The biggest bears. Difference between grizzly and brown bear Grizzly and brown bear

The gray bear is a grizzly bear, a real ferocious and ruthless killer.

He has dozens of human lives, the strong and powerful structure of the beast, makes the victim tremble in front of the bear's pile of muscles.

A wild forest animal is enormous in size, if a gray bear stands on hind legs, then his height will be 2.5 meters. The weight of a wild animal can reach from 385 - 408 kg.

On the back of his neck there is a powerful hump, which gives him incredible strength, thanks to which he can play with 50 kilogram stones with his front paws. The coat color is dark brown.

Also, with one blow of the front paw, it can kill a wild elk or a small relative. The closest relatives are brown bears. This species is a self-confident predator and can afford to attack any animal and even a person.

It knocks its prey to the ground, tearing the flesh with its long claws and powerful, sharp teeth. It is almost impossible to escape from a grizzly attack. He does this because he considers himself the owner of the forest.

The gray bear has poor vision, which can provoke him to aggressive behavior. The rear lamps also have powerful muscles, if a bear is tracking a prey, then at the most opportune moment it can attack it in a jump and take it by surprise.

Grizzly bear, common in the Americas:

• Alaska;
• Canada;
• Montana (Yellowstone);
• Northwest Washington;

They migrated from Asia to North America, according to some sources, fifty thousand years ago, according to others, a hundred thousand years ago. The bear population has declined greatly over the past centuries.

According to official data, in 2000 there were about 250 of them, and by 2005 there were 600 individuals.

Gray grizzly bear - lives in dense forests North America. Leads a secretive lifestyle; under cover of night he can visit nearby farms. Each predatory individual marks its territory, scratching tree trunks with huge non-retractable claws and leaving noticeable marks on them.

Nutrition

IN daily diet bear includes:

1. Mice;
2. Proteins;
3. Birds;
4. Berries;
5. Fruits;

Despite its enormous size, wild animal develops a running speed of more than 55 km/h. It will not be difficult for him to catch a squirrel or a mouse. He is an omnivore and is always willing to eat. There have been cases when a bear opened a hunter's car like a tin can in search of food.

Seasonal diet of a bear

Having gained a sufficient amount of fat, the animal prepares for hibernation. Tries to predict weather and at the most crucial moment he lies down in the den. blizzard covers the base of the hole, and the bear sleeps in the warmth until early spring. During hibernation, it loses 1 kilogram of weight per day.

The mating season for grizzly bears begins in mid-May, and the entire process takes no more than a month. While searching for females, the male begins to growl loudly, thereby attracting females to his territory.

There are funny cases when two tall bears sort things out for the right to impregnate them. Each predator has a harem of three or four females. During the mating ritual, he protects them from rivals. But females prefer to mate with two or three males.

After 8 - 9 months, the female brings a litter of 2 - 3 cubs. Babies are born blind and deaf, covered with sparse hair, weighing no more than 500 grams, and their length does not exceed 25 cm.

Only the female participates in the rearing process. After 3 - 4 months, the babies become a size that is comparable to the size of a dog. They develop slowly, only after 3-4 years they become independent and leave their mother. The young body of a grizzly bear grows up to 11 - 13 years.

IN wildlife Gray grizzly bears live from 20 to 25 years.

• Huge individuals living along the coast of Alaska reach enormous sizes. The animal is more than 3 meters tall and weighs up to 1 ton.
• In search of food, a bear may dig deep holes. In this he is helped by powerful front paws and sharp, long, non-retractable claws.
• If you frighten a forest predator, it is guaranteed to attack the offender.
• In modern practice, we have encountered cannibal bears who hunt unsuspecting tourists in the forests. Sometimes it took years to identify a cannibal bear and eliminate it.

In western Canada and Alaska there is a huge grizzly bear (lat. Ursus arctos horribilis), who earned himself the reputation of the most ferocious and dangerous predator North America. Even to Latin name this subspecies of brown bear (lat. Ursus arctos) had to add the prefix “horribilis”, which means “terrible” or “terrible”.

Outwardly, it is very similar to the Russian bear, only slightly larger in size. If the brown one rarely reaches a length of two and a half meters, then its American counterpart can boast of an almost three-meter body and a weight of 500 kilos! It’s scary to even imagine such a giant standing on his hind legs! Its fur has a grayish tint, for which it received the name “grizzly” (gray-haired, gray).

In addition, the grizzly bear has the same body type as the Siberian brown bear, and the same powerful jaws. But its claws are much longer (up to 15 cm), and its tail is slightly shorter. In general, the American subspecies is clumsier and heavier than the Russian bear. When walking, he squints more and sways more. Only very young grizzlies can be found in the trees; old ones are prevented from climbing for honey by too long claws.

