Polar bear (ursus maritimus). Brown bear: brief description, weight, dimensions

The bear is the largest predator on earth. This animal belongs to the class mammals, order carnivores, family bears, genus bears ( Ursus). The bear appeared on the planet about 6 million years ago and has always been a symbol of power and strength.

Bear - description, characteristics, structure. What does a bear look like?

Depending on the species, the body length of a predator can vary from 1.2 to 3 meters, and the weight of a bear varies from 40 kg to a ton. The body of these animals is large, stocky, with a thick, short neck and a large head. Powerful jaws make it easy to chew both plant and meat foods. The limbs are rather short and slightly curved. Therefore, the bear walks, swaying from side to side, and rests on its entire foot. The speed of a bear in moments of danger can reach 50 km/h. With the help of large and sharp claws, these animals extract food from the ground, tear apart prey and climb trees. Many species of bears are good swimmers. The polar bear has a special membrane between its toes for this purpose. The lifespan of a bear can reach 45 years.

Bears do not have sharp eyesight or well-developed hearing. This is compensated by an excellent sense of smell. Sometimes animals stand on hind legs to use the sense of smell to obtain information about the surrounding environment.

Thick bear fur covering the body has a different color: from reddish-brown to black, white in polar bears or black and white in pandas. Species with dark fur turn gray and gray in old age.

Does a bear have a tail?

Yes, but only the giant panda has a noticeable tail. In other species it is short and almost indistinguishable in the fur.

Types of bears, names and photos

In the bear family, zoologists distinguish 8 species of bears, which are divided into many different subspecies:

• Brown bear (common bear) (Ursus arctos)

The appearance of a predator of this species is typical for all representatives of the bear family: a powerful body, rather high at the withers, a massive head with rather small ears and eyes, a short, barely noticeable tail, and large paws with very powerful claws. The body of a brown bear is covered with thick fur with brownish, dark gray, and reddish colors, which vary depending on the habitat of the “clubfoot”. Baby bear cubs often have large light tan marks on the chest or neck area, although these marks disappear with age.

The distribution range of the brown bear is wide: it is found in mountain systems Alps and on the Apennine Peninsula, common in Finland and the Carpathians, feels comfortable in Scandinavia, Asia, China, the northwestern United States and Russian forests.

• Polar (white) bear (Ursus maritimus)

It is the largest representative of the family: its body length often reaches 3 meters, and its weight can exceed one ton. It has a long neck and a slightly flattened head - this distinguishes it from its counterparts of other species. The color of the bear’s fur is from boiling white to slightly yellowish; the hairs are hollow inside, so they give the bear’s “fur coat” excellent thermal insulation properties. The soles of the paws are thickly lined with tufts of coarse hair, which allows the polar bear to easily move across the ice without slipping. There is a membrane between the toes that facilitates the swimming process. The habitat of this bear species is the circumpolar regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

• Baribal (black bear) (Ursus americanus)

The bear is a little similar to its brown relative, but differs from it in its smaller size and blue-black fur. The length of an adult baribal does not exceed two meters, and female bears are even smaller - their body is usually 1.5 meters long. A pointed muzzle, long paws ending in rather short feet - this is what makes this representative of bears remarkable. By the way, baribals can become black only in the third year of life, receiving a gray or brownish color at birth. The black bear's habitat is vast: from the vastness of Alaska to the territories of Canada and hot Mexico.

• Malayan bear (biruang) (Helarctos malayanus)

The most “miniature” species among its bear counterparts: its length does not exceed 1.3-1.5 meters, and the height at the withers is slightly more than half a meter. This type of bear has a stocky build, a short, rather wide muzzle with small round ears. The paws of the Malayan bear are high, while the large, long feet with huge claws look a little disproportionate. The body is covered with short and very tough black-brown fur; the animal’s chest is “decorated” with a white-red spot. The Malayan bear lives in the southern regions of China, Thailand and Indonesia.

• White-breasted (Himalayan) bear (Ursus thibetanus)

The slender physique of the Himalayan bear is not very different large sizes- this representative of the family is two times smaller than its brown relative: the male has a length of 1.5-1.7 meters, while the height at the withers is only 75-80 cm, the females are even smaller. The bear's body, covered with shiny and silky fur of dark brown or black color, is crowned by a head with a pointed muzzle and large round ears. A mandatory “attribute” of the Himalayan bear’s appearance is a spectacular white or yellowish spot on the chest. This type of bear lives in Iran and Afghanistan, is found in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas, in Korea, Vietnam, China and Japan, and feels at ease in the vastness of the Khabarovsk Territory and in the south of Yakutia.

• Spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

A medium-sized predator - length 1.5-1.8 meters, height at the withers from 70 to 80 cm. The muzzle is short, not too wide. The fur of the spectacled bear is shaggy, has a black or black-brown tint, and there are always white-yellow rings around the eyes, smoothly turning into a whitish “collar” of fur on the animal’s neck. The habitat of this type of bear is the country South America: Colombia and Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.

• Gubach (Melursus ursinus)

A predator with a body length of up to 1.8 meters, height at the withers varies from 65 to 90 centimeters, females are approximately 30% smaller than males in both respects. The body of the sloth fish is massive, the head is large, with a flat forehead and an overly elongated muzzle, which ends in mobile, completely hairless, protruding lips. The bear's fur is long, usually black or dirty brown in color, and in the area of ​​the animal's neck it often forms something like a shaggy mane. The sloth bear's chest has a light spot. The habitat of this type of bear is India, some areas of Pakistan, Bhutan, the territory of Bangladesh and Nepal.

• Big panda (bamboo bear) ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

This type of bear has a massive, squat body, which is covered with dense, thick black and white fur. The paws are short, thick, with sharp claws and completely hairless pads: this allows pandas to firmly hold smooth and slippery bamboo stems. The structure of the front paws of these bears is very unusually developed: five ordinary fingers are complemented by a large sixth, although it is not a real finger, but a modified bone. Such amazing paws enable the panda to easily handle the thinnest shoots of bamboo. The bamboo bear lives in the mountainous regions of China, with especially large populations living in Tibet and Sichuan.

• Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 = Mammals
• Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872 = Placental, higher animals
• Squad:
• Family: Carnivora Bowdich, 1821 = Carnivores
• Family: Ursidae Gray, 1825 = Ursidae, bears
• Genus: Ursus Linnaeus, 1758 = Bears

Is the bear a predator?

Basically, bears are content with plant food, but if there is a shortage of it and once they have tasted animal meat, they become a predator in the full sense of the word, especially terrible for domestic animals. He is quite considered the worst enemy of horses, cows, etc.

Having tasted the meat, the bear loses its good-natured disposition and becomes very bloodthirsty. Many hunters say that the bear also feeds on carrion. At least in Siberia, it often happens that during livestock deaths, peasants bury their dead animals, and bears dig them up to satisfy their hunger. Having fattened up their body and fat throughout the summer and autumn, with the approach of winter the bears prepare a den for themselves in some cave, or in the hollows of trees, or in the thicket of the forest.

Before lying down in the den, the bear confuses its tracks like a hare, meanders through the brown, mossy swamps, through the water, jumps sideways from the track through fallen trees, in a word, it goes back and forth more than once. Only then will he lie down, reassured that the trail is well entangled.

If the summer was poor in food, then some, especially thin, bears do not lie in the den at all; they wander around hungry all winter. These connecting rods, as they are called, are “suicide bombers”; they will die before spring. Connecting rods are dangerous to humans, cattle and any animal - even to a bear sleeping in a den. There was a case: a small connecting rod bear dug up the den of a bear that was healthier than him, bitten and ate the sleepy Toptygin. Some bears, in places where it is not very cold, lie down for the winter right among young spruce trees, just bending their tops above them - it turns out something like a hut, and they sleep in it. But where the winter is freezing, they dig a hole for a den somewhere close to the water, in a swamp, under a root fallen tree. Others cover the pit with brushwood, branches, and moss. Such a den is said to have a “sky,” that is, a roof. A den’s “brow” is a hole in a den—an outlet.

They say about a bear that it sucks its paw in winter. Maybe some people suck because they think that the soles of their soles shed and itch. But, says A. Cherkasov, he has never heard of bears being caught in dens with sucked paws: they are all dry, dirty since the fall, covered in dust and with dried mud.

