Brown bear habitat. Where do bears live? Speed ​​and agility are the distinctive qualities of the beast

Brown bears are large mammalian predators that impress with their power and strength. Despite the fact that animals live on different continents, they are usually associated with Russia. After all, a brown bear with a balalaika has become the national symbol of our country. In this material we will tell you everything about these magnificent predators: where they live, what they eat, how they differ from each other.

Types of brown bears

In total, there are about twenty species of these animals in the wild, living in different parts of the globe. But the most numerous populations belong to the following species:

• Apennine;
• Siberian;
• Gobi;
• Tien Shan;
• Grizzly;
• Kodiak.

Where does the brown bear live?

Over the last century, the range of these predators has changed significantly. If previously it was possible to meet a brown bear throughout almost the entire territory of the northern continents, as well as in Africa, now this species lives only in a few places. The reasons for this decline are hunting for predators and deforestation. Main habitats:

• Canada.
• Forest zone of Russia.
• Alaska.
• Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines.
• Hokkaido Island (Japan).
• Palestine.
• Central Europe.
• Iran, Iraq.
• China.
• Carpathians.
• Northwestern states of America.
• Scandinavia and Finland.

Appearance and features

The brown bear is a large predator covered with thick brown fur, the darkness of which depends on the subspecies. The animal has a large head, small eyes, long, sharp fangs, rounded ears, and a small depression on the bridge of the nose. It moves on four paws, each of them has five fingers with large sickle-shaped claws reaching 10 cm in length. Such characteristics have included these forest inhabitants in the list of the most dangerous animals on the planet. And this is really justified, because a meeting with a wild predator can end very tragically. The environment and subspecies of the animal affect its size.

• The largest individuals live in Alaska and Kamchatka. The length of their body reaches 2.5 meters with a height at the withers of 1.3 m, and if the animal stands on its hind legs, then its height can reach three meters. Females are much smaller than males.
• The average weight of Kamchatka predators is 300–450 kg. But this figure increases significantly as winter approaches, and before hibernation, adult males can reach a mass of 700 kg.
• The inhabitants of Alaska are much larger, and their usual weight ranges from 700 kg to one ton. The largest animal caught weighed 1130 kg.
• The smallest representatives of this species are European bears. In most cases, their body weight does not exceed 400 kg, and their length reaches 1.2–1.5 m.

Behavior

Brown bears “settle” in dense forests near water bodies. At the same time, the predator leaves its “wilds” in extreme cases, only when it is tormented by hunger. If the bear's territory runs out of food, it can wander. For example, the alpine mountain subspecies lives in valleys in the spring, then moves to meadows, and by the end of summer it moves into the forest.

By nature, these predators are solitary animals. Males live separately from females with cubs. Moreover, each individual has its own territory, which can reach from 70 to 400 square meters. The space occupied by the female is up to seven times less than that of the male. Animals delimit their “allotments” with the help of scratches and a specific smell that remains on the bark of trees.

Seasonal features

The activity of this mammal depends on seasonal cycles. In the summer they fatten up, build dens in the fall, and hibernate in the winter. For their wintering, the animals choose a place overland in the very depths of the forest. These can be holes under windbreaks, rock crevices, small caves. In some cases, bears dig their own dens. Just before hibernation, the animal “creates comfort” in its home, namely, it lays the surface of the den with leaves and dry branches. Females and males sleep separately from each other. If a mother bear has cubs, they go to bed with their mother.

Hibernation is a period of shallow sleep for animals. It begins in the fall and continues until the arrival of spring. Moreover, the duration of this phenomenon depends on the climate of the area and other natural factors, and can reach from 70 to 200 days.

Animals wake up at the moment when their subcutaneous reserves are completely depleted. This usually happens in early spring. If the animal did not have time to gain enough fat over the summer-autumn, then it may come out of hibernation in the winter. Such an animal is called a “connecting rod”. An awakened bear poses a huge danger, because at this moment it can attack anyone due to hunger.