However, this does not bother them at all. Fortunately, the colossal strength allows you to uproot small trees and destroy bee hives on the ground. Grizzlies also love fish, which they catch while standing in shallow water. These bears are excellent swimmers and can swim across a wide river in a matter of minutes.

Despite a large number of stories about the bloodthirstiness of grizzlies, most of them are vegetarians - they eat berries and roots, only occasionally snacking on small rodents or invertebrates.

And yet, among them there are also real predators, capable of tearing apart a large deer in just a couple of seconds. Meat eaters are much larger and angrier than their herbivorous counterparts.

They were the reason for the mass extermination of grizzly bears in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Farmers killed them by the dozens, fearing for their own livestock. The bears went further north and climbed the mountains, trying to avoid persecution.

Now there are about 50 thousand grizzlies, and they live mainly in reserves and national parks. True, in some places, for example in Alaska, there are so many grizzly bears that hunting them is allowed once every four years.

In general, the grizzly leads the same lifestyle as Brown bear. It also takes care of the lady from May to June, and in winter it goes into hibernation, during which the bear gives birth to one or two 700-gram babies.

When the time comes to leave the den, they run everywhere after their mother, who protects and raises them. By the way, it is better to stay away from bear cubs, as the bear rushes to attack without warning, and the desire of careless tourists to play with cute babies has more than once become the cause of accidents.

Finally, I would like to mention the peculiar sense of humor of some grizzlies. Thus, a huge bear nicknamed Old Moses, who for 35 years (1869-1904) terrorized a large area in Colorado, attacking livestock, loved to scare unlucky gold diggers and travelers.

Quietly creeping up to their fire, he ran out into the clearing with a wild roar, sweeping away everything that came under his paw. It is curious that he did not touch people unless they tried to kill him. Having explained to the frightened people who was boss in the forest, he calmly walked away.

The bear is one of the most large mammals animals. He is the hero of epics, fairy tales and legends. A brown bear can be seen in a zoo, but to see a grizzly bear you will have to go to the American continent.

That's what they call it subspecies of brown bear living in North America. The distribution area of ​​this animal belongs to Alaska and the western regions of Canada. In the United States, the bear is found in the famous Yellowstone Nature Reserve, Montana and northwestern Washington.

In fact, today it is not known for certain what kind of bear should be called a “grizzly”. Most often this is what everyone calls the mainland American race.

Many researchers believe that the grizzly bear, better known as the North American brown bear (its other name), is a separate species living in the interior of the North American continent, as well as on Cape Kodiak.

The very first mention of the grizzly bear dates back to 1784, when the English naturalist Thomas Pennant first wrote about him. Although the scientist himself did not see the animal alive, much less dead, he drew up a description of the grizzly bear, guided by data taken from the traveling records of American pioneers.

In 1806, the American public, while exploring new territories, was presented with two grizzly bear cubs by General Zebulon Pike, which the military man hastened to present to the then-current President Thomas Jefferson.

The grizzly bear was described again as early as 1815 as a "terrible bear".

Since 1967, “grizzly” has been the name given to all large-sized bears living in Alaska.

Characteristics of the animal

In terms of the structure of its body, the grizzly bear is very similar to its East Siberian relative. This bear has a very impressive large size - from 450 kilograms and above. He prefers to live on the coast and mostly eats salmon fish. Those individuals that are found in the forest are vegetarians and scavengers.

The size of the animal, the color of its coat and its lifestyle determine the conditions in which it constantly lives.

Relationship with a person

The American pioneers, who described the grizzly bear as a harsh and ferocious animal, constantly thirsting for human blood, clearly embellished their stories, as a result of which people had an erroneous idea about the bear.

A bear will never consider a person as its potential prey, unless this same person openly attacks him, or the animal experiences extreme hunger.

Farmers throughout the 19th century, as well as at the very beginning of the 20th century, actively exterminated the grizzly bear population, thereby trying, according to them, to protect their livestock from attacks. Many animals were killed as trophies.

Currently protected by the US federal government, the grizzly bear lives mostly in national parks.

Brown or an ordinary bear commonly called a predatory animal large sizes, belonging to the bear family.

In ancient times, the brown bear lived throughout the European continent; it could also be seen in a number of Asian countries (China, Japan).

Today it is found in the Scandinavian countries (Scandinavia, Norway), in the western part of Europe (Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines), in Finland, the Carpathians, Russia, Japan, China, the Korean Peninsula and so on. In Finland, this animal has sacred status.

