A formidable animal, the largest of land predators, has become a symbol of the taiga depths, dense forests. The powerful nature of the bear has always aroused the admiration and respect of people.
It is no coincidence that the image of the mighty master of the taiga entered the cultural heritage many peoples. Brown bear familiar to the inhabitants of the mountainous regions of many countries, but it is best known in Russia.
Description and features
Appearance bear is striking in size, features of a real predator. The mass of a forest dweller reaches 350-400 kg, the body length is on average about 2 meters. On the Far East there are three-meter giants. Kamchatsky brown bear weighs over 500 kg.
The heavyweight record holder at the Berlin Zoo weighed 780 kg. In the middle lane, a typical representative of the bear family is slightly smaller than relatives - weighing up to 120-150 kg. Males are larger than females by about one and a half times.
A barrel-shaped body with a pronounced withers is held by high five-fingered paws with non-retractable claws up to 12 cm. Five-toed feet are wide. There is practically no tail, its length is so small in relation to the body, only 20 cm. Small ears and eyes are located on the massive head. High forehead. Elongated muzzle.
The color of the thick coat is variable depending on the habitat: from a fawn shade to a blue-black tone. The most common are brown bears. Brown-red bears live in Syria. A grayish coating is found in the Himalayan inhabitants. The molt lasts from spring to autumn, before entering the den. Sometimes the period is divided into two stages:
- early - intense, during the rut;
- late - slow, at the time of cooling.
An important period in the life of a predator is wintering. How long does a brown bear hibernate depends on external factors. Winter sleep lasts from 2 to 6 months, but in warm regions with rich harvests of nuts and berries, bears do not sleep at all.
The bear has been preparing for the harsh wintering in the taiga since the summer - it is looking for a place, equipping it, accumulating subcutaneous fat. Shelters are located most often in pits between the roots of cedars, firs, in places of uprooted trees, under wells.
The most reliable dens of predators are unpaved, going deep into the ground. Hunters recognize such places by the yellowish coating on the trees and shrubs around the den. The bear's hot breath settles like frost on the branches.
The lairs inside are reinforced with vertically arranged branches. With them, animals fill up the entrance, closing from the outside world until spring. Before the final shelter, the tracks are carefully confused.
Brown bear in the taiga hibernates curled up. The hind legs are pressed to the belly, and with the front legs it covers the muzzle. Pregnant bears hibernate with cubs in their second year of life.
Every year, predators tend to change their place of hibernation, but in cases of a shortage of "apartments" they return to the dens of past years. They overwinter mostly alone. But the brown bears of the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin can unite in one den.
The weak sleep of the animal is disturbed, thaws disturb predators and force them to leave their dens. Some animals cannot lie down in the den since autumn due to lack of food.
Bears-rods are extremely aggressive in winter - hunger makes the animal ferocious. Encounters with him are very dangerous. The connecting rod has little chance of surviving until spring. The physical weakness of the animal, the lack of food supply and the cold make the animal vulnerable.
Kinds
The modern systematization of brown bears did not come immediately because of the many population differences. Today, one species and twenty geographical races (subspecies) are distinguished, differing in color, size, and distribution area.
The most famous brown bears include the following large subspecies:
European brown bear(Eurasian or Common). Many peoples cultivated a mighty ruler into a deity. A resident of coniferous and deciduous forests settles to the very tundra swamps in the north and rises to mountains up to 3000 meters in the south in search of coolness.
It is active day and night, when there is an abundance of berries and fruits in nature. Lover of destroying honeycombs. The color varies from light brown to black-brown.
California bear(grizzly). The subspecies, extinct with the advent of white people, is reflected on the flag of California. It was an important component of the region's ecosystem. The subspecies has been extirpated by hunters. It remains the symbol of the state.
Siberian brown bear. It is this subspecies that is called the master of the Russian. Characterized by a dark brown color with a thicker coat of hair on the legs. The ruler of the Eastern part of Siberia, found in Mongolia, Kazakhstan.
Atlas bear. Extinct subspecies. Lived in the territories near the Atlas Mountains, from Morocco to Libya. The bear had a reddish tinge to its fur. It fed on plant roots, acorns, and nuts.
gobi bear(mazalai). A rare inhabitant of the desert mountains of Mongolia. Light brown color of the fur, there is always a slightly bleached stripe along the chest, shoulders and throat. Brown bear in the photo graceful and recognizable.
Mexican(grizzly). Rare animal under threat of extinction. Brown bear sizes large. Predator with a pronounced hump in the shoulder blades. It keeps at the foot of the hills, in mountain forests at an altitude of up to 3000 meters. The last reliable information about the grizzly was in 1960.
Tien Shan brown bear. A rare subspecies that lives in the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, Pamir, Tien Shan. main feature- light claws of the front paws. It is protected by nature reserves in Kazakhstan.
Ussuri (Himalayan) bear. An animal of small size in comparison with relatives. Weight does not exceed 150 kg, length is approximately 180 cm. The color is dark, on the chest there is a triangular spot of white or yellowish tint.
An inhabitant of the forests of Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territory, Japanese islands, Pakistan, Iran, Korea, China, Afghanistan. Perfectly climbs trees, swims.
Kodiak. One of the largest predators on land. The average mass of giants is half a ton. An abundance of food, a short winter are characteristic of their habitats - the islands of the Kodiak archipelago. Subtle scent and acute hearing contribute to the predator in the hunt. The animal is omnivorous. In addition to fish and meat, do not mind eating berries, nuts, juicy fruits.
Tibetan bear(pischeater). In the manner of eating herbs and pikas on the Tibetan plateau, it got its name. A very rare subspecies, described in the 19th century. It is possible to preserve the subspecies high in the mountains. Yeti prototype. The piece of fur found to confirm the legend belonged to a brown bear.
Lifestyle and habitat
The forest dweller prefers massifs with windbreak, dense growth of grasses and shrubs in burned places. Mountainous areas, tundra, coast are also mastered by the predator. Once upon a time, the wide distribution of the brown bear was recorded from England to.
But the change in the inhabited territories, the extermination of the beast led to a significant compression of the range. The forest zones of western Canada, Alaska, the Russian Far East are the main areas of its habitat.
Each bear has a separate territory, ranging in size from 70 to 140 km², marked with smells, conspicuous bullying on trees. The area of the male is 7 times larger than that of the female. Defend territory from outsiders. Separated young growth in search of a partner can actively roam outside the boundaries of the site.
The predator is active during daylight hours, more often in the early morning and evening. In search of food, a sedentary animal sometimes makes seasonal movements, following to such territories where berries and nuts ripen.
Despite the large size of the animal and the clumsy appearance, the predator runs fast. Medium brown bear speed is 50-60 km/h. The physical activity and plasticity of the animal is manifested in the ability to climb trees, swim across rivers, overcome considerable distances.
The bear has the ability to approach prey silently, with light movements. With a strong blow of the paw, it is able to break the spine of a deer,.
The sense of smell allows the animal to smell the decomposition of meat for 3 km. Hearing is sharp. The bear often stands up on its hind legs and listens to its surroundings, catches smells. A difficult obstacle for a bear is a deep snow cover.
