# Purple Polar Bear **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528 "2003-07-24T02:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ALJO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ALJO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ALJO)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/1 "2003-07-24T02:41:57Z")
Yahoo news today featured photo from Argentine zoo of polar bear that had turned purple from medical treatment. Said will turn back white in a month. Isn’t this impossible? Isn’t hair dead? More likely bear got dye bath for world publicity? ALJO ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/2 "2003-07-24T02:48:04Z")
It appears to be real. I saw live video of it on my local (major network) news today. It’s probably a topical treatment, like a shampoo, not an internal medication. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/3 "2003-07-24T02:52:42Z")
Dye bath or not, wouldn’t the bear hair grow back eventually? As white? Now then, very softly: How much bear hair can a white bear grow if a white bear could bare hare? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/4 "2003-07-24T03:00:29Z")
Yes, it was a topical treatment rubbed onto the bear’s skin. As new hair grows and the purple wears off, the bear will turn white again. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/5 "2003-07-24T03:23:23Z")
The [story](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030723/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/purple_polar_bear_1) says: > [@](#): > > … for a few days longer [the polar bear] will look purple because we’ve applied an ointment as a treatment for skin problems… That doesn’t sound like enough time for new hair to grow. I think the purple ointment simply washes off or breaks down naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/6 "2003-07-24T03:35:44Z")
Probably potassium permanganate, which is sometimes used to treat eczema and dermatitis. If so the purple stain will stay around for several days on skin, perhaps longer on fur. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/7 "2003-07-24T04:56:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Despite what our eyes tell us, a polar bear’s fur is not white. Each hair shaft is pigment-free and transparent with a hollow core. > > Polar bears look white because the hollow core scatters and reflects visible light, much like ice and snow does. > > When photographed with film sensitive to ultraviolet light, polar bears appear black. > > In 1979, three polar bears at the San Diego Zoo turned green. Scientists discovered that colonies of algae were growing in the bears’ hollow hair shafts. > > Although the algae in no way harmed the animals, zoo veterinarian Phillip Robinson restored the bears’ white fur by killing the algae with a salt solution. > > The fur on a polar bear cub is whiter than that of adult bears. In older bears, fur colors range from white to almost yellow. > > Hybrid cubs born to captive polar bears and their close relative, the brown bear, are white at birth but later turn blue- brown or yellow-white. > > A polar bear is so well-insulated that it experiences almost no heat loss. In addition to its insulating fur, the bear’s blubber layer can measure 4.5 inches thick. > > So effective is the polar bear’s insulation that adult males quickly overheat when they run. > > Because polar bears give off no detectable heat, they do not show up in infrared photographs. (Infrared film measures heat.) When a scientist attempted to photograph a bear with such film, he produced a print with a single spot–the puff of air caused by the animal’s breath. Source: [http://www.polarbearsalive.org/facts3.htm](http://www.polarbearsalive.org/facts3.htm) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/8 "2003-07-24T20:47:58Z")
In the threads on this subject in MPSIMS and the Pit, **sailor** posted a link to an article in Spanish that said gentian violet (“violeta de genciana”) was used. It’s a topical treatment (as noted above) for candidiasis and fungal infections. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/9 "2003-07-24T22:08:18Z")
😕 Does this mean the bear is a: [ul] **Purple People Eater?** [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/10 "2003-07-24T23:18:15Z")
This polar bear has been graped by the Grapist! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/purple-polar-bear/190528/11 "2003-07-24T23:23:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > \*\*😕 Does this mean the bear is a: > > [ul] **Purple People Eater?** [/ul] \*\* Why? Has he eaten any purple people?