Nutrition

Bears are omnivores, and most of their menu consists of various roots, berries, nuts, and insects. If possible, it can also feast on small animals, amphibians and reptiles. Bears love honey, so they often break hives of wild bees or destroy farm apiaries. They are excellent fishermen, and fish plays a significant role in their diet.

Brown bears very rarely hunt large mammals. But if the animal does not have enough food, then this can happen. Hunting is carried out for roe deer, deer, fallow deer and other artiodactyls. In rare cases, they can “pick up” wolves or bears of other species.

For all their external clumsiness, these animals are excellent hunters and can reach speeds of up to 50 km per hour. Bears can sneak up and kill large moose with one blow.

Reproduction

The mating season for predators begins in May. At this moment, animals are especially aggressive and it is better to avoid meeting them. Pregnancy of female bears lasts seven months, after which 2-3 cubs are born. The weight of newborn cubs does not exceed half a kilogram, and the babies are born absolutely helpless. They hibernate with their mother. The she-bear feeds the cubs with milk, but at the same time teaches them the basics of hunting. Cubs that reach three or four years old begin an independent life. At the age of six years, bears become sexually mature. The average lifespan of these animals is 20 years. In captivity, this period can double.

Video

The well-known animal is distributed throughout almost the entire northern hemisphere, a symbol of power, strength, and the hero of many fairy tales and legends.

Taxonomy

Latin name– Ursus arctos

English name– Brown bear

Order – Carnivora (Carnivora)

Family – Bears (Ursidae)

Genus – bears (Ursus)

Status of the species in nature

The brown bear is not currently in danger of extinction, with the exception of some subspecies living in Western Europe and southern North America. In these places, animals are protected by law. Where the animal is numerous, limited hunting is allowed.

Species and man

The bear has occupied people's imaginations for a long time. Because of the way it often rises on its hind legs, the bear is more like a human than any other animal. “Master of the forest” is how he is usually called. The bear is a character in many fairy tales; there are many sayings and proverbs about it. In them, this beast most often appears as a good-natured bumpkin, a slightly stupid strongman, ready to protect the weak. The respectful and condescending attitude towards this animal is evident from the popular names: “Mikhailo Potapych”, “Toptygin”, “clubfooted”... Comparing a person himself with a bear can be both flattering for him (“strong, like a bear”), and derogatory ( "Clumsy as a bear")

The bear is very common as a coat of arms; it is a symbol of strength, cunning and ferocity in defending the fatherland. Therefore, he is depicted on the coats of arms of many cities: Perm, Berlin, Bern, Yekaterinburg, Novgorod, Norilsk, Syktyvkar, Khabarovsk, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Yaroslavl and others.

Distribution area and habitats

The distribution area of ​​the brown bear is very vast, covering the entire forest and forest-tundra zones of Eurasia and North America, in the north it extends to the forest border, in the south along the mountainous regions it reaches Asia Minor and Western Asia, Tibet, and Korea. Currently, the range of the species, once continuous, has been significantly reduced to more or less large fragments. The beast disappeared from the Japanese Islands, the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa, most of the Iranian Plateau, and the vast Central Plain of North America. In Western and Central Europe, this species remains only in small mountainous areas. On the territory of Russia, the distribution area has changed to a lesser extent; the animal is still quite common in the forests of Siberia and the Far East, in the Russian North.

The brown bear is a typical forest dweller. Most often it is found in vast taiga tracts, replete with windbreaks, moss swamps and dissected by rivers, and in the mountains by gorges. The animal gives preference to forests with dark coniferous species - spruce, fir, cedar. In the mountains he lives among deciduous forests, or in juniper forests.

Appearance and morphology

The brown bear is a very large, massive animal, one of the largest land predators. Within the family, the brown bear is second in size only to the white one. The largest of the brown bears live in Alaska, they are called Kodiaks, the body length of Kodiaks reaches 250 cm, height at the withers 130 cm, weight up to 750 kg. The bears living in Kamchatka are only slightly inferior in size to them. In central Russia, the weight of “typical” bears is 250-300 kg.

