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About the paws of brown bears. Animal tracks

Of course, today bears are not as common as they used to be. But it’s still advisable to know what a bear’s track looks like in different time of the year. On the one hand, this is useful and can help avoid mortal danger while walking and picking mushrooms. On the other hand, this is interesting, since not everyone can understand animal tracks. Well, just in case, we’ll tell you about the traces not only brown bears, but also other species of these powerful animals. You never know where life will take you...

Brown bear

The brown bear is a predator from the bear family. The genus of bears has the scientific name Ursus, and the species brown bear in Latin is called Ursus arctos, or common bear.

Once upon a time, one could find traces of a brown bear anywhere in Europe. He lived in northwestern Africa, Siberia and China. Sometimes I went to Japan. About 40 thousand years ago, brown bears from Asia were brought to North America. But today in wildlife There are few bears left, and this animal is rare within its former range.

Different populations of brown bears have significant differences, so many independent subspecies have been identified. In fact, these subspecies are geographical races. The smallest bear footprint belongs to the European brown subspecies. The largest imprint is of a subspecies living in Kamchatka and Alaska.

Bear paw

The bear's front paw is a universal device. With the help of powerful claws, the animal can dig a winter shelter (den), excavate a gopher or marmot hole during a hunt, pry and turn over heavy stones or logs, break a tree, catch and gut fish.

With the long claws of its front and hind paws, the bear clings perfectly to the ground. This allows the animal to stay on slippery river rocks and climb steep slopes and snowfields. If a bear needs to climb a tree, then long and powerful claws are used again. By the way, the bear cub, using its claws to fix itself, climbs trees faster than an electrician in special boots can climb a pole. The claws on the front paws grow over 10 cm. On the hind paws they are 5-6 cm.

Bears don’t know how to retract their claws; they’re not cats. But they learned to masterfully use their formidable weapons. Thus, during salmon spawning, animals know how to carefully open the belly of the fish, as if using a sharp knife, in order to feast on the delicious and nutritious caviar.

Features of walking

Bears are plantigrade animals. When moving, they rest their paw on the entire foot. The lower plane of the bear's feet is bare. There are 5 toe calluses on the front paws, often called pads. Below the finger calluses there is a thick transverse corn (callus). The transverse one is clearly imprinted into soft ground or snow, making the bear's paw print recognizable.

Everyone is already accustomed to the fact that a bear is called clubfoot. This is actually true. While walking, the toes of the paws turn inward, while the heel looks outward.

Hind paw print

The bear's hind paw leaves a more elongated trail. If the animal walks slowly, a clear imprint of the heel remains.

It is very convenient to look at bear tracks in the snow, on soft ground, on sand, or after rain on dirt paths. When an animal walks slowly, the front and back paws are imprinted side by side. If the bear walks quickly or starts running, then the prints of the front paws overlap with its hind paws.

A person with severe flat feet leaves footprints barefoot, which are somewhat similar to the footprints of brown bears. But there is a noticeable difference: on the human foot, the reduction of the toes goes from the inner to the outer edge, in bears it’s the other way around.

Track sizes

Since brown bears of different subspecies have different sizes, it is only possible to determine how large the animal is approximately. It is advisable to know the tracks of which subspecies of bear can be found in a given area.

Let's look at the tracks of bears found in the taiga. Be sure to pay attention to the prints of the front paws:

cubs of the year leave prints 5-7 cm wide;
overwintered one-and-a-half-year-old bear cubs leave tracks 8-10 cm wide;
female bears at the age of four leave tracks up to 12 cm wide;
if the bear's footprint is 14-17 cm, then it is an adult animal;
especially large seasoned males leave a mark up to 20 cm wide.

Often differences in the size of the animal depend on living conditions. Bear cubs grow more slowly in a lean year. Animals that have lost their mother early will also be smaller.

Polar bear

About 600 thousand years ago, the polar bear separated from a common ancestor with the brown species. It occupied its ecological niche, received a number of morphological differences from its ancestor, but remained genetically similar to it.

The polar bear is the largest beast of prey, living in Russia. A mature male can weigh 650-800 kg. The body length of the animal is 200-250 cm plus a relatively small tail. The predator's paws are powerful and huge. Track polar bear differs from the traces of its brown counterpart. The animal's feet are wider and longer, and its toes are connected by thick swimming membranes. The polar bear's claws are thick and curved, they are much shorter than those of the brown bear, but are more adapted to moving on ice.