The life of a predator has a seasonal cycle. In summer, well-fed bears rest on the ground, among the herbs, bask in the sun, take care of their offspring. In autumn, they are busy looking for a winter shelter, its arrangement, and the accumulation of subcutaneous fat.
In winter, there is an induction into shallow sleep, which lasts from one to six months, depending on many factors. It is interesting that the physiological parameters of the animal (pulse, temperature, etc.) practically do not change, unlike other mammals.
Spring awakens weakened animals. Weight loss during the winter is very significant - up to 80 kg. The accumulation of forces for a new life cycle begins.
Nutrition
Animals are omnivores, but two-thirds of the diet is based on plant foods, which it consumes in different seasons. Brown bear. Animal eats acorns, roots, stems of plants. Berries and nuts serve as a delicacy. In times of famine, crops of corn and oats become a fodder object. All kinds of insects, lizards, frogs, forest rodents get into food.
Large predators prey on artiodactyl animals - wild boars, elk, roe deer, deer. In early spring, after hibernation, the bear prefers animal food, as it needs to gain strength, and there is little plant food. The animal is especially active in hunting.
The brown bear does not eat large prey immediately, it hides it under brushwood and guards it until its supply runs out. It feeds on carrion, can take prey from smaller predators - wolves,. There are known cases of attacks on domestic animals, on grazing livestock.
Near reservoirs, bears become excellent fishermen, especially during salmon spawning. The abundance of fish leads to the fact that the bear eats only the fattest parts of the carcasses, leaving other pieces.
Bears have a good memory. Feeding places with an abundance of berries, mushrooms, nuts, fruit-bearing trees will be visited more than once by a predator with the hope of feasting on it.
Reproduction and lifespan
Mating time for brown bears begins in May and lasts a couple of months. Males are fighting for females, the fights of competitors are fierce, they can end in the death of the animal. During the rut, bears are very dangerous aggressiveness. A wild roar announces the determination of rivals.
The offspring appears in the den after 6-8 months. 2-4 babies are born completely helpless - bald, blind and deaf. The weight of newborns is only 500 g, the length is about 25 cm. After a month, the cubs open their eyes and begin to pick up sounds. By 3 months milk teeth grow.
In spring, kids are ready to find berries and insects on their own. But they feed on milk for another six months. The mother feeds the cubs with the brought prey. The young growth is inseparably close to the mother, learning to hunt, preparing for the first wintering.
The father does not take care of the children. Independent life of cubs begins at the age of 3-4 years, but the growth period lasts up to 10 years.
The life expectancy of brown bears is approximately 20-30 years. In the harsh conditions of nature, many individuals die, becoming victims of hunting, climate change. Human activities affect the reduction of the range of the predator. In the reserves, the life of bears increases to 50 years.
Big brown bear It has long been included in the Red Book, fishing for it is prohibited. Conservationists are making efforts to save endangered subspecies. The future of brown bears is under state protection.
Brown bear, or common bear - predatory mammal bear families; one of the largest and most dangerous land predators. Spreading Once the brown bear was common throughout Europe, including England and Ireland, in the south its range reached northwest Africa (Atlas Mountains), and in the east through Siberia and China reached Japan. It probably came to North America about 40,000 years ago from Asia, through the Bering Isthmus, and widely settled in the western part of the continent from Alaska to northern Mexico. Now the brown bear has been exterminated in a large part of its former range; few in other areas. In Western Europe, its isolated populations have survived in the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian mountains, the Alps and the Apennines. Quite common in Scandinavia and Finland, sometimes found in the forests of Central Europe and in the Carpathians. It has been declared the national animal of Finland. In Asia, it is distributed from Western Asia, Palestine, northern Iraq and Iran to northern China and the Korean Peninsula. In Japan, it is found on the island of Hokkaido. AT North America known as the "grizzly" (earlier, the North American brown bear was isolated in separate view), it is abundant in Alaska, western Canada, and has limited populations in the northwestern United States. The range of the brown bear in Russia occupies almost the entire forest zone, with the exception of its southern regions. The northern border of the range coincides with the southern border of the tundra.
The brown bear is active throughout the day, but more often in the mornings and evenings. The seasonal cycle of life is pronounced. By winter, the bear builds up subcutaneous fat (up to 180 kg) and lies in the den in autumn. Lairs are located in a dry place, in most cases in pits under the protection of windbreak or under uprooted tree roots. Less commonly, bears dig a shelter in the ground or occupy caves and rock crevices. Bears have favorite wintering places, where they gather year after year from the whole district. In different areas, winter sleep lasts from 75 to 195 days. Depending on climatic and other conditions, bears are in dens from October - November to March - April, that is, 5-6 months. She-bears with cubs live the longest in dens, and old males live least of all. In the south of the range, where the winter is not snowy, the bears do not hibernate at all. During the wintering period, the bear loses up to 80 kg of fat. Contrary to popular belief, the brown bear's winter sleep is shallow; his body temperature during sleep fluctuates between 29 and 34 degrees. In case of danger, the animal wakes up and leaves the den, setting off in search of a new one. Sometimes the bear does not have time to properly fatten during the fall, so in the middle of winter it wakes up and begins to wander in search of food; such bears are called rods. Rods are very dangerous, hunger makes them merciless predators - they attack anyone who meets them on the way, even a person. Such bears have very little chance of surviving until spring. Despite the clumsy appearance, the brown bear runs exceptionally fast - at speeds up to 50 km / h, swims excellently and climbs trees well in youth (he does this more reluctantly in old age). With one blow of the paw, a seasoned bear is able to break the back of a bull, bison or bison.
Eurasia north to the tree line, south to the Himalayas, mediterranean sea and Northwest Africa, North America to the west from 90° W. D., north almost to the northern tip of the mainland, south to Mexico.
The range in the USSR (restored) occupies the entire forest and part of the forest-steppe and steppe zone, the east of the tundra, the Caucasus and mountainous regions Central Asia. It makes up a significant part of the species range (about half) and occupies most of the territory of the USSR.
Within the USSR, the range consists of three more or less isolated main parts - the main European-Siberian massif associated with forests, part of the forest-steppe and steppe, the Caucasian, mainly mountain-forest region, and the Central Asian part, where bears live in the mountains, partly treeless . All these three parts are connected or connected in the past outside our country in the south - the Caucasian with the European-Siberian through Asia Minor, the Central Asian with the other two through Iran, Afghanistan and China. Over the course of history, the range of the brown bear in our country has changed a lot due to reduction. In the past, the isolation of individual parts of the range in our country, including the European-Siberian and Central Asian, was less. Obviously, there was some kind of contact in the east of Kazakhstan, and in remote times also in the western Ciscaucasia.
The area has changed significantly in recent decades and is changing quite quickly before our eyes. For this reason, a more or less precise determination of the boundaries of the distribution of the animal is impossible in many cases. In addition, in some areas in the north, brown bears roam very widely and it is difficult to distinguish between the area of \u200b\u200bnormal permanent habitat, the area of \u200b\u200bregular visits and the area of rare, especially distant visits.
The northern border of the distribution of the bear in the European-Siberian part of the range, generally speaking, is connected with the northern border of the forest and the forest-tundra. In it, the bear is rare, although in some parts it keeps constantly and regularly visits. Animals enter the tundra almost everywhere, mainly in its southern parts, but in some places they penetrate quite far to the north.