Today there are about 80 subspecies of this animal, among which the most famous are:

1. Apennine.
2. Tien Shan.
3. Japanese.
4. Kodiak.
5. Tibetan and so on.

Appearance of a brown bear

Brown bear weight varies from 400 t(smallest specimens) kilogram up to 1000 kilograms(larger animals). Males are always about 1.5 times larger than females.

The bear has a powerful body with a huge muzzle, on which relatively small ears and eyes are located. The animal's tail is small in size, only about 65 - 210 millimeters, so it is not very visible due to the thick fur. The bear has huge, powerful paws with five fingers, at the ends of which there are long (up to 10 centimeters) non-retractable claws. The animal's fur is evenly colored and thick.

The color of a brown bear can vary not only within different parts distribution area, but also within the same area of ​​residence. The color of the fur can be light fawn, brown, black, grayish-white.

A bear sheds only once a year, this period lasts from spring to autumn.

Life image

The bear is considered a forest dweller: in Russia it prefers to live in forests where windbreaks predominate, in Europe - in mountain forests, in North and South America - on the coast and in open areas (tundra), as well as in alpine meadows.

What is common between a grizzly bear and a brown bear?

• The grizzly bear is a subspecies of the brown bear; in fact, they are the same animal.
• They eat the same food.

Differences

1. Grizzlies live primarily in North America.
2. You can see hair on a grizzly bear's neck white- collar.
3. Grizzly bears have large claws.
4. The brown bear, found in Russia, is much smaller than the grizzly bear, which can grow up to three meters in length.
5. The grizzly bear is more mobile than its brown counterpart.

A bear is one of the animals that you would hardly want to meet one on one. Its dimensions inspire genuine fear. Surprisingly, at birth some bears weigh less than 200 grams, and this inevitably raises the question of how much an adult bear weighs. It all depends on its type and individual characteristics. The most famous bears are: brown, black, white. Since the brown bear lives in our country, we will dwell on it in more detail.

Distribution area

Previously, the brown bear was found throughout almost all of Europe, including Ireland and England. The southern border of the range was the African Atlas Mountains, and in the east bears were found even in the territory modern Japan. It most likely entered North America approximately 40 thousand years ago. Then it settled in territories from Alaska to the northern borders of Mexico. Today, the brown bear is widespread in Finland (in this country it was even declared the national animal) and Scandinavia, and is less common in the center of Europe and the Carpathians. In addition, it also lives in Iranian and Iraqi forests, northern China, Palestine, the Korean Peninsula and Japanese island Hokkaido. In North America, the brown bear is called the “grizzly” and is more often found in western Canada and Alaska. In Russia, the brown bear lives in almost all forests of the country, except for the southern regions.

Appearance

The animal is strong, with distinct withers on the back. The body cover is thick. The coat color is uniform. As a rule, bears shed their coats in the spring, and their coats are renewed in the fall. The ears are small, the eyes are set deep. The tail is practically invisible under the fur and is only 2 cm long. The paws are quite strong, with curved claws (their length can reach 10 cm).

Weight of a brown bear and its dimensions

The average body length of a brown bear is 1-2 meters. recorded in Kamchatka, the Far East and Alaska. These are real giants: their height in a standing position reaches three meters. In addition to height, many are interested in how much a bear weighs. Body weight depends on the sex and age of the animal. As a rule, the male is larger than the female. The weight of an adult bear (male) is 140-400 kg. But among them there are giant individuals weighing up to 600 kg. The female weighs on average 90-210 kg. A bear with a record body weight was discovered on Kodiak Island. His weight was 1134 kg and his height was about 4 meters. Many people are interested in how much someone living in Russia weighs? In our country there are smaller individuals, their body weight on average is 100 kg. How much does a grizzly bear weigh that lives in America? The grizzly bear is a subspecies of the brown bear; its body weight can reach 500 kg. Individual individuals can weigh 700 kg.

Lifespan

How much does a bear weigh and how long does it live - these are probably the most frequently asked questions. Note that the animal directly depends on its habitat. In the wild it can live 20-35 years. If an animal is kept in a zoo or nature reserve, then it lives twice as long - about 50 years, or even more. Puberty occurs at 6-11 years of age.

Behavior

The brown bear has a developed sense of smell. He can smell meat well even from a great distance. The bear has perfectly developed hearing. He often stands on his hind legs to catch the direction of the flow of smell or listen to a sound that interests him. In the forest he behaves like real owner: walks around its territory in the early morning or after dusk. IN bad weather can wander through the forests for hours in search of food.

