They spawn in snowy biomes, that's all that the wiki says. However, if they spawn like traditional animals you may have to go back and reload the chunks a few times to see if you can get a few spawns. Perhaps clear thin snow blocks to get them to spawn more.
There is something very important that has been missed in this thread - passive mobs normally only spawn when chunks are generated (reloading already generated chunks has no effect) because mobs within the spawn chunks count towards the mob cap, which is only 10 for passive mobs, and since they do not despawn you have to kill them and prevent them from respawning within the spawn chunks, which is quite a big task unless they are within a biome that doesn't spawn passive mobs (I'm not sure if rabbits respawn in deserts; during world generation it doesn't matter if there is grass, which only affects respawning; up until 1.8 Mooshrooms would only respawn on grass but spawned on mycelium during world generation. Snow may also prevent them from respawning, but it may not since it is a transparent block).
Also, render distance isn't an issue since that bug is caused by mobs not despawning properly (entities are only active if a 5x5 chunk area around them is loaded, which is where the 10 chunk requirement comes from, since that is 8 (128 blocks) + 2) and can actually be exploited to increase the number of passive mobs that spawn (10 mobs within 441 chunks, the area loaded with a render distance of 10, is very low; by comparison, during world generation there is a 10% chance (7% in Ice Plains) of a pack of up to 4 mobs per chunk, or 176 (123) mobs in 441 chunks if every attempt succeeds).
They spawn in snowy biomes, that's all that the wiki says. However, if they spawn like traditional animals you may have to go back and reload the chunks a few times to see if you can get a few spawns. Perhaps clear thin snow blocks to get them to spawn more.
I can't find any polar bears in full release version. I spent about an hour wandering cold biomes.
Saw lots of strays. No polar bears.
Are they super rare? Only spawn in certain spots?
Does anyone know if they count as either passive or hostile for spawning?
Were you looking in areas you had previously explored?
I went to some cold areas I hadn't explored yet and found several.
Join me on World Community Grid and help find a cure for COVID-19!
They spawn in snowy biomes, that's all that the wiki says. However, if they spawn like traditional animals you may have to go back and reload the chunks a few times to see if you can get a few spawns. Perhaps clear thin snow blocks to get them to spawn more.
Figured it was time for a change.
I created a new world using a seed that spawns you near ice plains, searched the entire biome, a few hundred blocks wide, no bears.
Just wondering if there was a detail I'd missed, but having confirmed they spawn as passive mobs, I'm not surprised I didn't find any yet.
I once had to travel for two (minecraft) days to find cows.
It can be this bug
There is something very important that has been missed in this thread - passive mobs normally only spawn when chunks are generated (reloading already generated chunks has no effect) because mobs within the spawn chunks count towards the mob cap, which is only 10 for passive mobs, and since they do not despawn you have to kill them and prevent them from respawning within the spawn chunks, which is quite a big task unless they are within a biome that doesn't spawn passive mobs (I'm not sure if rabbits respawn in deserts; during world generation it doesn't matter if there is grass, which only affects respawning; up until 1.8 Mooshrooms would only respawn on grass but spawned on mycelium during world generation. Snow may also prevent them from respawning, but it may not since it is a transparent block).
Also, render distance isn't an issue since that bug is caused by mobs not despawning properly (entities are only active if a 5x5 chunk area around them is loaded, which is where the 10 chunk requirement comes from, since that is 8 (128 blocks) + 2) and can actually be exploited to increase the number of passive mobs that spawn (10 mobs within 441 chunks, the area loaded with a render distance of 10, is very low; by comparison, during world generation there is a 10% chance (7% in Ice Plains) of a pack of up to 4 mobs per chunk, or 176 (123) mobs in 441 chunks if every attempt succeeds).
See also:
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Spawn#Animals
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Spawn#Spawn_cycle (the Wiki says that the game counts the number of mobs within a 17x17 chunk area around the player but that seems to be incorrect since then spawn chunks shouldn't be a problem, and from looking at the code it appears to count entities in all loaded chunks)
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I learned that naturally spawned polar bears are really rare with a 7% spawn rate in biomes with ice.
This is correct.
OWNER AND DEVELOPER OF ETERNALPIXEL! JOIN TODAY!