On the Kola Peninsula, the region of permanent habitat of the animal does not reach the Murmansk coast. Granite passes at the latitude of Murmansk and stretches to the mouth of the Ponoy on the eastern coast of the peninsula. stray animals in summer time they go out into the tundra and in the north and east they reach the seashore. There is no bear on the Solovetsky Islands and, obviously, there was not. Further to the east, the border captures the very lower reaches and mouth of the Mezen, the southernmost part of Kaniya (mainly sunsets) and goes along the southern border and the southern outskirts of the Timan, Malozemelskaya and Bolshezemelskaya tundra, reaching the very lower reaches of the Pechora. In the region between Kanin and Pechora, in summer, bears go far into the tundra and even reach the seashore. 
In the Northern Urals, the brown bear normally lives at 65°N and is also found in the tundra up to 67°N. sh. Further to the east, the border goes to the very lower reaches and the mouth of the Ob, reaching it approximately at the latitude of the Arctic Circle near Salekhard. From here the border goes along south coast Gulf of Ob or slightly retreating from it. In any case, in the summer, animals live up to the coast. Further to the east, the boundary of the region of permanent habitation in an arcuate line, rising slightly to the north, goes to the mouth of the Taz in the Taz Bay. In the interfluve of the Taz and the Yenisei, the border still rises to the north, capturing the Bolshaya and Malaya Kheta, and goes to the Yenisei at Dudinka (69°30′ N).
In the space between the Northern Urals and the Yenisei, the northern boundary of the area of irregular habitation and visits goes through the sources of the Usa (about 68 ° N), a little north of Lake. Yarro-something and through Cape Kamenny (about 68 ° 30 ′ N) on Yamal, along the northern coast of the Tazovsky Peninsula (about 69 ° N) through the top of the river. Gydy on the Gydan Peninsula (70°30′ N) and still rises on the left bank of the Yenisei to the level of Tolstoy Nose (70°15′ N) and even to the north (Shirokaya Bukhta). The outlined area occupies not only the entire forest-tundra, but also a significant part of the southern tundra.
From the mouth of the Yenisei, the border goes to the mouth of the Khatanga, capturing the Pyasinsky lake basin (69°30′ N), the Kheta basin, and to the left the Dudypta (Kamennaya) tributaries up to 71°30′ N. sh. and going to Khatanga at 72°30′ N. sh. (R. Novaya). Thus, in Taimyr, the area of more or less regular habitation and close-range visits (it is difficult to distinguish between them) goes the farthest north and captures the real tundra. Here, farthest to the north, distant calls also extend.
Further to the east, the boundary is very poorly defined. It can be considered that it goes along the very lower reaches of the Olenek, Lena, Omolon, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma, on the latter passing along the mouth. On the Lena, bear dens, although rare, occur near Bulun (70°30′) and Kumakh-Surt (71°30′) not far from the beginning of the delta. The bear visits to the north - at Cape Bykovsky (72 ° N). Throughout the indicated extent of Central and part of Eastern Siberia, the range boundary generally runs along the border of crooked forest and tundra, and the crooked forest strip also serves as the area of \u200b\u200bthe normal habitat of the animal, and the tundra area - mainly summer visits.
To the east of Kolyma, the boundary of the range goes much north of the tundra boundary, passing along the northern slope of the Anadyr Range and exiting to the Pacific Ocean somewhere in the middle part of the Chukotka Peninsula (north of the Krest Bay).
Summarizing the above data, we can assume that the northern boundary of the normal settled habitation of the bear runs (except for northeastern Siberia) along the northern boundary of the forest. However, in summer the animals (mainly, apparently, males) roam quite widely and, in fact, enter the southern tundra everywhere, and in fact the border, strictly speaking, is located in this zone. In addition to this regular phenomenon, there are more distant entries of the animal to the north at a distance of tens and even hundreds of kilometers. In addition to the above-mentioned entries in the European part of the country and in Western Siberia, especially distant entries are known in Taimyr to 73 ° and even to the Taimyr Lake to 74 ° and to the ocean in Yakutia.
The eastern border of the range is formed by the coast Pacific Ocean to the southern borders of the state. Bears are found on Karagipsky Island, Shumshu and Paramushir from the northern Kuril Islands and on Kunashir and Iturup from the southern ones (not on the rest), on Sakhalin and the Shantar Islands. The northern and eastern borders of the range are currently as described, and obviously have not changed in any significant way over the past centuries. On the island of Shumshu, however, the bear has recently disappeared.
The southern (restored) border of the range in our country, extending from the Pacific Ocean to Altai and Tarbagatai, coincides with the state border. There is no animal and, obviously, it was not in the steppes of southeastern and, probably, southwestern Transbaikalia. This frontier does not appear to have undergone significant changes over the past century.
From Tarbagatan, in a general direction to the northwest, the border goes through the steppes of Kazakhstan to the Urals. It covers the Kazakh small hills (Kazakh folded country) from the south, passing somewhere in the middle between Karkaralinsk and the northern coast of Balkhash. Further, crossing the Nura and the upper reaches of the Ishim, the border covers the Kokchetav highlands from the south and goes west to the upper reaches of the Tobol, crossing them a little to the south of Kustanai (Ara-Karagay forest). From here, the border line, bypassing the habitats of the beast in the bay from the south. Troitsky district (Kaban-Karagai), goes to the upper reaches of the Ayat (a tributary of the Tobol, which flows above Kustanai), and from here to the Ural valley, approximately to Orsk. The habitat of the brown bear here, in particular, was noted near Rossypnaya and Nizhne-Ozernaya (below Orenburg). In the Ural valley, the bear was distributed up to Uralsk.
In the outlined steppe and forest-steppe part of Kazakhstan, the bear was distributed only sporadically. He kept on island forests, pegs and mountain areas (small hills) with tree and shrub vegetation and even without it. The brown bear lived in some parts of Kazakhstan as early as the 18th century. (the sources of the Nura south of Karkaralinsk, Ara-Karagay), in others it existed until the beginning of the 20th century. (Sapdyktau, Kokchetav mountains near Borovoye). It is possible that in more distant times the bear was distributed further south than is now known and described here. Thus, dwelling in Ulutau is not excluded, although there is no information about this, and in some other places in the south. It is interesting that the entire outlined border runs along the steppe zone, in the east it is very close to the border of the semi-desert and desert zone.
The bear habitat in Kazakhstan is the southern outskirts of the Central and West Siberian parts of the range. However, the bear has not been in the steppe and forest-steppe of Western Siberia for a long time, and it is difficult to trace how the retreat of the range went here. Apparently, in Kazakhstan, the bear at some points persisted even when it was no longer to the north in significant areas.