Lifestyle and nutritional habits

The brown bear is considered a forest animal. In Russia it favorite places are thick forested areas with bushes and deciduous trees. Can enter the territory of the tundra and alpine forests. In Europe, it most often lives in the mountains, and in North America, its favorite habitats are alpine meadows, tundra and the coast. The male usually lives alone, and the female with cubs. Each individual occupies a certain territory from 70 to 400 km, while the male requires 7 times big square than the female. Of course, this does not depend on how much the bear weighs. It’s just that a female more often lives with cubs, and it is more difficult for her to travel long distances than for a single male. Bears mark the boundaries of their territory with urine and scratches on trees.

Animals are omnivores. The diet consists of 75% plant foods - these are berries, tubers, grass stems, nuts, roots and acorns. In lean years they can feed on corn and oat fields. The clubfoot's diet may consist of ants, worms, and small rodents (mice, chipmunks, gophers). Although a bear is not a 100% predator, it can kill an elk or a roe deer. There are frequent cases when a grizzly bear attacked wolves, and in the territory Far East bears sometimes hunt tigers. Honey is considered the favorite delicacy of this animal (that’s why it was called that). Fish is a seasonal object of hunting. At the beginning of spawning, when there are still few fish, the bear eats the entire carcass, but when there is a lot of it, it eats only the fat-rich parts (head, milt and caviar). In hungry years, a bear can hunt domestic animals and often visits apiaries, ruining them.

Brown bear activity occurs in the morning and evening hours. Lifestyle is seasonal. When it gets cold, the bear builds up a subcutaneous layer of fat and lies down in a den to hibernate. Wherein average weight bear increases by 20%. A den is a dry place under windbreaks or uprooted tree rhizomes. Average winter dream lasts about 70-190 days and depends on the climate (October-March, November-April). It turns out that the clubfoot hibernates for about six months. Female bears spend the longest time in hibernation, while older males spend the longest hibernation. It is also interesting to know how much a brown bear weighs after winter sleep. During this time they can lose about 80 kg of weight. If a bear has not managed to accumulate a sufficient amount of fat over the summer and autumn, in winter it awakens and begins to wander through the forest in search of food. Such bears are usually called connecting rods. The connecting rods are dangerous and hungry, so they attack everyone, even humans. Most often, they rarely survive until the end of winter: they die from frost, severe hunger, or from a hunter’s bullet.

Despite the fact that the brown bear's weight is impressive and it looks somewhat clumsy, it runs quite fast, swims well and climbs trees well. A paw strike so powerful it can break your back. large bison or a bull.

Reproduction

The female bears offspring once every 2-4 years. Estrus occurs at the end of spring - beginning of summer, lasting only 2-4 weeks. During the breeding season, males often fight among themselves, sometimes with fatal results. occurs with several males, the pregnancy is latent, and embryo development will begin only in November. Pregnancy lasts from 6 to 8 months, the birth itself occurs at the place of hibernation - in the den. There are up to 5 cubs in one litter. I wonder how much a bear weighs at birth if it later reaches that size? Cubs weigh 340-680 grams at birth, their length is 25 cm. They are born completely blind and deaf, hairline almost absent. Hearing appears only 14 days after birth, and they become sighted after a month. By 3 months they have baby teeth and can eat berries. The mother bear feeds the cubs with milk for up to 30 months. As a rule, the father does not take part in raising the offspring; on the contrary, he may eat the bear cub because he sees it as a potential rival. Cubs begin to live independently without their mother at about 3-4 years of age.

Security

The brown bear is listed in the Red Book. This animal is vulnerable due to the high mortality rate of young animals and slow reproduction. But in Lately the population is growing. According to some data, there are about 200 thousand individuals in the world, 120,000 of which live in Russia, 14,000 in Europe, 32,500 in the USA (most of them in Alaska), 21,500 in Canada. Bear hunting in many countries is limited or completely prohibited.

Grizzly, sometimes called the gray bear, is a subspecies of the common brown bear. This one large predator North America is famous for its unpredictable behavior and is considered extremely dangerous.

HABITAT

The grizzly bear is common in the northern part of North America. Its habitat is the endless coniferous and deciduous forests of Canada and northern states USA, as well as the expanses of Alaska. The grizzly bear is perfectly adapted to life in the harsh climate of these regions.