The further east the bears live, the larger they are. In the Old World, the largest bears are Kamchatka bears. In Alaska and some islands close to it, even larger specimens are found. This is the brown bear Kadlyak - the heavyweight champion among all predators on Earth (weighing up to 751 kg). When this animal stands, leaning on all four legs, its height at the withers is up to 130 cm (for a European bear, on average, 1 m).

The she-bear retires to her den already in early November, while bears roam as early as December, despite the snow and frost. And some old animals lead a wandering life all winter. Even bears that retire to a den do not always fall into continuous hibernation, only those that are heavily overfed and fat sleep motionless, while the rest lie very sensitively and stick their heads out of the den, or “greet” - as the hunters say - at every approach of a person; and she-bears sometimes directly rush at the violator of their peace. Feeling the smell of spring, they get out of the den and into the light.

Having become hungry during the winter, it goes out to get food. But first he takes a laxative - in the form of cranberries and moss, of which he eats enormous quantities. Having cleared his stomach, he hurries to strengthen his body, weakened by hibernation. During this rather hungry time, it can attack livestock.

This is the largest not only from the bear family, but among all terrestrial predators: in males, the body length is up to 280 cm, the height at the withers is up to 150 cm, the weight can reach 800 kg (in zoos, very obese animals can reach up to a ton); females are smaller and lighter than males. The body is elongated, narrow in the front, while the back is very massive; The neck is long and mobile. The feet are wide, especially on the front paws, the calluses are almost invisible under thick hair. The head is relatively small, with a straightened profile and a narrow forehead, rather high-set eyes. The ears are short, rounded, and protrude slightly from the hairline. The fur is very thick and dense, coarse, not very long on the back and sides - even on the withers there is no elongated hair. But on the belly and back of the paws the hair is very long (in winter the hair is up to 25 cm), which is extremely necessary when you have to rest while lying on the snow. The hair on the feet is also lengthened, surrounding them along the entire perimeter with a kind of thick halo: this increases the supporting surface, which is necessary both when moving on snow and when swimming. The coloring throughout the body is white: this is primarily characteristic of animals living in ice and serves as a means of camouflage. Only after a long stay on land do animals acquire a dirty grayish-brown color. Thus, the brownish-gray-yellow multi-colored color in which the fur of polar bears in zoos is decorated is elementary urban dirt, completely unusual for wild animals.

Many features of the morphology and physiology of this species are associated with living in constant cold conditions, the need for a long stay in water, and feeding on seals. Its fur provides excellent protection from very cold air, but does not have water-repellent properties: it is amazing that, unlike seals or sea otters, the polar bear's coat allows icy water to penetrate to the skin. But it has a thick - 3-4 centimeters - layer of fat under its skin all year round: it not only protects the animal from the cold, but also reduces the specific gravity of its body, making it easier to float on the water. The skin itself (the inner layer) is dark in color, which allows it to capture more sunlight on clear days. The nature of metabolism is such that even a temperature of -50°C does not seem very cold to this animal, but already at a temperature of +15°C the animal begins to overheat and tends to go into the shade. The structure of the digestive tract is also specific: the intestines are shorter than those of other bears, but the stomach is very capacious, which allows the predator to immediately eat a whole seal after a long hungry journey across lifeless ice. Eating very fatty foods, necessary to maintain normal life in the cold, is unusually associated high content vitamin A in the liver of this animal.

Without much exaggeration, the polar bear can be considered a sea animal. Its range mostly extends in the floating ice of the Northern Arctic Ocean, capturing its islands and mainland coast. This unique circumpolar region does not have a northern border, but is outlined in the south by the northern coast of the continent and the southern edge of the distribution of floating ice. In the ocean spaces, the existence of a predator is closely connected with places where seals are concentrated - breaks, cracks, edges of floating ice and coastal fast ice. In particular, there are many polar bears in the area of ​​the so-called “Great Siberian Polynya” - an extensive network of breeding grounds, the open water of which attracts many inhabitants of high latitudes. Most often, this polar inhabitant can be found on 1-2-year-old ice up to 2 meters thick, replete with ridges of hummocks and snow drifts. On older ice, the surface of which has been leveled by repeated summer melting, there are fewer polar bears due to the lack of shelter and water table. It also avoids young, still fragile ice 5-10 centimeters thick, which does not support this heavy predator. The bear rarely appears on land, mainly during migrations. However, polar bears most often make winter dens on land, but not on the mainland, but on the Arctic islands.

The habitats of the polar bear are called “ arctic desert” - partly because there are fewer animals and birds there than, for example, in the middle zone, and partly because of their low suitability for humans. Therefore, this predator spends most of its time outside active areas. economic activity of people. In the recent past, when uncontrolled hunting for the white giant flourished, he avoided human settlements. Now, having protective status, the animal does not feel uncomfortable around them. In some places, polar bears, like their brown relatives in national parks, even form a kind of “semi-domesticated” populations, for which landfills and garbage dumps serve as food sources. Migrating animals also behave quite freely in the villages; when the opportunity arises, they even strive to invade homes for the sake of something edible.

Most of a polar bear's life is spent wandering and does not involve attachment to any specific small territory. These nomadic predators do not have specific individual areas - they own the entire Arctic. During autumn and spring migrations, animals are able to travel 40-80 kilometers in a day. In conditions of little moving sea ice, the range of their migrations is about 750 kilometers, but some animals are able to move 1000 kilometers from their main habitat. Migrations are associated mainly with seasonal changes in the ice regime and are caused by the need to search for open water, limited mainly to marine spaces and the coastline. Polar bears go deep into the mainland only through valleys, there are enough of them large rivers, like Khatanga on Taimyr or Anadyr on Chukotka, and even then no more than 200-300 kilometers from the sea coast.

Mass movements of polar bears from the deep regions of the Arctic occur mainly in south direction. They begin everywhere in the fall, when the ice fields begin to close and the ice holes begin to close. The wanderings of polar bears do not occur chaotically, but according to certain routes. “Bear roads” are especially noticeable off the coasts of Arctic islands and continental capes protruding far into the sea. Thus, polar bears constantly travel along the “ice bridge” between Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. The spring melting of ice and the release of wormwood encourages bears to return to their original places.

Where sea ​​ice mobile, bears drift with them, performing “passive migrations.” Animals floating on large ice floes can be carried far beyond the Arctic by sea currents - to the shores of Newfoundland, Iceland, Kamchatka and even further south. It is noteworthy that such “navigators”, carried away by ice to South coast Chukotkas return to their native places not by sea, but by land, crossing directly the tundra and high rocky mountains.

A wandering lifestyle frees the polar bear from the need to make permanent shelters. Many animals do without shelter at all, resting right on the snow or on the top of a cliff - where fatigue overtakes them. Unless from a particularly severe blizzard they hide among hummocks, coastal rocks, or buried in deep snow. The problem of establishing long-term shelters faces mainly females preparing for motherhood: like other species of bears, they need warm (by Arctic standards) wintering dens to give birth to offspring.

“Maternity” dens are most often located on large islands - Greenland, Wrangel, Spitsbergen and others, usually no more than a few kilometers from the coastline, but we also had to come across them in the mountains 25-27 kilometers from the sea. It is interesting that these animals, not numerous and generally unsociable, like all large predators, in some places set up something similar to “maternity hospitals”, digging dens not far from each other. So, on o. Wrangel every year 180-200 female bears gather for the winter; Moreover, on one of the mountain ranges in the northwestern part of this island, with an area of ​​only 25 km2, there are 40-60 dens in different years, sometimes located at a distance of 10-20 meters from one another.

The bear digs a permanent den in a multi-meter snow blow that has accumulated on the slope of a hill or hill. This is most often a simple chamber with a diameter of 1-2 meters, which communicates with the surface with a stroke of the same length. There are also more complex designs with several chambers. The thickness of the roof above the nesting chamber is usually half a meter to a meter, but sometimes it is only 5-10 centimeters. Such an obviously unsuccessful structure sometimes collapses and the female is forced to look for or dig a new shelter. As in the Eskimo ice dwelling “igloo,” the main chamber of the den is located above the hole, which helps preserve the heat generated by the animal itself: the chamber is usually 20° warmer than on the surface of the snow. A female bear digs a den for two or three days. After it finally lies down, the rest of the work is completed by snowstorms, which completely clog the entrance hole with a snow plug, only occasionally a small ventilation hole remains. The temporary dens of males are simpler; sometimes the animal simply buries itself in the snow. The winter decrease in activity in polar bears has its own specifics. In this species, an indispensable winter sleep is characteristic only of females who are ready to give birth to cubs: they lie in dens for 5 months, going to bed in November and emerging in March-April. Males and barren females in a significant part of the range, especially in its southern regions, can be active all year round. Only in places where climatic conditions in winter are more than harsh even for such hardy animals and obtaining food is difficult, many males also escape to dens. They disappear in December for a month or two, but as soon as the period of bad weather ends, they leave their shelters and continue their wanderings. In rare cases, animals lie down in dens and summer time. This interesting feature is characteristic, for example, of bears on the coast of Hudson Bay: some of them survive short periods of foodlessness in holes dug in sandy cliffs or on coastal spits.

