vitamin A in your system, you can easily end up facing signs simply as dangerous as those associated with hypervitaminosis A. Deficiencies can result in dry pores and skin, diarrhea, blindness, progress retardation and even dying. We sometimes absorb it by way of the consumption of foods similar to spinach, broccoli, eggs, milk and numerous meats. In actual fact, their physiology developed to tolerate a lot vitamin A for just one motive: to eat seals. Like many animals, polar bears profit from protecting a certain quantity of vitamin A of their system, however there's nothing to point they really require such giant portions. In case you 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 to be able to swiftly develop and nourish their young in a harsh, chilly setting. In the wild, polar bears feed virtually exclusively on bearded seals and ringed seals, both of which store high levels of vitamin A of their livers and blubber. Remember, vitamin A plays a key role in development and natal growth. So if the blue plate special at your favourite diner is ever sautéed polar bear liver, you would possibly simply wish to keep on with a salad. The seals depend on this vitamin to rapidly advance them by way of their weak pup phases. Explore the hyperlinks on the subsequent page to study extra about vitamin A and polar bear liver. One polar bear liver sometimes incorporates as much vitamin A as seventy nine to a hundred and fifteen hen eggs. That award-successful meal is available in at nearly twice the tolerable higher limits of human vitamin A consumption. What does world warming need to do with the decline within the polar bear inhabitants? Brown, Dan. "Vitamin A Toxicity." Cornell College Department of Animal Science. AZA Bear Tag. "Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus)." Association of Zoos and Aquariums Standardizes Animal Care Pointers. Eliasen, Mogens. "The Dangerous(?) Vitamin A." K9joy Schooling. Higdon, Jane. "Vitamin A." Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Hicks, R. Marian. "The scientific foundation for regarding vitamin A and its analogues as anti-carcinogenic brokers." Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. International federation of Aggressive Eating. Lintzenich, Barbara, et al. Brookfield Zoo Conservation Biology and Analysis 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, Okay. and T. Moore. Slaughter, Kip. E-mail interview.