The brown bear is generally proportionally built; its massive appearance is given by its thick fur and slow movements. The head of this animal is heavy, forehead-shaped, and not as elongated as the white one. The lips, like the nose, are black, the eyes are small and deep-set. The tail is very short, completely hidden in fur. The claws are long, up to 10 cm, especially on the front paws, but slightly curved. The fur is very thick and long, especially in animals living in the northern part of the range. The color is usually brown, but in different animals it can vary from almost black to straw yellow.

Of the sense organs, the brown bear has the best developed sense of smell, hearing is weaker, and vision is poor, so the animal is almost not guided by it.

Lifestyle and social organization

Brown bears, unlike white ones, are mostly sedentary. EveryAn individual plot occupied by one animal can be very extensive, covering an area of ​​up to several hundred square meters. km. The boundaries of the plots are poorly marked, and in very rough terrain they are practically absent. The home ranges of males and females overlap. Within the site there are places where the animal usually feeds, where it finds temporary shelters or lies in a den.

In permanent habitats of bears, their regular movements around the area are marked by clearly visible paths. They are similar to human paths, only unlike them, along bear paths there are often scraps of bear fur hanging on the branches, and on the trunks of particularly noticeable trees there are bear marks - bites with teeth and bark torn off by claws at the height that the animal can reach. Such marks show other bears that the area is occupied. The trails connect places where the bear is guaranteed to find food. Bears place them in the most convenient places, choosing the shortest distance between objects that are significant to them.

A sedentary lifestyle does not prevent the bear from making seasonal migrations to places where food is currently more accessible. In lean years, a bear can travel 200-300 km in search of food. In the flat taiga, for example, animals spend the summer in clearings overgrown with tall grass, and in early autumn they flock to the swamps, where they are attracted by ripe cranberries. In the mountainous regions of Siberia, at the same time they move to the char zone, where they find an abundance of dwarf pine nuts and lingonberries. On the Pacific coast, during the mass migration of red fish, animals come from afar to the mouths of rivers.

A characteristic feature of the brown bear, common to both males and females, is winter sleep in a den. Dens are located in the most secluded places: on small islands among moss swamps, among windbreaks or dense small forests. Bears most often arrange them under inversions and logs, under the roots of large cedars and spruce trees. In mountainous areas, earthen dens predominate, which are located in rock crevices, shallow caves, and recesses under stones. The inside of the den is arranged very carefully - the animal lines the bottom with moss, branches with pine needles, and tufts of dry grass. Where there are few suitable places for wintering, dens used for many years in a row form real “bear towns”: for example, in Altai, 26 dens were found in a 10 km long segment.

In different places, bears sleep in winter from 2.5 to 6 months. In warm regions, when there is an abundant harvest of nuts, bears do not lie down in a den for the entire winter, but only from time to time, under unfavorable conditions, they fall asleep for several days. Bears sleep alone, only females who have young yearlings sleep together with their cubs. During sleep, if the animal is disturbed, it easily awakens. Often the bear itself leaves the den during prolonged thaws, returning to it at the slightest cold snap.

Nutrition and feeding behavior

The brown bear is a true omnivore, eating more plant food than animal food. It is most difficult for a bear to feed itself in early spring, when plant food is completely insufficient. At this time of year, he hunts large ungulates and eats carrion. Then he digs up anthills, getting larvae and the ants themselves. From the beginning of the appearance of greenery until the mass ripening of various berries, the bear spends most of its time fattening on “bear pastures” - forest clearings and meadows, eating umbelliferous plants (hogweed, angelica), sow thistle, and wild garlic. From the second half of summer, when the berries begin to ripen, throughout the forest zone bears switch to feeding on them: first blueberries, raspberries, blueberries, honeysuckle, later lingonberries, cranberries. The autumn period, the most important for preparing for winter, is the time of eating tree fruits. In the middle zone these are acorns, hazelnuts, in the taiga - pine nuts, in the mountainous southern forests - wild apples, pears, cherries, and mulberries. The bear's favorite food in early autumn is ripening oats.