LIFESTYLE

The grizzly bear leads the life of a solitary hermit, without establishing clear boundaries of its home range. The animal roams freely over a vast territory. avoiding contact with other representatives of their species in every possible way. Coming out of its winter den in the spring, the bear sets off on a journey with the sole purpose of satisfying its hunger. An animal's daily routine includes only three important points: food, rest and sleep. The grizzly bear's rich diet includes young shoots of plants, ripe fruits and berries, nuts, insects, larvae and, of course, honey. The beast never misses an opportunity to feast on bird eggs, hunt frogs and reptiles, or catch a fatty fish. An adult predator is capable of killing a noble or reindeer, but, as a rule, gives preference to young, old or sick animals. If the hunt is successful, one deer carcass lasts him for a whole week. Like other bears, grizzlies are not averse to carrion. Wandering in search of prey, the animal rests in temporary lairs dug in the ground or rock crevices. At the time when salmon go to spawn, bands of bears gather along the banks of rivers and streams. Being excellent swimmers, these animals are not afraid of even the most turbulent streams. Each bear uses a rich arsenal of techniques fishing: some, having entered the water, plunge their heads and grab the salmon with their mouths, others first press the salmon to the bottom with their paw, and then pull it ashore. Some craftsmen deftly grab fish in the air with their teeth when it jumps out to overcome the rapids. Having brought the catch ashore, the animal begins to eat. During the spawning season, bears eat to their heart's content in order to accumulate a thick layer of fat for the long northern winter. In the fall, having found a convenient place, the grizzly makes a den in it and after the first snowfall goes into hibernation. His winter sleep is shallow and more like a light nap. During thaws, the grizzly bear wakes up and leaves the den to eat something. As soon as severe frosts strike again, the bear returns to its winter refuge and finally leaves it only with the arrival of spring warmth.

SECURITY

In the past, the grizzly bear was widespread throughout almost all of North America: at the beginning of the 20th century, about 100,000 of these animals lived on the continent. Degradation natural environment and hunting led to a sharp decline in the grizzly bear population, and in 1975 this powerful predator was brought under control state security. Grizzlies currently live in wildlife refuges and national parks such as Yellowstone, Jasper, Katmai, Waterton Glacier and Wood Buffalo. According to zoologists, today about 5,000 grizzly bears live in Canada and Alaska, and no more than 300 live south of these territories.

REPRODUCTION

The mating season for grizzly bears is confined to the month of June. From afar, sensing the scent of a female in heat, the male rushes after her and immediately begins courtship. In the midst love games the partner purrs quietly and affectionately nuzzles the scruff of the neck or hind thighs of his chosen one. After spending several days together, the partners go in different directions. Fertilized eggs are implanted in the walls of the uterus, but begin to develop only in the fall. Pregnancy in a grizzly bear lasts about 250 days, but 180 days are enough for embryos to fully develop. The cubs will be born in snowy January, in a warm den prepared in advance by the mother. As a rule, the female gives birth to two or three cubs weighing from 400 to 700 g. The babies are born blind, naked and toothless and for several months are in a den under the tender care of the mother, feeding only on her milk. In April or May, grown-up cubs leave the shelter and begin to get acquainted with the outside world under the watchful supervision of their mother, who gradually accustoms them to solid food. Following their mother everywhere, the kids explore the surroundings, learn to get food, master hunting skills and spend a lot of time having fun.

As cold weather approaches, the mother bear looks for a spacious shelter in which she spends the winter with her cubs. Despite maternal care, many cubs become victims of lonely adult males. In the second year of life, young grizzly bears gain independence and leave their mother. Females become sexually mature at three, and males at four years of age. An adult female comes into estrus once every two years.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Grizzly teeth are adapted to a mixed diet. Powerful fangs mark the animal as a typical predator, and large molars with wide rubbing surfaces allow for thorough chewing plant foods. The number of premolar teeth in each animal can vary greatly.
• The claws of the front paws are much longer than the hind paws (5-7 cm) and from constant abrasion on stones they are sharp as daggers. This powerful weapon allows the animal to kill a large deer with one blow of its paw.
• The unusually wide paws are designed to support the massive body of the grizzly bear. The length of the foot of an adult is 15-35 cm and the width is 8-18 cm.

RELATED SPECIES

All bears are easily recognized by their characteristic physique. Species found in cold climates are omnivorous, but eat large quantities of meat, including carrion. Residents of warmer regions eat mainly fruits and tender shoots of plants, supplementing their diet with insects and honey.

- the only bear living in South America. Inhabits forests growing on the slopes of the Andes; feeds on fruits, roots, leaves (even prickly ones) and young seedlings.

Gubach- lives in forests and grassy steppes of the Hindustan subcontinent. It feeds on ants, termites, fruits, bird eggs and honey.