Compared to a brown bear, a white bear seems less intelligent and not as dexterous. He is less amenable to training and is somewhat “straightforward” in his actions. All this is obviously due to its living in more homogeneous environmental conditions and greater food specialization, which does not require a variety of skills and the ability to quickly respond to unexpected situations. difficult situations. However, in his ability to assess the quality of ice and adapt hunting tactics to the specific terrain, he has no equal among the inhabitants of the Arctic deserts.

The animal runs very rarely; when pursued, it can gallop for a short time at a speed of 20-30 km/h, but soon gets tired and switches to a lounging trot, slowing down to 8-12 km/h. An adult heavy animal is generally not able to run more than 10 kilometers. If the chase drags on, he sits down and, barking loudly, tries to scare and put his pursuer to flight. In general, the predator does not feel too confident on land and, when pursued, tends to go onto the ice or into the water. Among the hummocks, this seemingly heavy animal is amazingly dexterous and agile: it easily overcomes ice ridges up to 2 meters high, avoiding not only humans, but also dogs. Clinging with its claws, it climbs steep, almost vertical ice walls, boldly jumps from blocks 3-4 meters high into water or onto ice, and without a splash jumps out of the water onto a flat, low ice floe.

These inhabitants arctic seas They swim well and willingly - however, mainly in summer; in winter, only particularly well-fed individuals go into the water. The bear rows with its front paws, and mainly steers with its hind paws. It stays underwater for up to 2 minutes, with its eyes open and nostrils closed. In the open sea, adult animals are sometimes found 50 and even 100 kilometers from the nearest landmass. Already 5-6 month old cubs go into the water and swim well.

The strength of this beast is truly amazing. He is capable of pulling a walrus carcass weighing more than half a ton onto the ice and lifting it up the slope. A bearded seal, which weighs not much less than the bear itself, can be killed by a predator by crushing the victim’s skull with a single crushing blow of its paw, and, if necessary, carrying its carcass in its teeth over a distance of up to a kilometer.

The polar bear's senses of smell and hearing are most developed. When hunting or surveying the situation, he walks against the wind, often stopping and sniffing. The smell of a dead seal carcass, even if it is dusted with snow, can be smelled hundreds of meters away. He can hear the creaking steps of a person trying to approach the animal in the snow from the leeward side two hundred meters away, and the noise of the engine of an all-terrain vehicle or airplane several kilometers away. Vision is also very sharp: the polar predator can discern the dark dot of a seal lying on a snow-white ice floe at a distance of several kilometers.

The ability of polar bears to navigate the endless expanses of seemingly homogeneous ice plains is surprising and admiring. Being on land or ice, the animal is able to accurately determine the location of areas of open water, sometimes tens of kilometers away, and confidently walk towards them. During seasonal migrations, covering hundreds of kilometers in a chosen direction, these wanderers deviate from the course by some 20-30°. Even when traveling with drifting ice, animals make their way back in a straight line, and do not follow the whims of floating ice blocks.

Polar bears lead a solitary lifestyle. Only sometimes they are found in several individuals near abundant prey - for example, near a washed-up whale carcass - or on mass migration routes, and the females live side by side in places of “maternity hospitals”. In general, these animals, which do not need to protect their areas from anyone, are not aggressive. For this reason, and also because they are not fearful, when they first meet a person, the bear reacts to him in general quite peacefully, without fear or aggression, and sometimes simply with indifference. If a person tries to approach it, the huge predator prefers to move away: the real threat can mainly be a female with cubs or a wounded animal. True, cases of attacks on people are still noted, and several times it was necessary to shoot man-eating bears. It is curious that this predator usually hides a person lying on ice or snow - perhaps the bear is driven by the instinct of a seal hunter, for whom the recumbent position is most common.

IN last years Due to the introduction of measures to protect the polar bear and the growth of the population in the Arctic, meetings of people with this unique animal have become more frequent and sometimes begin to cause obvious inconvenience. As in the case of the brown bear, in a number of places the animals gather in the vicinity of populated areas, where they feed on garbage, and when there is a shortage of it, they break into warehouses. Once, in one of the fishing points in Chukotka, when people were working there, an adult male settled in an empty barn and lived in it until the end of the fishing season. On the coast of Hudson Bay, where a large number of migrating bears accumulate in the fall, they are so impudent that, for example, in the village of Churchill, they walk the streets in broad daylight and sometimes cause traffic jams.

The polar bear, unlike its omnivorous relatives, is a predator that actively hunts large animals. Its main food is Arctic seals, primarily the smallest of them, the ringed seal, less commonly the bearded seal, and even more rarely the hooded seal and the harp seal. As an exception, the animal hunts larger prey - walruses, beluga whales and narwhals, attacking, however, only young individuals, so adult giants are completely indifferent to this predator. During winter wanderings on land, a bear, having stumbled upon a herd of reindeer, may, if he is very lucky, drive some deer into the water and crush her there. Among polar bears, cases of cannibalism are not uncommon, to which they are encouraged by the harsh conditions of existence: especially often, cubs fall into the mouths of adult males. At the end of summer and autumn, bears explore the coasts in search of the corpses of sea animals thrown up by the sea: sometimes 3-5 feasting predators gather at once near the carcass of a whale. They rarely catch fish themselves, but they willingly pick up fish washed up on the ice by the waves. However, in those days when polar bears were common in Labrador, during the salmon run they gathered near spawning rivers and, like brown bears, were actively engaged in fishing.

On land, bears sometimes feed on birds and their eggs, and on occasion they grab lemmings. Given the lack of usual animal food on the mainland and islands, they do not disdain plant foods: in the tundra they eat cloudberries, in the tidal zone - algae such as kelp (“ seaweed"), fucus. In Svalbard, bears were observed even diving underwater in search of these algae. Females have a special passion for green vitamin food immediately after leaving the den: they dig up snow and eat willow shoots found underneath it, sometimes moss and sedge leaves. Near housing, these predators willingly “graze” on landfills, where they devour everything that seems edible to them. This sometimes leads to the death of animals, because among the things swallowed there may be, for example, a tarpaulin soaked in machine oil.

Arctic foxes, white gulls and glaucous gulls feed on the remains of a polar bear's meal. Some of them gather at the feast site only after the bear has already left. Other “freeloaders” accompany the predator on its migrations among the ice, especially often in winter. With each bear you can sometimes see 2-3 arctic foxes and 4-6 large gulls.

The hunting tactics of this predator are quite flexible and are determined by the season of the year, weather conditions, ice conditions, and the number of potential prey. In essence, it is based on the use of several basic techniques: the predator hides the prey on the ice, lies in wait near the water, or approaches it through the water. In any case, the success of the hunt depends on whether or not the animal has time to grab the prey on the ice floe, because in the water a bear cannot be compared with a seal either in speed or maneuverability of movements.

Stealth is used most often: the bear looks for prey from afar and approaches it behind hummocks or snow blows. Once on smooth ice, he spreads out on his belly and crawls, pushing off with his hind legs and freezing every time a seal lying on the edge of an ice floe or hole wakes up and raises its head to look around. Having approached the prey to 4-5 meters, the bear jumps up and, in a swift rush, tries to reach the seal in one or two leaps. If it does not have time to slide into the water, the predator kills or stuns the victim with a blow to the head with its front paw and immediately drags it away from the water. The entire sneaking episode can take from 2 to 5 hours, depending on how long and winding the hunter’s path was among the shelters. Sometimes the direction of the attack changes to the opposite: the predator carefully swims through the water to a seal lying on the edge of the ice floe, diving so that only top part muzzle, and, in one leap, jumping onto the ice floe, tries to cut off the victim’s path to retreat.