Eating grass in a meadow, the bear peacefully “grazes” for hours, like a cow or horse, or collects the stems it likes with its front paws and puts them in its mouth. Climbing fruit-bearing trees, this sweet tooth breaks off branches, eating the fruits on the spot, or throws them down, sometimes simply shaking the crown. Less agile animals graze under the trees, picking up fallen fruits.

The brown bear willingly digs into the ground, extracting succulent rhizomes and soil invertebrates, turns over stones, extracting and eating worms, beetles and other living creatures from under them.

Bears living along rivers along the Pacific coast are avid fishermen. During the course of the red fish, they gather in dozens near the rifts. While fishing, the bear goes belly-deep into the water and with a strong, quick blow of its front paw, throws a fish that has swam close to the shore.

The bear hides large ungulates - deer, elk - completely silently approaching the victim from the leeward side. Roe deer sometimes lie in wait along trails or at watering holes. His attack is swift and almost irresistible.

Reproduction and raising of offspring

The mating season for bears begins in May-June. At this time, the males chase the females, roar, and fight fiercely, sometimes with fatal results. At this time they are aggressive and dangerous. The formed pair walks together for about a month, and if a new contender appears, not only the male, but also the female drives him away.

The cubs (usually 2) are born in the den in January, weighing only about 500 g, covered with sparse fur, with their eyes and ears closed. The cubs' ear openings appear by the end of the second week, and after another 2 weeks the eyes open. Throughout their first 2 months of life, they lie next to their mother, moving very little. The bear's sleep is not deep, since she needs to care for her cubs. By the time they leave the den, the cubs reach the size of a small dog, weighing from 3 to 7 kg. Milk feeding lasts up to six months, but already at 3 months of age young animals begin to gradually master plant foods, imitating their mother.

For the entire first year of life, the cubs remain with their mother, spending another winter with her in the den. At 3-4 years of age, young bears become sexually mature, but reach full bloom only at the age of 8-10 years.

Lifespan

In nature they live for about 30 years, in captivity they live up to 45-50 years.

Keeping animals at the Moscow Zoo

Brown bears have been kept in the zoo since its founding - 1864. Until recently, they lived on the “Island of Animals” (New Territory) and in the Children's Zoo. In the early 90s, the governor of the Primorsky Territory brought the bear from the children's zoo as a gift to the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin. The President wisely did not keep “this little animal” at home, but transferred it to the zoo. When the first reconstruction was underway, the bear temporarily left Moscow, stayed in another zoo, and then returned. Now the second reconstruction is underway, and the bear has again left Moscow, this time to the Veliky Ustyug Zoo, where he will live permanently.

Currently, the zoo has one brown bear, which lives on the “Island of Animals”. This is an elderly female of the Kamchatka subspecies, classic brown in color, very large. All winter she sleeps soundly in her den, despite the noisy life of the metropolis. People help set up the winter “apartment”: the bottom of the “den” is lined with pine branches, and on top there is a feather bed made of hay. Before they fall asleep, bears both in nature and in the zoo eat pine needles - a bactericidal plug is formed in the intestines. It is not noise that can awaken the animals, but long-term warming, as happened in the winter of 2006-2007.

Brown bears tolerate conditions of captivity well, but, of course, they get bored, because in nature they spend most of their time searching and getting food, which is not something they have to do in a zoo. Mandatory attributes in a bear enclosure are tree trunks. The bears tear at them with their claws, leaving their marks, try to look for food under the bark and in the wood, and finally play with small logs. And out of boredom, bears begin to interact with visitors. For example, our bear sits on her hind legs and starts waving at people with her front legs. Everyone around is happy and throws a wide variety of objects into her enclosure, most often food. Some of the abandoned food is eaten, some are simply sniffed - the animal is full. Scientists believe that in this way the bear is not just begging for food or making its environment more diverse, it begins to control the behavior of visitors: if he waved, he was given something tasty. This relieves the stress of being kept in a small enclosure and living according to a certain routine. But still There is no need to feed the animals in the zoo - their diets are balanced, and much of what we eat is harmful to them.