The modern (1950s) line of the southern boundary of the range in Western Siberia, due to lack of information, cannot be delineated accurately enough. In Altai, animals are found everywhere, including the very south-basin of Lake. Markakol and up to the Zaisan basin (not in the basin itself), in the Narym ridge and in the Kalbip Altai (left bank of the Irtysh). Further, it goes along the border of more or less continuous tall forests, i.e., along the northern foothills of the Altai, embracing this mountainous country in an arc, bypasses the Kuznetsk Alatau from the west and from the north, goes to Tomsk and from there to Novosibirsk. Bypassing the Baraba steppe from the north and passing a little to the north of Lake Chany, the range boundary crosses the Irtysh a little to the south of 56°N. sh., Ishim - a little north of this degree, goes to Tyumen and goes to the Ural Range, covering the Sverdovsk region a little north and west (45-50 km) of the city. In the Urals, the range of the bear descends to the south with a large cape, reaching 52 ° N. sh., in the east, capturing the origins of the Urals. Thus, in Western Siberia, the modern range of the brown bear no longer occupies the steppe and forest-steppe, and its southern border runs along the southern parts of the forest (taiga) zone. In some parts of Siberia, for example, in the Cis-Baikal region, considerable spaces were formed inside the range, where the bear, until relatively recently a fairly common species, disappeared completely or almost completely. Unfortunately, this is facilitated by the attitude towards the bear as a predator, the hunt for which is not limited in any way.
In the European part of the Union in the south, the natural range of the brown bear occupied not only the entire southern part of the modern forest zone, but also the forest-steppe zone and extended far into the modern steppes.
Between the Volga and the Urals, animals were found along the Kinel, Samara and on the Zhiguli. The southern border, however, lay further south. Going from the river Ural (Uralsk), it, apparently, covered the General Syrt and its southern spurs, went to the Irgiz and along it to the Volga. And in this area, animals, therefore, were quite widespread in the steppe zone. In places, the bears probably went further south than indicated.
The distribution of the animal along the Volga valley has not been clarified, but it probably traveled quite far to the south along the urem lands, since it was apparently quite widespread in the forest-steppe and steppe zone in the Don basin. Here the animals lived throughout the Bear to the mouth and along its tributaries Tersa, Knyazevka, Karamysh, Idolga, Kamyshley. Along the Don itself, bears were found not only in the north (Shipov Forest near Pavlovsk), but also much lower - at the village of Starogrigoryevskaya, at the mouth of Khopra and Medveditsa, and even in the Kletskaya area. Along the Donets, bears lived mainly in the north - near Chuguev, Zmiev and in other places to the south and southeast and southwest of Kharkov, but even in the region of the Oskol mouth they reached places near present-day Lugansk.
To the west, the animals were distributed in the Chernihiv and Kyiv regions and near Poltava. The exact distribution of the beast along the left bank of the Dnieper is unknown, however, it probably descended to the south much further than Poltava. It can be assumed that the border of the range from the Donets went to the Dnieper approximately to Zaporozhye. In the south of the right bank of the Dnieper, there are indications of brown bears living in the Black Forest near Kirovograd, in the Savran steppe southeast of the Balta at the mouth of the Samotkan River, and even in the steppes near Ochakov, in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and near Perekop, i.e., bears were common to the shores of the Black Sea.
Thus, in the European part of the Union, bears were distributed not only in the forest-steppe, but were also widely encountered in the steppe zone, especially, apparently, in its western part.
In the west, the range of the brown bear in the past reached Baltic Sea and to the southwestern foothills of the Carpathians - to the Pannonian lowland.
Information about Uralsk, the Volga, the Don basin and the Black Forest dates back to the 18th century, data about the Balta, the lower Dnieper, Ochakov and Perekop from the 16th - 17th. Known fossil remains of a bear from the Crimea date back to the Pleistocene.
The described southern border of the restored range of the brown bear in the European part of the Union, in contrast to the northern one, has changed very much over the past centuries and moved hundreds of kilometers northward - in some places almost up to 1000, and maybe more. The process of area reduction has been very intensive in the 20th century, especially in recent decades.
The boundary has not changed so quickly in the entire history of the species. Not only the lack of accurate data, but to no lesser extent the indicated circumstance does not allow us to draw the modern southern border of the range with sufficient accuracy - it changes before our eyes from year to year. It has changed more and, obviously, faster than the southern border in Siberia.
In the 40s and 50s of our century (until 1960), the southern border of the distribution of the brown bear in the Urals and in the European part of the country can be outlined as follows. Starting on the eastern slope of the Urals, about 50 km west of Sverdlovsk, it runs due south along the eastern edge of the forests of the Urals, occupying the range south to about 52°N. sh. (Shaitantau). From here, the border turns sharply to the north, limiting the Ural "cape" of the range from the west. The border goes along the foothills of the Urals, without crossing to the west of Belaya. Somewhere around 60° N. sh. it turns sharply to the west, separating the north- eastern part Perm region, where the bear still exists, from the rest, in which the beast has already been destroyed. The western direction of the border soon gives way to the southwestern and again to the western - the border, descending to the lower Kama, bypasses it from the north and crosses the lower reaches of the Vyatka, thus bypassing the Tatar Republic from the north. There has been no bear here as a permanent inhabitant since the late 20s - early 30s, although individual entries from the northwest (from the Mari Republic) took place back in the 40s, 50s and even 60s. Entered animals are hunted almost immediately.
Having crossed the Volga, apparently, somewhere in the region of 48 ° E. D., the boundary runs steeply to the south, capturing the forests of the Sura basin and descending here quite far south to about 54 ° N. sh. From here, the border, slightly curving to the north, goes at the level of Temnikov in the Mordovian Republic, passes west to Moksha and, through the forests of the Tsna basin, gives a long, very narrow cape to the south. This cape does not, however, reach Tambov. These data refer to the last decades, however, in 1960, apparently, there were no bears in the forests of Tsna and Moksha, except for the Sarov forests (Zametchinsky district).
From the region of the mouth of the Moksha, the border goes somewhere along the left bank of the Oka, retreating from it, then descends steeply to the south, making a loop that captures the Ryazan Meshchera. The southern boundary of this loop runs along the river. Pre. From Pra, the border turns sharply to the north, and, passing first through the districts of the Vladimir region, surrounds the Moscow region from the east, north and west.
In the Moscow region, brown bears were quite recently distributed quite widely and lived not far from Moscow. In 1891, a bear raised from a den by wolves was killed near Pushkin (about 30 km from Moscow along the Northern Railway). Back in the 1920s, animals were constantly kept in b. b. Bogorodsky (Noginsk), Dmitrovsky and Klinsky counties (east, northeast and north of the region). In the 1920s, they were still encountered in the then Dolgolugovskoe forestry, which included extensive forests near Khotkovo, Sofrina and Pushkin (Northern Railway - between Moscow and Zagorsk); they were also found in the forests near Zagorsk and to the north. Bears began to disappear rapidly in the 1930s and in the 1940s and 1950s they were no longer permanent residents of the area; they very rarely appeared coming from the north along Dubna or from Meshchera into the forests near Shatura, that is, from the east and southeast. The last such call took place on December 7, 1960 in an exclusively warm winter when the connecting rod was killed in the forests near Lukhovitsy.
It is impossible to establish any exact position of the border in the regions of Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Kalinin. Apparently, the range includes the western parts of the Oryol region and, perhaps, the Kapuzh region, since in the 50s it included the entire Bryansk region, except for its southernmost parts (Brasovsky, Sevsky, Novozybkovsky, Klimovsky, Klintsovsky and Starodubsky forestries). There were no bears in the Vladimir region in the 1950s.