Quite often, a bear watches for a seal at the exit from the water, lying motionless for hours at the edge of a hole or an opening in an ice floe. If the hole is small, the animal widens it with its claws and teeth before starting the ambush. As soon as the seal's head appears, the bear's paw falls on it with lightning speed, and then the predator literally pulls the motionless carcass out of the water onto the ice, sometimes breaking its ribs on the icy edges of a narrow hole.

During the breeding season, ringed seals make shallow shelters in the snow - “huts”, where the cubs hide. The bear knows how to find them by smell and, collapsing the snow arch with its paws or with its entire weight, tries to get to the victim littered with lumps of snow as quickly as possible. If a predator encounters a nest of breeding harp seals, it can cause great devastation among the pups lying openly on the ice floes and completely helpless, continuing to kill them even after it has had its fill. According to eyewitnesses, the bear plays with the baby seals like a cat with a mouse.

The polar bear is simply afraid of adult walruses, even single ones, in water and does not touch them. And on land, the predator tries to avoid these giants. Nevertheless, he sometimes approaches their rookeries in the hope of profiting from carrion, since the screening of walruses in the first days and weeks of their life is quite large. Sometimes the bear himself “puts his paw” into this, disturbing the rookery with his appearance and prompting heavy carcasses to move from place to place, crushing one or two multi-pound teenagers.

On the sea coast, bears sometimes visit bird colonies, picking up fallen inhabitants at their base or trying to get close to eggs. They are also interested in geese colonies, hunting molting birds on them. Some “specialists” manage to hunt in the water seabirds resting on the surface - eiders, guillemots, gulls, by swimming up to them under water and grabbing them from below.

The food supply for polar bears depends on the season. In spring and summer, predators living in the ice do not lack food. The hungriest time for bears is winter: seals stay under thin ice edges of large ice fields, and sealed seals completely migrate to areas of open water. It is this circumstance that encourages the bears remaining awake to undertake long journeys: sometimes from one hunted seal to another, the animal is forced to travel hundreds of kilometers, remaining without food for a week or a week and a half.

At one time, an adult bear eats up to 20 kilograms of food. Most often, the predator confines itself to the most high-calorie part of the seal carcass - the subcutaneous layer of fat, which it eats along with the skin, pulling it off with a “stocking” from the killed victim. Only a very hungry animal eats meat, leaving large bones untouched.

The mating season of polar bears begins in early Arctic spring and lasts until June. At this time, you can come across double and triple chains of tracks: this is a female and the males who found her take walks together. After a showdown between the males, which is accompanied by roaring and fights, the female remains with the winner for another month, and then the couple breaks up, the animals begin to prepare for the long winter night. Pregnant females go to the islands in search of suitable places for dens, where in November-January each bear gives birth to 1-2 cubs. They are born helpless, covered with short, sparse hair, weighing 600-800 grams. Eyes and ears open towards the end of the first month of life, and the cubs begin to crawl over their curled-up mother. By the end of the second month, their baby teeth erupt and fluffy fur grows. 3 months after the birth of the cubs, the family leaves the winter shelter.

For the first few days after leaving the den, the female and her cubs stay close to it, hiding in a shelter at the first danger. Then they take short walks in the vicinity of the “maternity hospital”, and the female almost never leaves the cubs. On clear days, bear cubs happily slide down steep snow-covered slopes sparkling in the sun, leaving characteristic “paths” on the surface. A few more days later, the mother bear and her cubs set off for the coastal sea ice. During the hunt, she leaves the cubs in a safe place - away from adult males, who pose a serious danger to the cubs. The young begin to feed on the fat of seals caught by their mother at 3-4 months. Feeding with very fatty milk, like that of seals and whales, usually lasts 6-8 months, by the end of this period the cubs already weigh 50-60 kilograms. If there are not enough seals and the hunt for them is not very successful, lactation lasts longer: the female, lying in a den with second-year cubs who have not managed to gain the required amount of subcutaneous fat by winter, feeds them with milk until next spring.

All next summer, while the family is gathered, the mother bear teaches the cubs how to catch seals during joint hunts. A two-year-old bear cub is still too clumsy to steal a cautious seal lying near the hole, and its mass is simply not enough to fall through the roof of the seal’s “hut” and profit from the white. Therefore, the young begin to successfully hunt for prey themselves only at the age of three. The family breaks up in the fall, when the young animals become equal in size to the female, although there are cases of bear cubs staying together with the female bear in the same den for the second winter. Animals mature at the age of 3-4 years, life expectancy is up to 30 years, in captivity - up to 40 years.

The polar bear's ancient neighbors in the Arctic - the Chukchi, Eskimos, Nenets - have always treated him with respect. They have extensive folklore associated with this beast, praising its strength, dexterity, and endurance. Over the course of hundreds of years, specially protected cult altars - sedyanga - were formed from the skulls of hunted bears. They tried to appease the “spirit” of the killed animal by organizing a holiday in honor of a successful hunt; they brought the skin with the skull left in it into the home, offering it food, drink, and a pipe. Among the Russian Pomors, this animal, which they hunted with great difficulty and risk, also evoked respect. It is noteworthy that they themselves called themselves “ushkuiniki,” i.e. “bugbears”: the Pomors called the polar bear “ushuyem”.

The polar bear has always been of great practical importance to local residents. Meat and fat were used as food and to feed sled dogs, shoes and clothes were made from skins, bile was used as medicine. It is possible that the northern peoples borrowed their masterly ability to hunt seals and the art of building an “igloo” that retains heat in severe frosts from this polar predator. Intense widespread hunting of polar bears began in the 17th-18th centuries, when hunters, whalers, fur traders, and later polar expeditions rushed to the north. Although their goals were different, they all viewed polar bears in exactly the same way - only from a “gastronomic” point of view, as a source of fresh meat. Another purpose of the trade was skins used for making carpets. In arctic fox hunting areas, this predator, “inspecting” hunters’ traps and warehouses during winter hungry migrations, was shot as a supposed “dangerous pest.” The animals were beaten without counting and without pity, sometimes up to 1.5-2 thousand a year, even females with cubs in “maternity hospitals”. The result was not slow to show itself: already by end of the 19th century centuries, there were clear signs of a decline in the number of polar bears. However, even in the 30s of our century, when it became clear that the reproduction of bears could no longer compensate for losses from predatory hunting, the volume of the annual harvest fell only slightly.

The turning point occurred in the 50s, when polar bear hunting was banned in most countries. Only the indigenous inhabitants of the North were allowed to hunt a certain number of predators, and shooting for self-defense was also allowed (which is sometimes the justification for poachers). The annual capture of a small number of bear cubs for zoos and circuses is also permitted. To protect the “maternity hospitals” of polar bears, sanctuaries and reserves have been organized - in the northeast of Greenland, off the southern shores of Hudson Bay, on our island. Wrangel. If we consider that this animal successfully breeds in zoos, we can assume that the threat of direct destruction of the species has now been averted.

However, the ban on polar bear hunting remains; populations from the European and Beringian (Chukotka, Alaska and adjacent islands) sectors of the Arctic are included in the Red Book of Russia.

Pavlinov I.Ya. (ed.) 1999. Mammals. Big encyclopedic Dictionary. M.: Astrel.

THESE AMAZING BEARS

The youngest

The youngest of the modern species of the bear family is the polar bear, or oshkuy, which evolved from the coastal Siberian brown bear 100 - 250 thousand years ago. Today it is the largest predator among terrestrial mammals.

Bears' claws do not retract

The soles are convex, the surface is rough, adapted for movement on slippery ice. The paws of polar bears are much larger in relation to the body than those of other bears. When walking, bears step on the foot completely, like a human, and not like canines - with their claws

Flat feet

All bears are flat-footed: the sole and heel of the foot touch the ground equally. On each paw they have five long curved claws, with which the bear is equally good at digging the ground (or ice) and coping with prey. The polar bear has long fur growing between its toes, which makes it easier for the animal to move on the ice and warms its paws. The very wide front paws serve as skis when moving on land and help when swimming. Polar bears are kept on the water by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and two rows of hair, greased and waterproof.

Up to 40% of a polar bear's mass

makes up subcutaneous fat, which reliably protects the animal from hypothermia.