Very often in the spring and first half of summer, phone calls are heard at the zoo - people want to give birth to cubs found in the forest. We urge everyone who sees a bear cub in the forest - do not take it! The mother is most likely somewhere nearby, she can come to the defense of her cub, and this is very dangerous for you! The baby could have been driven away by an adult male caring for the bear, but you never know what reasons other than the death of the bear could have brought the cub to people. A bear that comes into contact with a person is doomed to be killed or spend its life in captivity. A bear cub left alone in the forest at the age of 5-6 months (July-August) has a very good chance of surviving and living free. Don't deprive him of this chance!

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 their hind legs to use their sense of smell to obtain information about their surroundings.

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 the mountain systems of the Alps and on the Apennine Peninsula, common in Finland and the Carpathians, and 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 large in size - 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, 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 countries of 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.

If you ask a foreigner to say three association words about Russia, in most cases they will be bear, matryoshka and balalaika. Some will remember strong alcoholic drinks, earflap hats and extreme cold. But the brown bear is definitely a natural symbol of our country. The image of a bear adorns the coats of arms of many Russian cities: Yekaterinburg, Veliky Novgorod, Norilsk, Yaroslavl and others. The bear is called the "master of the forest", partly due to the fact that it is one of the largest land predators. The bear is a symbol of strength and power.

Description and dimensions

What does a brown bear look like? Many saw him in childhood, visiting the zoo or reading illustrated fairy tales, because the “clubfooted bear” is a frequent hero of children's literature. In nature, an adult brown bear is a large predatory animal with a large body. The bear's head is massive, but with small ears and eyes. Compared to polar bears, the brown representatives' heads are not very extended forward. The tail is short and does not stand out, because hidden under fur. The paws are large, powerful, with long claws up to 10 cm.

The fur is thick and long. The fur color of a brown bear ranges from light brown to black. Newborn cubs have light spots on their chest and neck that disappear over time. Brown bears molt once a year, but this process lasts from the beginning of spring to the end of autumn, until the animal goes into a den.

The weight of different individuals of brown bears differs depending on the habitat of the animals. The largest predators live in Alaska and Kamchatka. Their weight on average is 500 kg, but there are individuals up to 750 kg. In Europe, the average weight of bears is 300-400 kg, and their length is from 1.2 to 2 meters. Grizzlies (North American brown bears), standing on their hind legs, will stretch out to 2.8-3 meters. Despite their massive size, bears run fast (at speeds of up to 50 km/h), swim well, and in their youth easily climb trees.

Varieties

There are hundreds of varieties of brown bear. The most common are the common brown, grizzly and Kodiak (inhabit the islands of the Kodiak archipelago in Alaska). Subspecies are also known:

• Siberian brown bear (lives in Siberia east of the Yenisei);
• Gobi brown bear - mazalay (lives in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia; listed in the Red Book because it is endangered);
• Tien Shan (lives in the Pamir, Tien Shan and Himalaya mountains);
• Ussuri, or Japanese;
• Tibetan;
• Syrian.

Habitat

The habitat of the brown bear in Russia occupies almost the entire forest and forest-tundra zone of the northern part of the country. In Europe, populations of brown predators are found in the Pyrenees, Cantabrian Mountains, Alps and Apennines. The animal also lives in Scandinavia and Finland. In Asia, this type of bear is common in Palestine, Iraq and Iran (in the north of the countries), China and Korea. In Japan, bears live on the island of Hokkaido. And residents of North America often encounter grizzly bears in Canada, Alaska and the northwestern United States.

Regardless of the continent, brown bears preferably live in forests, tundra, taiga and mountains. Adult males often live alone, while females usually live with cubs. Adult bears like to mark their territory, which reaches up to 400 square meters. km.