The undersides of the front and hind paws are overgrown with thick hair; modest areas on the paw pads remain smooth. The forelimbs still have an ungrown transverse callus, which is significantly narrower than that of the brown species.

Bear tracks in the snow, left by the front paws, are distinguished by noticeable imprints of thick claws. But the claws do not imprint on the ground.

An inexperienced traveler may confuse the impression of a polar bear's hind paws with footprints human legs in warm fur shoes. The paw prints of brown bears are vaguely similar to the footprints of human bare feet.

This is a heavy animal, so where it stays, its tracks are found quite easily. The body length of this animal is from 130–150 cm to 240–250 cm, weight from 56–80 kg to 250–300 kg, some reach 640 kg. Height at the withers is up to 1.3 m. The fur is long, thick, from light yellow-brown to brown-black. Bears leave clear paw prints on forest roads and on soft soil along the banks of rivers and other bodies of water. In spring we find them on the last snowdrifts, and in autumn on early fallen snow.

Habitat biotope. Forests with cutting areas, burnt areas, swamps, clearings.
What does it eat? In spring - anthills, carrion, ungulates; in June–July - insects, aspen leaves, large grasses (umbelliferae: angelica, hogweed, angelica), bird eggs; late summer and autumn - berries (raspberries, lingonberries, cranberries, bird cherry, rowan), rodents, oats.
Ecology of the species. Mostly crepuscular and night image life. Rutting in the summer. At the end of October–November it lies in a den until April–May. The dream is sensitive - disturbed, it comes out and turns into a dangerous, hungry and irritated connecting rod. In winter, 1–2 cubs (weight 500 g) are born in a den and feed on milk for up to 5 months. The she-bear leads the cubs for 2 years.

The brown bear is widespread in the forest belt of our country from the western borders to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and from the forest-tundra to the forest-steppe. It is also found in Transcaucasia, the Caucasus, the Pamirs and Tien Shan. The usual habitats of the brown bear are vast dark coniferous or mixed forests with swamps, burnt areas and berry fields.

It feeds mainly plant foods: berries, rhizomes, angelica, unripe oats, acorns, nuts, wild fruits. Its diet includes ants, beetles and their larvae, rodents, frogs, lizards, birds and their eggs; greedily eats carrion; the hungry eats the buds of trees; in early spring attacks ungulates. In Kamchatka great importance The bear's diet includes fish, and on the sea coast - sea waste.

The bear lies in a den late autumn, and comes out of it in middle lane in April, in the north - in May. “Connecting rods” that have not laid down for the winter can attack people and domestic animals. The female bear mates once every two years; rut - in June–July; cubs appear in the den in winter. Bears molt once a year - in the summer.

The prints of the front paws of this predator are easy to distinguish from the prints of the hind legs. The front paw leaves noticeable imprints of the crumbs of all 5 fingers, behind which a wide kidney-shaped imprint of the metacarpal crumb is visible, narrower with inside and wider on the outer edge. Noteworthy are the deep grooves in front of the fingerprints, left by long, slightly curved claws.

The bear is plantigrade, and its back paw leaves an imprint of the entire sole. Five-fingered trail hind paw resembles a trail bare feet a person suffering from flat feet. However, if a person’s toes become smaller from the big to the little toe, then for a bear it’s the other way around: the smallest first (inner) toe, and the rest enlarge towards the outer edge of the foot. At least I noted this on most of the bear footprints I encountered. We also see claw prints on the traces of the bear’s hind limbs. But on the hind legs the claws are noticeably shorter and more curved.

To imagine the size of the animal from the tracks it left, it is enough to measure the width of the metacarpal crumb on the imprint of the front paw. For cubs of the year, this width ranges from 5 to 6.5 cm, for bears born last year - from 8 to 10, for mature female bears - from 11 to 18 (for female bears in central Russia - no wider than 14 cm), in seasoned animals - from 14 to 17, in especially large individuals - up to 20 cm.

At the same age, males are usually larger than females. The length of the trail of the hind leg of the largest males can reach 31 cm. When walking, the bear noticeably clubbing, placing its paw inward with its toe and “heel” outward. At a slow pace, the prints of the front and hind paws are located next to each other or the hind paw is imprinted on top of the front print - the so-called covered track is obtained. Often, during a leisurely movement, the animal leaves with half-covered tracks and then we see that the prints of the hind paws are in varying degrees are superimposed on the back prints of the front ones. When moving quickly, the prints of the hind paws appear in front of the prints of the front ones - this is an overlapped track. Consequently, by the location of the prints, one can determine the speed of the animal’s movement, whether it was walking at a slow pace or in a hurry.