Bears' vision and hearing

Not well researched, available evidence suggests they can be compared to canine vision and hearing

Orientation and smell

Polar bears have a well-developed sense of orientation and a keen sense of smell: a polar bear can smell a dead seal from a distance of 200 miles. It senses prey even under the ice: it detects a live seal from a distance of 1 m, even if it is under the ice in the water, and a polar bear on land.

Bears are very smart

They are very smart when it comes to getting food. All polar bears Ursus (Thalarctos) maritimus are left-handed.

Can withstand temperatures down to -80C

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and seals can withstand temperatures down to -80°C; ducks and geese are less afraid of the cold, withstanding temperatures down to -110°C. Polar bear hair has the properties of fiber optics: colorless hairs conduct sunlight to the skin, which absorbs it. In the summer, the bear receives up to a quarter of the energy it needs in the form of solar heat.

The polar bear's ears are smaller than those of its relatives

This helps him retain body heat.

Polar bear fur

...corresponds to the name of the mammal, but in summer it sometimes turns straw-yellow, oxidizing in the sun. The individual outer hairs, called guard hairs, are transparent and hollow. Absorbing ultraviolet light, they conduct it into the black skin of the bear, like the nose and lips. Wool retains heat so well that it cannot be detected by infrared photography, only ultraviolet. When air temperatures are below zero, a bear can swim up to 80 km in icy Arctic water without resting.

In the tropics, polar bears turn green

The white-yellow fur of polar bears living in the Singapore Zoo has turned green due to the fact that algae has begun to actively bloom on the fur. This is a consequence of hot and humid climate Singapore. The bear was able to be cleaned with hydrogen peroxide, but her son still continues to turn green and moldy: he has bright light green marks between his ears, on his back, and also on his paws. The last time a similar case of “greening” of polar bears was observed at the San Diego Zoo was in 1979. Three bears were cleaned using a saline solution.

Fur indicates an allergy

An unusual allergic reaction was discovered in a polar bear that lives in an Argentine zoo. After a doctor gave the bear an experimental drug for dermatitis, the bear changed color. It used to be white, but now it is purple. The bear itself did not react in any way to what happened. Veterinarians say the bear will turn white again in about a month.

42 teeth

Bears have 42 teeth

Hobo Bear

The polar bear is distributed throughout the Arctic. In Yakutia - in the basins of the Laptev and East Siberian seas. But it’s not for nothing that they call him a tramp. In search of food, it makes long migrations, sometimes reaching Iceland and southern Greenland on drifting ice floes. From there, along the western shores of Greenland, it goes under its own power to the islands of the Canadian Arctic.

Polar bear migration

The nature of seasonal migrations of polar bears is also closely related to changes in ice conditions. As the ice melts and collapses, polar bears move north, to the border of the Arctic basin. With the beginning of stable ice formation, bears begin their reverse migration to the south.

Bear swimmers

A polar bear is capable of chasing a deer for half a kilometer, but it swims much better than runs on land. At one time, a bear can swim over 80 miles. Polar bears are also good divers - it is common for them to dive under floating ice floes. The polar bear swims at speeds of up to 6.5 km per hour and can remain underwater for up to 5 minutes. This allows it to move long distances from the coast; there are known cases of meeting the animal 100 km from the ice edge.

Hunts near the Great Siberian Polynya

Most often, our polar bear hunts near the Great Siberian Polynya. This is a water surface that is open all year round in the area of ​​the Laptev Sea adjacent to the Lena delta. It attracts all arctic animals and birds, especially in winter. The main diet of a bear is sea ​​hares and seals, if you're lucky - seals. The polar predator can endure long hunger strikes, but on occasion it immediately eats up to 20 or more kilograms of meat and fat.

They live to eat

In order to maintain the necessary fat reserves, a polar bear must eat a lot of food. At one time he eats at least 45 kg of seal meat. Half of the calories go towards maintaining body heat. Polar bears feed on seals, reindeer, walruses, and white whales. They supplement their diet with berries, mushrooms, lichens and rare tundra vegetation. In general, bears are omnivores, like foxes, badgers and mongooses. The polar bear prefers to stay among floating ice or on fast ice at its edge, near polynyas and clearings. Here, seals are the most numerous all year round, which serve as the main food of this predator (in a year the bear catches and eats up to 40 - 50 seals).

But polar bears do not drink water - they get the necessary moisture from their prey.

What do bears do?

During the daytime, polar bears roam in search of prey. The she-bear is always with the babies, and the older cubs play, simulating a fight.

Not particularly lucky hunters

Although polar bears hunt almost all of their time. Their hunt is successful only in 2% of all cases.

Aggressive polar bear

Aggression peaks during the breeding season, when males fight over females. Female bears, although half the size of males, attack them when protecting their offspring. More often it happens that fights are avoided, and the fight is limited only by the demonstration of aggressive poses. One of these poses can be observed when the bear rises on its hind legs and opens its mouth wide, exposing its fangs. The fight continues until the first blood is drawn, after which, as a rule, it stops.

Polar bear vs whale

On rare occasions, beluga whales get caught in traps and become trapped by drifting ice. They are forced to swim to the holes that the seals create for themselves in order to breathe air. In these cases, polar bears have a chance to attack whales exhausted from fighting the ice. When the whale swims up to the hole, the bear attacks it, tears it with its claws and teeth - and wins.

Why do bears have to be big?

The larger the bear, the more more possibilities bring healthy offspring. For a male, weight also means a lot; a giant has a better chance of finding a mate. It is known that bears are 1.2 - 2.2 times heavier than female bears.

Lone bears

Unlike other species, polar bears live alone.

Families and singles in the world of bears

Bears are family animals; a family group consists of a mother bear and her cubs, between whom the warmest relationships have been maintained for a long time. The cubs are born very small, weighing no more than a kilogram, they remain blind for 40 days, and the mother bear feeds them many times a day. She holds them close to her, warming them with her warmth. With the exception of the breeding season, males stay solitary and wander over vast areas in search of food. The mating season is short - from May to June. At this time, males fight fiercely over females. Pairs are fragile; the male and female can mate with several partners.

Short family life

Females breed once every three years, mating occurs in March-May. The pair stays together for only a few days, and during this time the partners continue to mate frequently. Like other carnivorous Carnivora, the male has an ossified penis structure, the "baculum". through which the female is stimulated to ovulate. Mating can last 10 - 30 minutes, and during this time the partners cannot move away from each other. The fertilized egg appears by September. Females first bear offspring between 4 and 8 years of age and maintain reproductive capacity until age 21, with a peak between 10 and 19 years. There are usually 2 cubs in a litter, less often - 1, occasionally - 3.

Polar bears have delayed conception

Pregnancy lasts 190 - 260 days, this interval is explained by the possibility of “delayed conception,” that is, the embryo begins to develop in the mother’s body not from the moment of her fertilization. Sperm is stored in her body until the onset favorable conditions for breeding offspring.

Only females hibernate

Unlike other bears that live in cold climates, polar bears do not usually hibernate for long periods of time. They rarely overwinter, with the exception of pregnant females, who overwinter every 2-5 years. A she-bear makes a den in the snow. Typically this is a long tunnel leading to the chamber oval shape. In some cases, bears have additional tunnels and chambers.

Duration of hibernation

Black, brown and polar bears hibernate and spend 3-5 winter months without food. In northern Alaska, bears spend the winter for 7 months. At this time, their metabolic process is slowed down, waste products are not excreted from the body. If you compare hibernating bears with hibernating rodents, you get a similar picture. The body temperature of bears is higher than that of rodents. but the heart beats at a speed of 10 times per minute (at normal times 45). In warm weather winter months Wintering bears leave the den for a while, then return to sleep.

Polar bear cubs

... at birth weigh less than 700 grams. Polar bear cubs weigh only a tenth of the normal cub weight of other mammals of the same mass. The reason for this is the prolonged fasting of the mother, who does not feed during pregnancy. As a result, the fetus receives nutrients from the mother's body, rather than from the food she absorbs. To compensate for the lack of nutrients, especially fatty bear milk is used, which in polar bears exceeds in calorie content all other relatives in the family. Typically, a female gives birth to two cubs, but there have been cases of five cubs in one litter, but none of them survived. The cub stays in the den until it gains a weight of 8-9 kg. The cubs stay with their mother for two and a half years. Physical maturity occurs at the age of 5-6 years for females and 10-11 years for males, sexual maturity - at the age of 5 years.