Nutrition

The brown bear is a predator, but its diet consists of 70-80% plant foods. He especially likes berries, nuts, acorns, stems and roots of forest plants. Bears love to feast on insects (ants and butterflies), worms, lizards, frogs and various rodents. Clubfoot's tastes include mice, marmots, gophers and chipmunks, but he prefers personally caught fish to all of them. It happens that a bear also eats the carcasses of ungulates: roe deer, fallow deer, elk and deer.

The plot of fairy tales, where a bear eats the contents of honey pots, is not fiction. In general, the etymology of the word “bear” is “knowing where the honey is”, “honey eater”.

Grizzlies living in Alaska also attack wolves, and Far Eastern brown bears hunt tigers. Bears often take prey from other predators. During the period of activity, the animal “eats” up to 200 kg of subcutaneous fat. With the resulting supply, the bear lies down to hibernate in a den.

For dens, bears choose dry holes protected by windbreaks, sometimes they dig a hibernation “house” in the ground or occupy caves and rock crevices. The clubfoot's winter sleep usually lasts from 80 to 200 days. Females with their offspring spend the most time in dens, and older males spend the least amount of time. During hibernation, up to 80 kg of accumulated fat is spent.

Reproduction

The mating season for brown bears begins in May-June. At this time, females go into estrus, which lasts 10-30 days. Males begin to actively select a mate for themselves, accompanying the search with strong roars and fights with other applicants, which sometimes end in death. During this period, males are very aggressive and dangerous. The established pair stays together for 30-40 days, and if a new one appears nearby who wants to be fertilized, then both the male and the female drive him away.

The female bear's embryo begins to develop with a delay, not earlier than November, and birth occurs in January or February. As a rule, 2-3 bear cubs are born, weighing 0.5-0.7 kg and up to 23 cm tall. Their fur is still short and sparse, their eyes do not see, and their ears do not hear. The cubs' hearing returns to normal only 2 weeks after birth, and their vision – after a month. By spring, babies have a full set of baby teeth and, in addition to mother's milk, they can already eat berries, plants and insects.

By the time they leave the den, the cubs weigh up to 7 kg. Throughout the first year of life, the offspring does not leave the mother. The family will also spend the next hibernation in the den together. By the age of three, the bears will become sexually mature and will finally separate from their parents. And the cubs will become adult males and females at 10-11 years of age.

By the way, the father does not participate in the life of the offspring; all the troubles fall on the bear. The total lifespan of brown bears is up to 30 years in the wild and up to 50 years in captivity.

In the world of man

In children's literature, there are many fairy tales where the bear is one of the main characters: “Masha and the Bear”, “Three Bears”, “Teremok”, “Tops and Roots”. Of course, I remember the foreign, but already so dear, Winnie the Pooh. At the same time, a bear can be both a symbol of strength and power, and a clumsy and slightly stupid character. Nicknames are often invented for the literary bear: Mikhailo Potapych, Kosolapy, Toptygin.

Well-known proverbs and sayings about bears:

• Make friends with the bear, but hold on to your gun.
• Without killing the bear, do not sell the skins.
• The bear stepped on my ear.
• Two bears will not get along in one den.
• The bear is clumsy and hefty.
• The bear has nine songs, and those are about honey.
• The bear was wrong for killing the cow; The cow that went into the forest is also wrong.

People see bears that live in captivity in the zoo and in the circus. And individuals living in natural conditions often present a completely different interest to humans. Man has been hunting bears for a long time. The meat is used for food, the skin is used to make carpets, and the gall bladder is used in traditional Asian medicine. In many regions, hunting for brown bears is prohibited or limited by law, because this species is listed as “endangered” in the Red Book.

The opposite also happens when a predator attacks a person. More often this happens:

• when a female bear seeks to protect her offspring. She shows aggression towards a person, but not with the purpose of killing, and then so that the stranger leaves;
• when a man caught a bear next to his prey, even if it was the man’s own supplies;
• when the bears have a prolonged period of lack of food or when the rut is in progress (the period of mating of animals);
• Connecting bears also attack people - these are individuals who have not hibernated in a den or have woken up. Feeling very hungry, exhausted animals enter settlements and attack livestock and humans.