Traces of bears moving at a calm pace: a - male; b - females; c - teddy bear

The large size of the bear's paws allows you to notice all possible individual characteristics traces of each animal: the size of the paws themselves, the shape of the fingers, the length of the claws, the outlines of the soles and metacarpals. Any defects in the fingers or claws, if any, will not escape an attentive eye. All this allows an experienced tracker to recognize by the tracks of many bears living in a given area.

It is believed that only bear cubs climb trees. Climbing up a tree, the animal grabs the tree from the side with its front paws to hold on. There remain 4 deep oblique scratches up to 11 cm long, directed from top to bottom and inward. The animal rearranges its hind legs one by one, digging its claws deep into the bark. It is noteworthy that only 4 paw claws scratch the bark - the inner, shortest claw does not participate in the work.

In the habitats of bears on trunks, mainly coniferous trees you can find different marks left by this beast. These are abrasions, scratches, scuffs and bites. At various explanations When such marks appear, most researchers believe that in this way the animal marks its individual territory. This opinion is supported by the fact that fresh bullies and snacks appear before and during the rut. The predator makes snacks with its teeth at the height of its height, standing on its hind legs. Abrasions occur when marking a tree trunk, when the animal rubs its chest, back, withers and nape against the bark. At the same time, he also stands on his hind legs. The bullying starts from above, at the height of an outstretched paw of a bear standing on its hind legs. It stretches out its front paw and uses its claws to tear at the bark from top to bottom. In these cases, narrow strips of stripped bark appear at the foot of the trunk.

The bear leaves many traces of its activity when feeding. In the spring, after getting up from the den, he often visits anthills. When catching insects, it severely damages its upper part. In the autumn, feasting on the fruits of pears, apples, cherry plums, rowan berries, and other berries and fruits, the bear bends down and breaks many fruitful branches. Walnuts, he eats hazel fruits or pine nuts along with the shell.

The brown bear, along with the white bear, is the largest living on earth carnivorous mammals. The bear has a large head, which is located on a short muscular neck, turning into a massive barrel-shaped body. Thick and powerful five-fingered paws are plantigrade. The toes are armed with strong, non-retractable claws 6–12 cm long. The claws on the front paws are twice as long as the claws on the hind paws.

The height of the animal at the withers is 70-130 cm. The body length of some individuals (A. Cherkasov, 1867) reaches “20 quarters from nose to tail,” i.e. more than three meters. This is probably a rare case. Nowadays, animals up to 2 meters are considered large.

Brown bears are not picky about their habitat. They live on sea coasts, in the tundra, taiga, forest-steppe, and in the mountains. But in all cases there must be a good food supply. Berries, herbs, oats, corn, fish, ants, larvae, other animals - everything is eaten by the bear.

Bears that were unable to fatten up over the summer and autumn are forced to give up long-term hibernation. These are connecting rods. Their traces can be found in winter in the most unexpected places.

The bear leads a mostly solitary lifestyle in its favorite area. He regularly goes around it along his own paths and directions. He guards his area very jealously and drives out aliens.

The size of such areas in the northern regions of Russia is 20-25 sq. km. Groups of 3-4 animals are formed during estrus and in feeding areas.

While feeding on the grass, the bear walks slowly, waddles, with its head down. Sensing danger or chasing prey, it rushes at speeds of up to 40 km per hour.

In bear lands, the hunter will find packed trails, often laid in dense thickets bushes or steep slopes in the mountains. When moving through the grass, the animal crushes and crushes the stems and leaves of plants, which, as they dry out, change their color, making the path especially noticeable.

When meeting each other, male bears begin to scare each other - they rear up and sway from side to side. The cowardly or weak runs away. If the forces are equal, a fight to the death can occur.

Bears have a highly developed sense of smell. It senses a person in a headwind at a distance of 300-400 m. Vision and hearing are slightly less developed.

At the end of October - beginning of November, bears go to dens and come out at the end of March - beginning of April. Their dens are very diverse in their structure. It could be simply a nest with a bedding of moss and spruce legs in a thicket of young spruce trees, a tray under a dry aspen, a depression under an inversion, a hole with a side spur, etc.

In all cases, traces remain in the area of the den by which its detection is possible. Broken spruce paws, torn out moss or blueberry twigs are all signs of the bear’s “work” in constructing a den.