In Belarus, where until recently the beast was widespread and almost everywhere, already in 1950-1951. it was found only in the northern regions. The border passed north of Mogilev and northeast of Minsk, and then turned sharply to the northwest and north and went through the districts of Borisov, Pleshchenitsy, Begoml, Donshchitsy, Glubokoye, Markovshchina. A small habitat of the animal, separated from the northern Belarusian one, is located in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Further north, the border, apparently capturing the westernmost outskirts of Latvia (there is no bear in Lithuania now), goes to Estonia. Here, back in 1960, the bear was quite widespread, meeting west of the line Pärnu (Gulf of Riga) - Cape Juminda (Gulf of Finland) and reaching north to the Gulf of Finland, and in the south to 58 ° N. sh. A separate habitat area, recently connected to the main one, is located northeast of Hapsalu.
From northern Estonia, a short distance from the coast of the Gulf of Finland, the border goes east to Leningrad. In the west of the Leningrad Region, the range includes the Luga, Slantsy, and Kingissepa regions. Surrounding Leningrad from the south and east, the border goes through Gatchina (about 40 km from Leningrad), Vyritsa (60 km), Tosno (about 60 km), Lisino (45-50 km along the highway to Moscow), Mgu (about 40 km) , goes to the shore of Lake Ladoga and, surrounding it, passes into Karelia. There is no animal on the Karelian Isthmus. The western border of the range in Karelia and to the north is the state border.
Within the area bounded by the indicated line of the southern border, the distribution of the animal is very uneven and, along with areas where the population is in a more or less normal state, there are significant areas where it is sparse (western and eastern parts of the Leningrad Region) or animals are very rare or appear only sunset. In large areas within the range of the bear, there are no longer any at all. It is not possible to characterize different parts of the range from this side, not only because of the lack of information in the literature, but also because the distribution and number of the bear changes in the negative direction very quickly - literally in separate years. So, if at the beginning of the century it was still common in some places in the northern regions of Ukraine, then by the end of the 40s there were only visits of single animals from Belarus to the northern parts of the Chernigov, Zhytomyr and Volyn regions, and later this was gone; in Belarus, until recently, the beast was distributed almost everywhere, but at the present time its range is limited to the described northern part, etc.
Indicative is the picture of changes in the distribution, partly in numbers, of the bear at the southern border of the modern range, which was drawn by a special survey conducted in 24 middle regions in 1962. These are regions from the upper Dnieper in the west (the border of Belarus) to the Kama in the east. Within this territory, the bear lives only in large forest areas, so the southern border of its distribution quite accurately coincides with the modern border of large forest areas. In the Smolensk region, the border runs along the right bank of the Dnieper, and in the vicinity of Dorogobuzh a small number of bears are also found in the forests rich in marshes on the left bank of the Dnieper. From Dorogobuzh, the border rises to the north-northeast to the village. Sychevka, from here it goes along the left bank of the Volga to Kalinin, and then to Bezhetsk and east to Uglich and Tutaev. Further, the border goes again along the right bank of the Volga to Zelenodolsk (Tataria), from where it rises to the northeast to Malmyzh, Vyatskiye Polyany and Izhevsk.
To the north of this line at the indicated time, the bear is found everywhere, but in the south there were only a few isolated areas of its habitat:
1) a forest area between the cities of Kostyukevichi, Kletnya and Roslavl within the Bryansk and Smolensk regions (up to 10-15 individuals);
2) a forest area on the left bank of the Desna, in the interfluve of the Zhizdra and Resset rivers and at the head of the river. Vytebet within the Bryansk, Kaluga and Oryol regions (from 20 to 30 animals);
3) Meshchersky forest area on the left bank of the Oka in the Ryazan region (5-10 animals);
4) forest area along the banks of the Tsna, the middle course of the Moksha and the right bank of the Oka within the Tambov, Penza, Ryazan, Gorky regions and the Mordovian Republic (30-40 bears);
5) a forest area along the right bank of the Sura in Chuvash Republic(15-20 animals);
6) a forest on the right bank of the Kuibyshev reservoir south of the town of Tetyushi (in 1960, a she-bear with a cub).
In the 60s, a bear was recorded in the Taldomsky district of the Moscow region and garters of the Vladimir region.
As of 1960, as a remnant of a vast range in the European part of the Union, there is a fairly large, completely isolated habitat of the honeyeater in the Carpathians within our country. It is a narrow strip stretching northwest from the Romanian border (from a place southwest of Chernivtsi) and almost to the state border with Poland south of Drohobych. This is a higher and densely forested region of the Carpathians within the Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi and Lviv regions. In particular, the range includes Chernogory, Gorgany, Beskydy (Borzhavskaya Polonina) and other places. This site is a continuation of the bear's range in Romania.
The Caucasian section of the bear's range in historical time on our territory apparently did not connect with the European-Siberian one. The connection was made through Central Europe, the Balkans and Asia Minor. In the Holocene, however, there was a communication of the northern populations of bears with the Caucasian and through the steppe region. Bears, undoubtedly, lived along the urems of the southern Russian rivers and the rivers of the northwestern Ciscaucasia and the steppe ravines and reeds of this region. In the lower reaches of the Don, animals were encountered even as early as the 8th-13th centuries. Certain features of the geographical variability of the Caucasian bears also point to the former direct ties between the Caucasian bears and the Russians.
In the past, the range covered all the forest regions of the country, that is, in essence, the entire Caucasus - Greater and Lesser, as well as Western Transcaucasia from high altitudes to sea level 3. The animal was absent only in the steppe regions of Eastern Transcaucasia, although in the riparian forests of the Kura they penetrated into treeless areas at least to the level of Alazani; maybe they met along some other rivers. It is possible that the bear was not in some deserted treeless places in the mountains of inner Dagestan, in the deserted spaces of the Yerevan Basin, and, perhaps, in some other, relatively small areas.
Along the Main Caucasian Range in the west, the range began at Anapa and in the east reached the Caspian coast - to forests in the foothills of Dagestan and forests along the Samur in its lower reaches and mouth. It occupied all the forests of the northern foothills and foothills to Maykop, Pyatigorye (Zheleznovodsk), Nalchik, Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz) and Khasavyurt. Its range also included the forest regions of the Stavropol Upland.
To date, the range of the brown bear in the Caucasus has decreased, in some places significantly. Partly this happened in the last century, partly and even mainly in our century - in its second quarter. There is no bear in Pyatigorye (he only occasionally comes here), the border has been pulled back, partly due to large clearings, from the northern foothills, the bear is now absent from Maykop, it has almost disappeared from Kabarda and Balkaria, near Khasavyurt, etc. The beast has disappeared from many areas of Western Transcaucasia (Colchis), the area of \u200b\u200bits habitat in Armenia has somewhat decreased. The bear is nowhere to be found in the steppe Transcaucasia, it is almost never found in Talysh, etc.
In the steppe Transcaucasia near Stavropol, he disappeared much more than 100 years ago, along the Black Sea coast, animals were found almost to the sea even today, near Khasavyurt he lived in the 900s and 10s, and in the early 20s he met in the forests of the foothills ("Black Mountains") positively a few kilometers from Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz). Almost everywhere, especially in the Lesser Caucasus, the number of the animal has decreased. There are very few exact data on the current distribution of the brown bear in the Caucasus. In general, its range is steadily declining due to direct persecution and deforestation.
