Polar Bears are neutral Mobs that can be found in cold biomes in Minecraft. They’re large bears and often appear intimidating at first.
But worry not, because these big guys won’t bother you, unless you strike first.
Of course, like with all other Mobs, we wonder how can we tame Polar Bears in Minecraft? Because who wouldn’t want a big bear on their side!
Sadly, polar bears in Minecraft cannot be tamed. However, there are other ways to still have fun with these big guys and I’m going to talk to you about those below.
How Polar Bears Behave in Minecraft
Like I said, polar bears in Minecraft cannot be tamed like horses, wolves, or cats nor give any benefits the other Mobs usually give. There is also very little worth in killing them.
In Java Edition, polar bears are neutral mobs, meaning they will not attack unless they are attacked first, similar to llamas. Otherwise they will be hostile when they have cubs around, just like real bears.
Even in peaceful mode polar bears will attack when they’re provoked or if their cubs are attacked, however they will do no actual damage to the player.
In Bedrock Edition they will attack the player regardless of what the player does, making them rather dangerous to approach.
Because Polar Bears can be quite dangerous when aggressive, being able to deal between 3-8 hearts of damage (depending on difficulty), fighting them for loot or experience is not worth it.
A Polar Bear will only drop 1-3 experience upon dying and has a chance to drop up to 2 raw fish, usually salmon or cod.
This makes farming polar bears not worth the time and effort, and you are better off fishing than hunting bears.
How to Find Polar Bears in Minecraft
Polar Bears can be found in colder biomes in the world like Ice Spikes, Snowy Plains, or the Frozen Ocean biomes. In Bedrock Edition they can also spawn in the Frozen Rivers and Legacy Frozen Ocean biomes.
They spawn only on the surface and can be spotted roaming around the terrain, usually in a group of at least two.
Sometimes they can be in much larger groups as well, with the maximum number being seven. Usually in these groups there is bound to be at least one polar bear cub.
Now, remember that polar bears are dangerous mobs when hostile.
Before you go looking for them and go through the effort of bringing them back to your base, make sure to gear up. Iron armor and a shield are warmly recommended.
Along with that, make sure you bring along a lead. Unless they’re hostile, polar bears will not follow you, so a lead is a safe way to make them do so.
Minecraft Lead Recipe
- 4 String
- 1 Slimeball
To craft a Lead in Minecraft is relatively easy once you find slimes. Upon killing a single slime it will drop up to 2 slimeballs.
Once crafted, the Lead can be used on virtually any moving entity to move it around.
How to Build a Polar Bear Enclosure in Minecraft
Even if Polar Bears cannot be tamed or farmed, they can still be there for some aesthetic purposes. Having an enclosure with a few polar bears near your survival base can be a nice touch.
They can even be the stars of your very own zoo build.
Like with most builds, there are endless possibilities and ways to go about it.
Simple Enclosure
The simplest way to build an enclosure is to find a relatively flat area to designate for it. Using walls or fences of your choosing, surround the area. My personal go-to are stone walls or stone brick walls, because they just look like something sturdy enough to keep a bear at bay.
Bears cannot jump over or cross fences and walls, but they can still hit you over them if they’re hostile. If this seems like a problem, you can use regular blocks, like Cobblestone, and build a wall that is two blocks tall.
You won’t be able to see the Bears that well through this wall, but you can build a platform to climb it and observe them safely.
Adding a spruce or oak tree or two can help make the area look more natural. Additionally you can also use leaves to create a couple of bushes around the area.
Big Enclosure
When building large enclosures I always take my inspirations from real life zoos. In there bears are commonly placed in what could be called a large hole that we can look into.
Then I add a tall fence around it to make it seem nicer.
For a big enclosure you’ll need plenty of materials as well as tools to do some terraforming. If you’re not a big fan of terraforming in Survival, you can also try looking for naturally generated holes or indents in the landscape to build your enclosure inside of.
An area near a hill with a small cave inside it can also be good. Just make sure that the cave doesn’t go too deep and has a dead end. Also make sure the area is easy for you to enclose.
In my world I found this area. Two small indents in the landscape surrounded by hills. I marked the area I wanted to work with first, using cobblestone walls, just so I don’t get carried away while terraforming the area.
I didn’t need to do too much terraforming. I made sure that the stone walls were at least a block higher than what the bears could reach and built a cave using stone blocks.
To keep the water from freezing I put a few clusters of four sea pickles to keep the Ice from forming, though a frozen pond is just as good. You can also use torches or glowstone.
For the bushes I used jungle leaves, simply because I prefer the way they look.
To add more details I went back and worked on the cave a bit more, adding stone stairs and stone slabs around the area to make it look more rugged. I also changed the shape of the surrounding wall and added a bit more vegetation.
For the walls you can get a bit creative here and there. Consider mixing elements together, and adding lamp posts along the walls.
Below you can see a different wall and platform design I used in a different build.
Since I was originally inspired by real zoo enclosures, I also built a little viewing area at the front.
To make up for the lack of light, I used glowing lichen alongside vines to make it look more natural. If you are curious how you could get vines, we also have a tutorial on how to grow Vines in Minecraft.
I suggest adding at least a few other light sources to prevent random Mobs from spawning in the area. Glowing Lichen won’t be enough.
Things like lanterns and torches will certainly melt the snow and Ice, so keep that in mind.
An alternative would be their soul fire variants like the soul torch or soul lantern, which cannot melt snow or ice.
Once your enclosure is done, feel free to drag your polar bears inside. Make sure not to pair them with any other animals, especially with foxes, because the polar bears will certainly kill them.