Not afraid of man

The polar bear is the only large land mammal that is not afraid of humans. He continues to pursue the hunters even after being severely wounded, struck in vital organs. Polar bears often do not pay attention to people - but this is only if they are not hungry and do not hope to profit from prey.

Lifespan of bears

Mortality among adult bears is estimated at 8-16%, among immature bears 3-16%, and among cubs 10-30%. Maximum lifespan is 25-30 years, rarely more. There is evidence of a polar bear reaching the age of 37 years.

Polar bear metabolic rate

The metabolic rate of a polar bear is obviously higher than that of a brown bear. White has also been found to have extraordinary resistance to low temperatures, not only due to its perfect thermoregulation, but also due to its low “critical temperature”. Even at - 50 °C, he does not experience a noticeable increase in the level of gas exchange, i.e., there is still no need to use the physiological mechanism of thermoregulation (“chemical”), associated with high energy consumption

Polar bear breathing rate
The polar bear's breathing rate increases noticeably as the air temperature rises; at - 10...- 20 °C it is 5.3, and at 20...25 °C - 30 per minute.

Body temperature of an adult polar bear
The body temperature of an adult polar bear, measured rectally, is 36.8-38.8 °C (lower than that of a brown bear); no daily temperature changes were noted. The surface temperature of the skin, measured in calm weather, reaches 30-36 °C, and in the wind drops to 27 °C. The difference between temperatures under the skin and on its surface increases to 10-14 ° C when the animal is in water. The internal body temperature of bear cubs aged from 2 to 8 months, measured using radio pills, varied from 37.4 °C in dormant animals to 40 and 40.5 °C when animals moved uphill, and in swimming animals it was about 38.5 °C WITH.

Heart rate of an adult polar bear
The heart rate of an adult bear at rest is 50-80 per minute, and in an active state it can reach 130 per minute; during sleep it decreases to 50 and during artificially induced hibernation - to 27 per minute (in American brown bears). and black bears in the latter case was reduced to eight)

Polar bear milk

Bear milk is very thick, fatty, with the smell of fish oil, contains 44.1% dry matter (including 1.17% ash, 31% fat, 0.49% lactose and 10.2% protein). By chemical composition it approaches the milk of cetaceans and pinnipeds. Milk fat contains 13.9% bituric acid, 22.6% palmetic acid and 33.4% oleic acid.

The hemoglobin content in the blood of polar bear cubs ranges from 66 to 84%, erythrocytes - from 3.5 to 4.9 million, and leukocytes - from 5800 to 8300 per 1 mm3. Of the total number of leukocytes, 5% are neutrophils, 1.2 are eosinophils, 4 are basophils, 2-3 are monocytes, 34-40% are lymphocytes. In adult female bears, the leukocyte formula is different: band neutrophils - 10 and segmented - 17%, eosinophils - 1, besophils - 2, monocytes - 4 and lymphocytes - 60%
In terms of general serological characteristics, the polar bear is very close to the brown bear.

Evolution, systematics and variability of the polar bear

According to modern ideas, the family tree of the bear family - Ursidae - begins in the Middle Miocene from large representatives of the genus Ursavus, known from finds in Europe. In the Pliocene, 14 genera, or groups, of bears emerged in Eurasia and North America. In the Pleistocene, obviously, there were representatives of all modern genera of bears, including the genus Thalassarctos Gray, and a number of others that are now extinct.
The scarcity of paleontological materials is the reason for the divergence of opinions among researchers about the antiquity of the divergence of the polar bear from the trunk of brown bears themselves (no one doubts the latter). Most authors attribute the time of isolation of the polar bear to the early or middle Pleistocene (1.5 million years ago), or to the transitional era between the Pleistocene and Pliocene, and the species Ursus etruscus Fale is considered the direct ancestor of the brown and polar bears. generalized bear type. However, I.G. Pidoplichko admits its isolation already in the Pliocene (more than 2 million years ago).
In the languages ​​of the local indigenous population of the Arctic regions, the polar bear is called:
sira bogto, uloddade boggo, seruorka,
Yavvy - in Nenets (north of the European part of the USSR and Western Siberia);
Uryungege and Khuryung-ege - in Yakut;
nebaty mamachan - in Evenki;
poinene-hakha - in Yukaghir;
umka and umki - in Chukchi;
Nanuk, Nyonnok and Nanok - in Eskimo (north-eastern Siberia, northern North America, Greenland).
The acquaintance of a person with a polar bear has a history as long as the settlement of coasts and islands by humans. northern seas, in northern Europe it may already go back to the Holocene, and in northern Asia to the Paleolithic. The first written sources containing mention of a polar bear also date back to very distant times. It became known to the Romans, apparently, in the 50s. ad. In Japanese manuscripts, living polar bears and their skins were first mentioned in 650, and the first information about these animals from Northern Europe(Scandinavia) date back to 880 AD. Later, live animals and their skins began to quite often end up in the hands of European rulers.

How bears communicate

Studying polar bears, scientists have found that they prefer to stay alone. This does not apply to a family consisting of a female bear and her offspring; they have a well-developed language for communication. If you hear a dull growl, this means that they are warning their relatives of approaching danger. With the same sound, the bear drives others away from its prey. Begging for food from a more fortunate fellow, the bear approaches slowly, sways, then reaches nose to nose for a greeting ritual. As a rule, a polite request does not go unanswered, and after an exchange of pleasantries, the relative is allowed to eat together. Young bears love to play, it’s boring to play alone, so when inviting you to have fun, they swing their heads from side to side.

Polar Bear Day

In winter, in some countries of the world, February 27 is celebrated as Polar Bear Day. Based on data from the World Fund Wildlife(WWF), there are currently 20-25 thousand polar bears in the world. But due to many factors, by 2050 the population of this species may decrease by two-thirds. The polar bear is the largest representative of the order of predatory mammals on earth. It reaches a length of 3 meters and weighs up to 1000 kg. Typically, males weigh 400-600 kg; body length 200-250 cm, height at the withers up to 160 cm. Females are noticeably smaller (200-300 kg). The smallest bears are found in Spitsbergen, the largest in the Bering Sea.

The polar bear is the largest representative of predatory animals

Just think about the tests Mother Nature sometimes subjects her creatures to. Getting acquainted with the way of life of some animals, you involuntarily ask yourself the question: “How do they survive?” After all, they live where, it would seem, life is impossible, and are subjected to all kinds of hardships. Well, those who turned out to be unable to gain a foothold on the “edge of life” are eliminated by natural selection. Others, the most incapable of life, live and prosper.
One of these winners is the polar bear, an eternal wanderer among the vast polar expanses. He reigns here in splendid isolation; he has no equal. This bear is not at all similar to his brothers living in southern countries, - neither in appearance, nor in habits, nor in living conditions. But there is one sad similarity for which the bear is not to blame. This inhabitant is behind polar ice, like some clubfooted forest inhabitants, due to human fault it has become rare in nature. It is included in the Red Book of the USSR, where it has category III protection, and by the IUCN.
The polar bear is the largest representative of the order of carnivorous mammals, the largest land predator. Its body length reaches 3 m. Can you imagine if it stands on its hind legs? An impressive sight! The weight of large males sometimes reaches 800 kg. The polar bear's physique is quite massive. At the same time, the “outline” of his body in some details is not at all bearish, probably because of his neck, which is long and flexible. The legs are quite high, thick, and powerful. The feet of the front paws are wide, their surface is additionally enlarged by overgrown thick hair. The fur is very thick and long, especially on the belly. The color is white, with a yellowish-golden tint along

Brown bear, short description which we will consider in this article, is a characteristic inhabitant of taiga-type forests. It can be found almost throughout Russia, especially in Siberia and the Far East. It is found in coniferous, deciduous, and even mixed areas different countries, including Central Asia and the Caucasus. So, meet: the owner of the Russian taiga is the brown bear!

Brief description of the species

The brown or common bear is a predatory mammal that belongs to the bear family. Currently, the brown bear is the largest land predator in the world. Its lifespan in nature is estimated at 30 years. In captivity, the predator can live up to 50 years. Linguists believe that the name of this beast is made up of two words - “knowing” and “honey”. And this is understandable: despite being a predator, the bear is a big fan of sweet honey and in general

Nutrition

The diet of clubfoot consists of ¾ plant foods. These are various berries, nuts, acorns, rhizomes and tubers of plants. Sometimes these predators even eat grass. In lean years, brown bears, like foxes, encroach on oat crops at the stage of their milky ripeness and animal food consists of various insects, reptiles, amphibians, small rodents, fish and, of course, large ungulates. For example, it costs nothing for a clubfooted giant to kill an adult large elk with just a blow of his powerful clawed paw!