In general, the animal itself is afraid of humans and tries to hide. Therefore, during a chance encounter with a bear, it is recommended to make loud noises, knock, honk, etc. There is a high probability that the bear will not dare to approach the source of the noise.

As for the population, there are now about 200 thousand brown bears in the world. The majority live in Russia - 120 thousand, in the United States - 32 thousand (of which 95% are in Alaska), in Canada - 22 thousand. There are about 14 thousand individuals in Europe.

One of the most famous and dangerous predators on Earth is the brown bear. He is the main character of legends and fairy tales of many peoples. The brown bear lives in large forest areas and hides deep in the forest for the winter. In the Far East, bears are small, in Central Asia they are almost three times larger. The main preference in choosing a habitat is food; if there is a lot of food in a given territory, the bear will not go further than 500 hectares; if there is a shortage of food, the animal can become a real nomad.

Externally, the brown bear is a powerful animal with a large head, on which are located rather small eyes and ears. The gigantic force of bear blows is provided by the hump located in the withers area; it is a cluster of well-developed muscles. The bear has a tail about 20 cm long, but it is practically invisible among its thick fur. The coat color varies depending on the subspecies from light brown to black, the most common color being brown. The bear has four paws, each with five toes. Each finger ends in a sickle-shaped claw up to 10 cm long. Males grow up to 2.5 m in length and weigh 500-750 kg. The animal looks very clumsy, but in fact the bear is very dexterous and agile, can make high jumps, run fast, swim and climb trees. When it rears up its height reaches 3 m.

Most often, bears can be found in taiga-type forests. The habitat where this predator lives is almost the entire forest belt of Siberia, Russia and the Far East. These animals are also found in mixed, coniferous and deciduous forests of Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The brown bear is an omnivore. At the beginning of summer, bears feed on roots, young shoots and plant bulbs. Later, acorns, mushrooms, nuts and berries become his food. In autumn, animals go out to fields with corn or oats. Bears in the Caucasus love to visit fruit groves, eating cherry plums, apples and pears. In Central Asia, they raid plantations of pistachios, apricots and cherry plums. In forests, bears destroy anthills, tear off the bark of rotten stumps in search of bark beetles and other beetles, they can eat chicks or eggs from a bird's nest, and catch small rodents and frogs. They are also very good at fishing; on occasion they can attack a wild boar, elk, cow or horse, and they do not disdain carrion.

In the fall, the bear gets fat, preparing for the period of hibernation; nutrients accumulate in its body. During this period, the animal makes a den in a rock crevice, in a recess under an inverted stump or windbreak; a dry place must be chosen for the den. Males hibernate separately from females. If there was not enough food in the summer, the bear wanders in search of food even in the winter. This bear is called a “connecting rod”; it is dangerous for herbivores and can sometimes even attack humans.

In January or February, mother bears give birth to cubs. Usually these are 2-3 bear cubs weighing 0.5 kg each. The babies are blind, naked, the bear keeps them warm against her belly, warming them with her breath. She feeds them milk; due to the substances accumulated during the winter, bear milk becomes thick. When spring comes, the mother takes the cubs out of the den and the grown cubs eat, under her supervision, berries, worms, insects and everything else they can find in the forest. Males stay aloof and do not take part in raising the young. Grown-up babies cause a lot of trouble for the female; they become very active, fight each other, climb trees, and swim.

The brown bear has very few enemies in nature, since it is a very strong opponent. Sometimes they are attacked by wolves; in the Far East, tigers are their enemies.

Out of fear of the bear, people have been hunting it for centuries; history even tells of cases where rewards were announced for a killed bear. The animal has tasty meat, its fat is rich in vitamins, and the skin, although cheaply valued, is very warm. But the bear itself does not attack humans, and does not even come close to the places where people live (with the exception of the above-mentioned connecting rods).