In Central Asia, the range of the bear is connected with the mountains, and here the bear lives in places in places where there are only sparse thickets of tree-like junipers or pistachios, or bushes along the gorges, but in places it exists in completely treeless, even desert mountains. The restored range in Central Asia and the Semirechye occupies the Saurs, Tarabagatai, Dzungarian Alatau and the entire Tien Shan system, including the western ranges and Karatau. Further, the range includes all the ranges of the Pamir-Alai system to the west to the western parts of the Turkestan, Gissar and Darvaz ranges. In Kugitangtau and Babatag and in some other uplands of the interfluves of the right tributaries of the Amu Darya, the bear, apparently, has not been from time immemorial, or at least for a long time. Apparently, the Nurata Mountains were not included in the range. In Turkmenistan, the range was occupied by Kopet-Dag, however, in the Greater Balkhan, in the mountains along the right bank of the upper Tejen (Gyaz-Gyadyk) and in the mountains east of Kushka (Chengurek Mountains), there was no bear.
The current range of the bear in Central Asia cannot be covered in more detail due to lack of information. Compared to the one described, it has undoubtedly changed over the past century and especially over the past decades - the total area of \u200b\u200bthe range has also decreased, and significant “gaps” have appeared in it, however, the animal is still found, apparently, in most of the ranges where it used to live. However, it is no longer in Karatau, and it has disappeared or is found only very rarely by calling from Iran in Kopet-Dag.
Area outside the USSR. In Asia, the restored area occupies the island of Hokkaido, the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China, in addition to its central steppe spaces, that is, mainly the Greater Khingan, Ilkhuri-Alin, Lesser Khingan mountains, the East Manchurian mountainous country, Changbaishan, Kentei-Alin , Laoeling, Zhangguangcailing. In the Mongolian Republic, the range occupies the Khentei Range in the north, the coastal part of the country to the south to approximately 48 ° 30′ N. sh. and the region bordering the USSR on the left bank of the river. Selenga. In China, in the extreme west, the range occupies the eastern part of the Tien Shan country, in Kashgaria and Dzungaria, in particular, the Borokhoro mountains near Barkul. From here, the range extends to the Trans-Altai Gobi and the Gobi and southeastern parts of the Mongolian Altai in the Mongolian People's Republic.
Further, the range includes the whole of Tibet, including Nanshan and Qaidam, an area in the south of the large bend of the Yellow River (Qinling and northern mountains), apparently also northern and western Sichuan. limits remains open. It is possible that it once existed here, but culture has long erased all natural relations here so much that it is not possible to find out.
In the south, the Central Asian region of the bear's habitat captures the Himalayas, including Nepal, Kumaon, Kashmir with Karakorum and northern Punjab and Waziristan. Further to the south (into Balochistan), the described animal, apparently, does not penetrate. In the east, it does not go to Burma (information about habitation in the Shan country has not been confirmed).
In Afghanistan, the range occupies areas associated with the Pamirs (Badakhshan, Wakhan) and the Hindu Kush. Details are not known. In Iran, the range occupies, on one side, the very north of the country - the forest areas associated with Elburz, and stretches in a strip from Talysh to Koiet-Dag. On the other hand, it runs in a wide cape from northern Iran to the southeast along the western and southwestern parts of the country through Luristan approximately to Shiraz. There is no described species in central, southern and eastern Iran. The range occupies the whole of Asia Minor (mountainous parts), the mountainous regions of northern and western Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
In Europe, beyond our borders, the restored area covers, in fact, the entire mainland to the very north, to the west, including England and Ireland; to the south, it reached everywhere to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, including the Apennine and Iberian Peninsulas. There was no bear in Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia, as well as on the islands of the eastern part of the sea. In Africa, the bear occupied the Atlas Mountains.
In North America, the range of the brown bear (restored) occupies the western half of the mainland approximately west of 90°W. e. The southern border of the range, starting along the Pacific coast, includes the northern part of the California Peninsula in the range. On the mainland, going at some distance from the coast of the Gulf of California, it descends along the Mexican plateau to the southern part of the province of Durango at about 22 ° N. sh. This is the southernmost habitat of the beast in the New World. From here, the border, outlining this southern cape from the east, goes north through northeastern Mexico (province of Coahuila) to Texas (USA), leaving its western part within the range. Stretching further north, the boundary leaves western Oklahoma and most of Kansas in range, runs due north through the western fringes of Iowa and Minnesota and through eastern Manitoba, to the coast of Hudson Bay at Churchill. Moving further north along the western shore of the bay, the border somewhere near Chesterfield turns to the northwest and goes to the northern coast of the mainland. Along it, in some places at some distance from it, the border goes west, passes to the coast of the Bering Sea and, capturing the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, goes south along the Pacific coast to the place indicated above in California. The area apparently does not include that part of the territory protruding to the west, lying north of Bristol Bay, on which the lower reaches of the Yukon and Kuskokwim are located. The brown bear is listed for St. Lawrence Island and Unimak in the Bering Sea; absent on others. There is no brown bear, apparently, and on the islands of Queen Charlotte and Vancouver.
The modern range of the bear is very different from the outlined one and makes up only a small part of it. At the same time, the range was divided into separate, relatively small, sometimes very small, sections, completely cut off from each other. Only a few more or less large habitats of the animal remained on the entire outlined range. The largest of them is the European-Siberian one within the USSR, the Central Asian one is rather large, and there is a significant section in North America.
At present, in Europe, bears have remained in Norway, Sweden and Finland, in the French and Spanish Pyrenees, in the Cantabrian mountains in Spain, in the Italian Alps, in the middle part of the Apennines, in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, the European part Turkey. Most common in Scandinavia, partly in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, especially in Romania. In the other countries mentioned, the animals are very few in number, and in some cases there are only single specimens. In Africa, the bear has been completely exterminated a long time ago.
In Asia outside the borders of our country, the brown bear has survived only in Asia Minor (in places), northern Iraq and in the indicated places in Iran. It has been exterminated in Japan. The range on the Korean Peninsula and in the Mongolian Republic has shrunk and is shrinking. The part of the range that occupies Tibet and the places adjacent to the Himalayas are still large.
In America, the range has been greatly reduced. The animal is still widespread in Alaska, in northern and western Canada (except Manitoba), but in the United States it is found, in fact, only in the Rocky Mountains in the states of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. A separate habitat area is located far to the south on the Mexican plateau. It is obvious that a further reduction in the range and number of the animal is inevitable.
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An animal that almost everyone recognizes at first sight, familiar from childhood from fairy tales and cartoons, is a bear.
Description of the bear
It has a short and thick body, the same neck, and a muzzle stretched forward. The predator has small eyes and ears. Despite this, he has excellent eyesight and excellent hearing.
Paws have 5 fingers with long, very powerful claws. It is not for nothing that they call it clubfoot, because the beast walks, stepping completely on the entire foot. This makes his walk seem awkward. In fact, without being particularly graceful, bears can move quite quickly. They are very hardy, therefore they are able to overcome long distances without rest.
All bears have a tail. It is usually very short and inconspicuous. Only the giant panda has a big tail.
Animals are good swimmers. The polar bear has webbed feet on its paws. Thanks to this, he can stay in the water for a long time, overcoming distances of 30 km or more without rest.
Where does a bear live in the wild?
