Estimating the Weight of Polar Bears from Body Measurements

Abstract
We measured chest girth, total body length, neck circumference, and zygomatic width of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) to determine an accurate predictor of live weight. The derived equations for males and females were weight = 0.000476(chest girth)2.69 (r2 = 0.97) and weight = 0.000775(chest girth)2.59 (r2 = 0.95), respectively. Our equations were accurate for all bears > 100 kg.