Brief description of subspecies

The numerical difference between brown bears is so great that these animals were once classified as independent species. Currently, all brown bears are united into one single species, which combines several subspecies or geographical races. So, brown bears include:

• ordinary (Eurasian or European);
• Californian;
• Siberian;
• satin;
• Gobi;
• grizzly or Mexican;
• Tien Shan;
• Ussuri or Japanese;
• Kodiak;
• Tibetan.

Giant heavyweights

As you already understand, the brown bear, which we describe in this article, is the most common species of clubfoot in the whole world. Although it is called brown, it is not always painted exactly this color. In nature you can find black, beige, yellow, and even fiery red bears. But we'll talk about the color of their fur a little later. Now we are interested in their sizes.

The sizes of these animals vary depending on their gender, age and habitat. But males are in any case larger than females and weigh 30% more. Most brown bears have a height at the withers ranging from 75 to 160 centimeters. Body length generally ranges from 1.6 to 2.9 meters.

The weight of a brown bear directly depends on its habitat. One of the largest animals are bears that live on the Scandinavian Peninsula and, of course, on the territory of our country. Their weight is 350 kilograms. Their American relatives, who live in and also inhabit Canada, can sometimes weigh more than 400 kilograms of net weight. Their name is grizzly, or gray-haired.

The brown bear, whose size is considered impressive throughout the world, is also found in Kamchatka and Alaska. There, these predators weigh more than 500 kilograms. Cases of hunting brown bears are described, supposedly reaching a weight of 1 ton! However, for the most part, these furry heavyweights do not exceed 350 kilograms of net weight. The maximum recorded weight, for example, of a Kamchatka bear was 600 kilograms. The animals preserved in Europe are small in size. Their weight does not exceed 90 kilograms.

Appearance

The brown bear, the dimensions of which we discussed above, has a pronounced barrel-shaped and powerful body with high withers (height at the shoulders). This body is supported by massive and high paws with flat, clawed soles. The length of the claws of this shaggy giant ranges from 8 to 12 centimeters. These animals practically do not have a tail, since its length does not exceed 21 centimeters.

The shape of the brown bear's head is round. There are small blind eyes and small ears on it. The muzzle is elongated and the forehead is high. The owner of the Russian taiga is covered with thick and evenly colored fur. Bears, like their size, are of a variable nature. It all depends on the particular habitats of these animals. For example, famous ones may have brown fur with a silver tint. For this, by the way, they were called gray-haired.

Spreading

As mentioned earlier, bears are forest dwellers. Let us repeat that their typical habitats, for example, in Russia, are continuous forested areas with dense growth of grasses, shrubs and deciduous trees. The brown bear, a brief description of which we are considering in this article, is found in both tundra and high-mountain forests. In Europe, it prefers mountain forests, and, for example, in North America it can be found in alpine meadows and coastal forests.

Once upon a time, these animals inhabited the whole of Europe, including Ireland and Great Britain, and in the south globe its habitat reached the African Atlas Mountains. To the east, this species of furry heavyweights was distributed through Siberia and China to Japan. Scientists believe that in North America brown bears came from Asia about 40 thousand years ago. They are confident that these animals were able to independently cross the Bering Isthmus, settling in the west of America from Alaska to Mexico.

Winter dream

As is known, physiological criterion The brown bear population is such that these animals hibernate for the winter. They do this in October-December. They emerge from hibernation in the spring - in March. In general, the winter sleep of these furry heavyweights can last from 2 to 6 months. It all depends on the subspecies of bear and on external factors. It is curious that in the warmest regions of our planet, provided there is an abundant harvest of fruits, berries and nuts, bears do not lie down in a den at all.

Preparation for sleep

Clubfoots begin to prepare for their wintering in mid-summer. It's a brown bear! The description of his preparation for bed is probably known to many people, because there is nothing secret or surprising about it. Six months before the onset of cold weather, they need to find a suitable place for their winter shelter, equip it and, of course, increase their reserves of subcutaneous fat. Most often, bear dens are located under logs and inversions, under the roots of huge and massive trees - cedars or spruces.

Sometimes these predators dig themselves “dugouts” directly in the coastal cliffs of rivers. If during this time the bear has not found a secluded place for its winter shelter, it digs big hole, after which it strengthens its walls with vertically protruding branches. Brown bears use them to block the entrance hole, simultaneously camouflaging themselves and isolating themselves from the outside world for several months. Immediately before going to bed, an animal that has gained a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat carefully confuses its traces of being near the den.

It is worth noting that the most solid and practical bear dwellings are considered to be unpaved dens. If the predator is lucky, it will lie in the ground for the whole winter. Such dens are located deep underground and keep the clubfoot warm. Near the entrance to the soil den you can find various trees and shrubs covered with yellowish frost. Experienced hunters know that the hot breath of a clubfoot gives the frost its color.

Hibernation

In most cases, adult animals while away the cold winter days in their dens alone. Only a female bear can hibernate with last year’s cubs. Scientists who observed the life of these predators (see photo of a brown bear and a description of its lifestyle) noticed that in certain areas of the globe, where there are no particularly suitable places for wintering, bears use the same shelters several times.

In some areas, dens can generally be located in close proximity to each other, resulting in something like a bear “apartment” building. If the choice of “winter apartments” is very difficult, some particularly arrogant bears encroach on other people’s homes. For example, an adult male brown bear can, without any pity, expel a weaker relative from a den he likes.

Brown bears sleep curled up. They tuck their hind legs to their belly, and cover their muzzle with their front legs. By the way, it was this fact that gave rise to many tales and sayings that bears suck their paws in winter. This is not entirely true. Clubfoot animals, of course, can lick their front paws from time to time, while in one phase or another of sleep, but this has absolutely nothing to do with their sucking.

Be careful, connecting rod!

Scientists say that bears do not sleep soundly. During short-term thaws, these predators can awaken and even leave their winter shelters for a while. At this time, the clubfooted ones walk through the winter forest, stretching their bones. As soon as it gets colder again, the furry heavyweights return to their shelter, covering up the traces of their stay outside the den. However, such habits of a brown bear are just flowers!

It also happens that some bears, due to malnutrition in autumn-winter period They cannot gain the necessary weight, find and arrange their home. In this case, they do not lie in the den at all. Not having time to accumulate the reserves of subcutaneous fat necessary for a comfortable winter, the animal simply wanders through the snowy forest, as if restless. People called such poor fellows “connecting rods.” The connecting rod bear is a very dangerous and extremely aggressive animal! At this time, it is better not to mess with him at all, since the beast is very hungry, incredibly angry and attacks almost everything that moves.

Reproduction

Female brown bears give birth 2 to 4 times a year. Their mating season usually falls in May, June and July. At this time, the males behave aggressively: they begin to roar loudly, serious fights arise between them, sometimes ending in the death of one of the bears. Pregnancy in females lasts from 190 to 200 days. At one time they can bring up to 5 cubs with a body weight of up to 600 grams and a length of up to 23 centimeters.

Offspring

The young are born blind, with overgrown ear canals and covered with short, sparse hair. After two weeks, the cubs begin to hear, and after a month - to see. Within 90 days after birth, all of their baby teeth grow in and they begin to eat berries, plants and insects. As a rule, male brown bears do not breed offspring; raising young animals is the prerogative of females. Bear cubs become sexually mature by the age of 3, but continue to grow until they are 10 years old.

Brown bear. Red Book

Unfortunately, this one is listed in the Red Book as an endangered animal. Currently, in many areas and regions of the globe, hunting of brown bears is limited or completely prohibited. Nevertheless, no one has canceled poaching. The bear skin is mainly used for carpets and the meat is used for cooking. Such an important commercial animal is this brown bear! The Red Book, in which this species of large predators was once included, has not currently been reprinted. It is possible that data on the number of bears as of this year will change dramatically for the worse.

The brown or common bear is predatory mammals from the bear family. This is one of the largest and most dangerous species of land predators. There are about twenty subspecies of brown bear, differing appearance and distribution area.

Description and appearance

The appearance of a brown bear is typical of all representatives of the bear family. The body of the animal is well developed and powerful.