Materials are used to line the bottom of the den. In addition, the den can be found by the “brow” - a hole in the snow through which the bear breathes. The snow along the edges of the brow is always yellowish in color.

In central Russia, bears always go to the north to lie down in their den, and lie down with their heads to the south, i.e. to your heel. Therefore, the “face” of the den can most often be found on the south side.

The tracks of a bear in fresh snow look like the tracks of a man in felt boots. The length of the step and the size of the prints are like those of a person. But a person places his feet with his heels inward and toes outward, and a bear does the opposite. As they say - clubfoot. When walking slowly, he places his hind paws on the tracks of his front paws and almost completely covers them.

After leaving the den, the bear finds it difficult to feed. To search for food, he rakes anthills, looks for larvae, breaking rotten stumps, eats buds from thin aspen trees, collecting the tops in an armful.

Traces of such feeding remain long time- groups of aspen trees tilt to the sides and lie on the ground. He also breaks off rowan trees to get berries in the fall, in the taiga he breaks off the tops of cedar trees with nuts, and destroys fruit trees.

In summer, bears leave their marks on the bark of trees. Rising to his full height, he scratches the tree with his hind legs and tears at the bark with the claws of his front paws. Probably, in this way he marks the boundaries of his area and tells the uninvited stranger - look how huge I am!

The bear has five toes on all paws. When a bear walks slowly, the entire foot along with the heel leaves an imprint; if it runs quickly or runs, the heel does not leave an imprint. But in all cases, the entire foot is imprinted on the snow.

The length of the bear's front paw print is 20-25 cm, width - 15-17 cm, the hind paw prints are slightly shorter in length.

These are the main signs of the presence of this beast in a particular area.

All bear hunts are interesting and require maximum effort of moral and physical strength from the hunter.

) took these amazing pictures in the Kronotsky Nature Reserve in Kamchatka.

(Total 12 photos)

1. The front paws of a bear, armed with powerful claws, are a universal tool with which the animal digs a den, digs up the holes of marmots and gophers, turns over stones that are too heavy for humans to lift, breaks trees, and catches fish. The claws are excellent lugs. Thanks to them, bears easily move along steep slopes where it is difficult for a person to stay on. How many times have I watched with envy how bears easily walk on the steep snowfields from which I slipped. Thanks to their claws, bear cubs climb trees at a speed much faster than electricians climb poles. And let's not forget that the brown bear is the largest land predator living in our country, capable of delivering a fatal blow to an enemy, rival or such large prey as elk or deer with its front paw.

2. On the front paws, the claws can be more than 10 cm long. On the back paws - half as long. Bears are not cats; they cannot retract their claws. But they master them masterfully. I have seen more than once how, with the help of their claws, bears carefully, like a sharp fish knife, opened the belly of salmon to get the eggs.

3. The size of the animal can only be judged approximately by the size of the tracks. In lonchaks (previous year's cubs) the width of the front foot print is approximately 10 cm, in adult female bears - 14 -18 cm. In males, judging by the literature, the width of the paw print can reach 25 cm, but usually 17 - 20 cm. Personally, I have never I have not seen a print wider than 22 cm.

4. And one more thing - it’s difficult, but it must be voiced. Bear paws - dear oriental.

10. The beast walked along a steep and damp slope, forcefully pressing its claws into the clay. The colors of volcanic clay are like an artist's palette...

The bear's paws are armed with powerful claws. This is a universal tool with many functions - animals use it to dig a den, easily dig out rodent holes, turn over heavy stones, catch fish, break trees. Its strong claws grip the ground perfectly. It is thanks to them that animals easily move along the steepest slopes, where it is almost impossible for a person to hold on. Bears easily walk on the steepest snowfields, from which a person slides. Bear cubs usually climb trees at great speed, also thanks to their claws. And of course, we should not forget that the brown bear is a large land predator, capable of delivering a fatal blow to a rival, enemy, or large prey (elk, deer) with one front paw.

The claws of the front paws reach a length of more than 10 cm. On the hind paws they are half as long. Bears, unlike cats, cannot retract their claws. But they master them masterfully. With the help of their claws, they can carefully, as if using a sharp knife, open the belly of the salmon and remove the eggs.

The size of the footprint does not give an accurate idea of the size of the animal. It is known that in last year's bear cubs its width for the front paw is about 10 cm, in an adult bear it is 14 -18 cm. In males it is usually 17 - 20 cm, although according to sources it can reach 25 cm.