The habitat of the animal is wide. It includes the Arctic and Antarctic, Canada and Alaska. In nature, a bear can be found in Europe, Asia, and the American continent. Some representatives of predators live in Australia, on the islands of Japan, Sumatra, Java. They live on plains and mountains, on the shores of the oceans, hot and very cold areas.
Some dig dens, others live in tree hollows, others live in caves. All bears, except for the white one, are sedentary. They love loneliness, although sometimes they can live in families (bear and cubs).
How long does a bear live?
Life expectancy is from 18 to 30 years, in captivity - up to 50.
How much does a bear weigh?
The weight of the smallest representative of the species - koalas - is from 4 kg to 18 kg, and the largest - polar bear - from 250 kg to 450 kg.
What does a bear eat?
The diet of animals consists of berries, nuts, roots. They love fish, insects, frogs and shellfish. The brown bear is not averse to eating the meat of roe deer, deer, and elk. Likes honey. The Malayan bear eats bananas, and the panda eats sugarcane shoots. The smallest, marsupial bear, a koala, is a vegetarian: it feasts on eucalyptus, and makes up for the lack of protein by eating the earth. This is the only representative whose menu contains neither insects nor the meat of other animals.
bear breeding
The bear is a monogamous animal. But, despite this, bear families are short-lived. Predators come together when mating season arrives. After fertilization of the female, the family breaks up. Pregnancy lasts differently for each species. The duration of bearing cubs is up to 200 days. Almost all female bears give birth to 1 to 3 cubs. Cubs are born blind, toothless, without hair. For 2 years, they feed on mother's milk. Sexual maturity is reached by 3-4 years. Only then do they leave their mother.
Types of bears
Zoologists distinguish several types of bears. Each species has subspecies.
Baribal - the so-called American bear - the most friendly of the representatives of the family. Although, in case of danger, it can strike with its paw, but immediately run back to a safe distance. The same clubfoot, like his relatives.
He lives in 30 US states, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It can be found in Mexico, Alaska.
The fur of the baribal is black, sometimes gray or blue-black. The growth of an adult male is about 2 m, weight reaches 350 kg. The black bear is the most common species in America.
The American bear feeds on berries, bees and termites, and catches fish. With pleasure, eat the meat of pigs or sheep.
A bear in captivity, under human protection, can live up to 30 years. Under natural conditions, lives 12 years.
The black bear is afraid of people, although it can go to the track, climb the farm in search of food.
The black bear has several names: white-breasted, Himalayan, Ussuri. The most romantic of them all: the moon bear. The name was given to him because of the crescent-shaped spot on his chest: white, sometimes with a yellowish tint.
The Himalayan bear lives in the forests and hills of Iran and Afghanistan. A large predator population lives in the Himalayas, Korea, and Japan. On the territory of Russia - in the Khabarovsk Territory (the image can be seen on the coat of arms), Yakutia. The Himalayan bear is found in Vietnam.
Males are quite large in size: the length reaches 1m 80 cm, at the withers - up to 80 cm. Weight - up to 80 kg. Females are much smaller and lighter.
The Himalayan bear often becomes the subject of hunting. At the same time, not only animal fur is valuable. In some countries (Laos, Vietnam, China) it is bred on special farms to collect bile, which is widely used in Chinese medicine. Here, the paws of a predator are eaten.
The Himalayan bear spends most of its time in the trees. Here he is looking for food, fleeing from the midge. The diet consists of nuts, berries, plant shoots, acorns. Since the body of a predator needs protein, the bear eats ants, other insects, and also frogs.
The Himalayan bear mates from June to August. Females give birth to 1 or 2 babies, weighing 400 g.
Sleeps in winter. The main enemies are Amur tiger, Brown bear.
Life expectancy is no more than 25 years.
One of the largest family of bears, its average size reaches 3 m. It weighs from 350 kg to 450 kg. The heaviest bear lived in the Berlin Zoo, weighed 760 kg. It lives in the Caucasus, in the northern part of Russia. It is found in Scandinavia, the Carpathians. A small number lives in Palestine, Iran, northern Iraq. It is difficult to name the exact place where the brown bear lives. The fact is that if somewhere there is enough food, then he will not go further than 500 hectares from there. If there is not enough food, then the brown bear begins to roam in search of food. The animal is a forest dweller. He prefers to arrange a lair where there are many swamps, in coniferous or mixed forests. It is quite difficult to meet a brown bear, because he is awake at night.
The appearance of the animal is deceiving. He looks, like the whole family, awkward: a huge head, short paws, big withers. But it can easily catch up with its prey, it swims perfectly (it can swim up to 6 km without stopping). At a young age, it climbs trees very well.
The Predator is endowed with great power. It will not be difficult for him to tear out the ribs or break the skull of any large animal. With a paw strike, he can break a person's spine. Dangerous animal after hibernation when hunger drives him to prey. During this period, he is not averse to feasting on human flesh.
Sleeps in winter. The longest duration of sleep is about 200 days. This is how long the brown bear sleeps on the Kola Peninsula, where winter lasts from November to April, and longer. The animal prepares the den in advance: it finds a dry place, covers it with dry foliage, hay, branches. Very rarely can arrange a rookery right on the ground.
Pregnant female bears equip dens in such a way that there is a lot of space, as well as ventilation. In winter, the lair is covered with snow, which becomes a kind of blanket for the mother and cubs.
The animal sleeps very sensitively. This dream is like a torpor. Wakes up when he runs out of fat stores.
Animals that for some reason have not gained fat do not hibernate at all, but roam the forest looking for food. They are called "rods". These predators are the most dangerous.
Life expectancy is about 30 years, in a seine - up to 50 years.
The local population nicknamed the animal a bear-dog. The maximum length of the body barely reaches 1 m 50 cm, weighs from 25 kg to 65 kg. The yellow spot on the chest looks like the rising sun, so another name is the sun bear. It is assumed that the black bear uses the light spot to intimidate enemies. During the fight, he assumes a threatening posture, standing upright on his hind legs. Distinctive feature- loose skin around the neck. This allows the animal to turn its head and deliver unexpected blows with its fangs. Leopards, as well as tigers, are dangerous for the biruang.
The black bear lives on the island of Java, Sumatra, on the Malay Peninsula, Borneo. The habitat is tropical, subtropical forest, sometimes found in the mountains.
The sun bear is the most aggressive of the family. With sharp fangs, he gnaws wood to get insects out of it. In addition, it feeds on berries and earthworms. It is not carnivorous, but can eat lizards and birds. He enjoys eating bananas, coconut palm sprouts. Zookeepers know what the animal eats, but they give them peanut butter and crickets.
How long a black bear lives in natural conditions is not known exactly. In captivity, its age reaches 24 years.
The sun bear is monogamous. There is no specific period for mating, it can occur at any time of the year. Mating games last from 2 to 7 days. The gestation time of a female can last from 95 to 210 days. Brings from 1 to 3 cubs that are born blind, the weight of newborn puppies is about 300g. Grow very fast. 2-3 months after birth, they run, play, eat with their mother, although they suckle milk for up to 4 months.
The animal is listed in the Red Book as an endangered species.