Appearance

There is a high withers, as well as a fairly massive head with small ears and eyes. The length of the relatively short tail varies between 6.5-21.0 cm. The paws are quite strong and well developed, with powerful and non-retractable claws. The feet are very wide, five-toed.

Dimensions of a brown bear

The average length of a brown bear living in the European part is usually about one and a half to two meters with a body weight in the range of 135-250 kg. Individuals inhabiting middle lane our country, several smaller in size and can weigh approximately 100-120 kg. The Far Eastern bears and bears are considered the largest, their sizes often reaching three meters.

Skin color

The color of a brown bear is quite variable. Differences in the color of the skin depend on the habitat, and the color of the fur can vary from a light fawn shade to a bluish-black. The standard color is brown.

This is interesting! A characteristic feature of the grizzly bear is the presence of hair on the back with whitish ends, due to which there is a kind of graying on the coat. Individuals with a grayish-white color are found in the Himalayas. Animals with reddish-brown fur inhabit Syria.

Lifespan

Under natural conditions, the average life expectancy of a brown bear is approximately twenty to thirty years. In captivity, this species can live fifty years, and sometimes more. Rare individuals survive in natural conditions up to the age of fifteen.

Subspecies of brown bear

The brown bear species includes several subspecies or so-called geographical races, which differ in size and color.

The most common subspecies:

• European brown bear with a body length of 150-250 cm, tail length of 5-15 cm, height at the withers of 90-110 cm and an average weight of 150-300 kg. A large subspecies with a powerful build and a pronounced hump at the withers. General coloration varies from light grayish-yellow to blackish-dark brown. The fur is thick and long enough;
• Caucasian brown bear with medium length body 185-215 cm and body weight 120-240 kg. The coat is short, coarse, and paler in color than that of the Eurasian subspecies. Color ranges from a pale straw color to a uniform gray-brown color. There is a pronounced, large dark-colored spot in the withers area;
• East Siberian brown bear with a body weight of up to 330-350 kg and large sizes skulls. The fur is long, soft and dense, with a pronounced shine. The wool has a light brown or blackish-brown or dark brown color. Some individuals are characterized by the presence of fairly clearly visible yellowish and black shades in color;
• Ussuri or Amur brown bear. In our country, this subspecies is well known as the black grizzly. The average body weight of an adult male can vary between 350-450 kg. The subspecies is characterized by the presence of a large and well-developed skull with an elongated nasal part. The skin is almost black. Distinctive feature is presence long hair on the ears.

One of the largest subspecies in our country is the Far Eastern or Kamchatka brown bear, whose average body weight often exceeds 450-500 kg. Large adults have a large, massive skull and a wide, raised front of the head. The fur is long, dense and soft, pale yellow, blackish-brown or completely black in color.

The area where the brown bear lives

The natural distribution area of ​​brown bears has undergone significant changes over the last century. Previously, subspecies were found in vast areas stretching from England to Japanese Islands, as well as from Alaska to central Mexico.

Today, due to the active extermination of brown bears and their eviction from inhabited territories, the most numerous groups of the predator are recorded only in the western part of Canada, as well as in Alaska and in the forest areas of our country.

Bear lifestyle

The period of activity of the predator occurs at dusk, early morning and evening hours. The brown bear is a very sensitive animal, orienting itself in space mainly through hearing, as well as smell. Poor vision is characteristic. Despite their impressive size and large body weight, brown bears are almost silent, fast and very easy to move predators.

This is interesting! The average running speed is 55-60 km/h. Bears swim quite well, but they can move through deep snow cover with great difficulty.

Brown bears belong to the category of sedentary animals, but young animals separated from the family are capable of wandering and actively looking for a partner. Bears mark and defend the boundaries of their territory. In the summer, bears rest directly on the ground, nestling among forbs and low shrubby plants. With the onset of autumn, the animal begins to prepare for itself a reliable winter shelter.

Nutrition and prey of the brown bear

Brown bears are omnivores, but the basis of their diet is vegetation, represented by berries, acorns, nuts, roots, tubers and the stem parts of plants. In a lean year, oats and corn are good substitutes for berries. Also, the predator’s diet necessarily includes all kinds of insects, represented by ants, worms, lizards, frogs, field and forest rodents.

Large adult predators are capable of attacking young artiodactyls. Roe deer, fallow deer, deer, wild boar and elk can become prey. An adult brown bear can break the back of its prey with one blow of its paw, after which it covers it with brushwood and guards it until the carcass is completely eaten. Near water areas, some subspecies of brown bears hunt seals, fish and seals.

Grizzly bears are capable of attacking baribal bears and taking prey from smaller predators.

This is interesting! Regardless of age, brown bears have excellent memory. These wild animals are able to easily remember mushroom or berry places, and also quickly find their way to them.

The basis of the diet of the Far Eastern brown bear in summer and autumn is salmon going to spawn. In lean years and poor food supply, a large predator is capable of attacking even domestic animals and grazing livestock.

Reproduction and offspring

The mating season of the brown bear lasts a couple of months and begins in May, when the males engage in fierce fights. Females mate with several adult males at once. Latent pregnancy involves the development of an embryo only during the hibernation stage of the animal. The female carries the cubs for approximately six to eight months.. Blind and deaf, completely helpless and covered with sparse hair, the cubs are born in a den. As a rule, the female bears two or three babies, whose height at the time of birth does not exceed a quarter of a meter and weighs 450-500 g.

This is interesting! In the den, the cubs feed on milk and grow up to three months, after which they develop milk teeth and become able to independently feed on berries, vegetation and insects. However, cubs are breastfed for up to one and a half years or more.

Not only the female takes care of the offspring, but also the so-called nurse daughter, who appeared in the previous litter. The cubs live next to the female until they are about three or four years old, until they reach puberty. The female usually produces offspring once every three years.

Brown bear hibernation

The sleep of a brown bear is completely different from the period of hibernation characteristic of other species of mammals. During hibernation, the brown bear's body temperature, breathing rate, and pulse remain virtually unchanged. The bear does not fall into a state of complete stupor, and in the first days only dozes.

At this time, the predator listens sensitively and reacts to the slightest danger by leaving the den. In a warm winter with little snow, and with plenty of food, some males do not hibernate. Sleep comes only when severe frosts and can last less than a month. During sleep, the reserves of subcutaneous fat that were accumulated in the summer and autumn are wasted.

Preparation for sleep

Winter shelters are established by adults in reliable, remote and dry places, under a windbreak or the roots of a fallen tree. The predator is able to independently dig a deep den in the ground or occupy mountain caves and rock crevices. Pregnant brown bears try to create a deeper, more spacious, warm den for themselves and their offspring, which is then lined from the inside with moss, spruce branches and fallen leaves.

This is interesting! Young bear cubs always spend the winter with their mother. Such a company can be joined by bear cubs in their second year of life.

All adult and solitary predators hibernate alone. The exception is individuals living on the territory of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Here, the presence of several adult individuals in one den is often observed.

Duration of hibernation

Depending on the weather conditions and some other factors, brown bears are able to stay in a den for up to six months. The period when a bear lies in a den, as well as the duration of hibernation itself, may depend on the conditions imposed by weather conditions, the yield of the fattening food base, gender, age parameters and even the physiological state of the animal.

This is interesting! An old wild animal that has gained a lot of fat goes into hibernation much earlier, even before significant snow cover falls, while young and insufficiently fed individuals lie down in a den in November-December.

The period of occurrence lasts for a couple of weeks or several months. Pregnant females are the first to settle in for the winter. Lastly, old males occupy dens. The same place for hibernation in winter can be used by a brown bear for several years.

Bears-rods

Shatun is a brown bear that has not had time to accumulate a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat and, for this reason, is not able to hibernate. In the process of searching for any food, such a predator is capable of wandering around the surrounding area all winter. As a rule, such a brown bear moves uncertainly and has a shabby and relatively exhausted appearance.

This is interesting! When meeting dangerous opponents, brown bears emit a very loud roar, stand on their hind legs and try to knock down their opponent with a strong blow from their powerful front paws.

Hunger forces the beast to often appear in close proximity to human habitation. The connecting rod bear is typical of northern regions characterized by harsh winters, including the territory Far East and Siberia. A massive invasion of connecting rod bears can occur during lean seasons, approximately once every ten years. Hunting connecting rod bears is not a commercial activity, but a necessary measure.