Grizzly
The gray bear lives in Alaska, in northern Canada. A small number survived in Montana, near Washington and Yellowstone. The growth of the bear is about 4m, its claws are dangerous weapon 15 cm long. How much a grizzly bear weighs, there is no exact answer. The maximum weight is about 210 kg, the weight of the smallest female is just over 130 kg. Like the brown bear, it can live up to 30 years. The grizzly is considered a bloodthirsty predator, although the food that the animal eats is no different from the diet of its relatives. The gray bear prefers algae, shoots of young plants, berries. He loves fish, honey, does not neglect frogs, lizards. The smell of carrion hears for 30 km, and eats it with pleasure. It hunts mainly for weak or young animals. Able to reach speeds of up to 60 km / h, easily cross the river, while demonstrating his enormous strength. Grizzly fishing during salmon spawning. He lowers his head into the water and catches prey with his teeth or paw. Particularly dexterous animals are able to catch fish when it jumps out of the water.
Grizzly winters in a den. During the thaw, he wakes up and wanders through the forest, looking for food. Goes back to sleep when frost intensifies.
Being loners, animals communicate only during the mating season. From the moment of mating to the birth of cubs, about 250 days pass. The mother takes care of them for 2 years.
Grizzlies do not pose a threat to humans. He can show aggression towards him only when he senses danger.
King of the Far North and the Arctic Ocean - polar bear. The largest representative of the family. Height 1.5 m, length 3 m. The male is much heavier than the female. He weighs 450 kg, Weight Limit females 250 kg. Habitat - Far North. It occurs on the island of Svalbard, on Novaya Zemlya, in the Hudson Bay area. Sometimes, drifting on an ice floe, he ends up in Iceland.
The bear's body is elongated, thick, with a large layer of subcutaneous fat. The predator's feet are longer than those of its relatives, since it needs to walk in the snow. Paws are endowed with membranes for swimming. The coat is white, or with a yellowish tint, regardless of the season.
Clumsy in appearance, the northern bear is an excellent swimmer. The speed that he develops is 45 km / h. Even in the waters of the Arctic, it can swim 80 km without a break. The undercoat serves as an air cushion for him. Has no equal in catching fish.
The polar bear has sharp eyesight, perfectly orients itself in the endless snowy expanses. He determines the road he needs with ease, while choosing the shortest distance to get to the goal he needs.
The polar bear is the largest animal in its range, so it is not afraid of anyone. Excellent hunter. It eats everything that lives around, but a special delicacy is the eggs and chicks of arctic birds.
For an animal, frost of 80 ° C is not a problem. The main thing is that there is water nearby, not covered with ice.
The female is hunting all year round, leaving this occupation only for the duration of pregnancy. During this period, she hides in a hole made of snow, bearing cubs, supporting her body with accumulated subcutaneous fat. Usually she gives birth to 2 babies, whom she quickly teaches all the wisdom of northern life.
To date, hunting for the animal is prohibited. Killing them is allowed only for the purpose of self-defense.
The life expectancy of an animal reaches 25 - 30 years.
The polar bear never attacks a person. This can happen if the animal feels aggression on his part. A predator can approach a person only out of curiosity. But if a person began to feed a bear, then he will perceive it as a source of food.
Gubach
The length of the predator reaches 2 m, the height at the withers is from 60 cm to 90 cm. Females are about a third smaller than males. The animal has a massive body with a large head, an elongated muzzle. His lips are always protruding forward, completely devoid of wool. Wool is often black, sometimes with a dirty brown tint.
You can meet a bear in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh.
Bamboo bear, which previously had other names: cat bear, spotted bear, lives in the northern regions of China. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became the emblem of the country. Males are 10% larger than females and 20% heavier. The length reaches 1.8 m, weight - up to 160 kg. Panda is a bear with a special coat color: the main color is white, paws, ears, round spots around the eyes are black. The panda has a tail 10-15 cm long. There are five fingers on the front paws and the sixth, designed to tear apart the thinnest bamboo stalks. This plant is the main food of the animal, the daily norm is about 30 kg. Pandas, like all bears, need protein. To replenish it, they eat eggs, insects, and sometimes small animals.
The habitat of the spotted bear is wide, in summer it climbs to a height of up to 4000 m to hide from the heat.
Sexual maturity of the animal occurs from 4 to 8 years. Pregnancy lasts from 3 to 5.5 months. Usually 1 or 2 cubs are born, weighing up to 130 g. At the same time, the mother takes care of the first baby, leaving the second. Births occur once every 2 years. Therefore, the population is growing slowly. Life expectancy 20 years.
The panda is considered an endangered species. According to the latest data, the number of animals is just over 2 thousand.
The Chinese authorities took the beast under state protection. For its destruction, the death penalty is provided.
The birthplace of the animal is Australia. The answer to the question to which family it belongs is debatable. Koala is and marsupial mammal, and a marsupial bear. Perhaps the only similarity with the view is external. Soft gray fur, small eyes, bent down nose, round ears do not leave anyone indifferent.
The growth of the animal is only 60 cm, weighs from 4 kg to 13 kg. The limbs and claws of the beast are designed in such a way that it can climb trees.
The papillary pattern of the pads on the fingers is so similar to the human that it is difficult to distinguish them even with a microscope.
The koala's diet consists of eucalyptus leaves and bark. A plant that is poisonous to others does not pose a danger to the koala. Every day they eat from 500 g to 1 kg of the plant. To replenish trace elements, they eat the earth.
The marsupial bear is a slow animal, motionless for almost 20 hours a day. At this time, he chews the leaves collected and stored behind his cheeks, or sleeps, or slowly moves along the trunk of a tree. The animal is an excellent swimmer. He knows how to jump, but he does it to escape from danger, or in search of food.
Koalas breed from October to February. Several females gather near one male. Pregnancy lasts a little over a month. The newborn is in the mother's pouch for six months, where he feeds on her milk. For the next six months, he lives on his mother's fur, tenaciously holding on to her.
Animals are like children: they are easily tamed by humans. They love to be stroked. Left alone, they begin to yearn and cry.
The koala has no enemies, because the bear cub smells like eucalyptus. Drought, lack of food and poachers exterminate it.
Koalas do not live long, only 18 years old.
Nature took care of the preservation of the species, endowing males with two penises, and females with two vaginas.
- They differ from other animals in that they distinguish colors.
- The polar bear's only enemy is the shark, which lives up to 200 years. Its habitat is Greenland.
Greetings, dear readers of the site "I and the World"! Today you will learn about the largest bears in the world: their habits and habitat, which specimens are very dangerous and which are quite harmless. But, in any case, it is undesirable to meet with them, it is unlikely that the outcome of this meeting will be in your favor.
From Russian fairy tales, we know about bears as clumsy and stupid animals. Because of their weight, they do seem to be slow, but they are not, they can develop such speed that it is difficult to escape from them even on a bicycle. You should get to know them better in order to know what to expect from them when you happen to meet them while traveling around the world, as well as: how they look, how much they weigh, where they live, etc.
And our rating opens "Black Bear" or Baribal
Its black coat glistens under the sun of the USA and Canada. Less common in northern Mexico. It is in these countries that this animal lives and weighs from 300 to 360 kg.
The largest male 363 kg. Was killed in Canada - this is the largest Baribal ever mined by man. The animals are pretty harmless. They do not attack people and domestic animals and live quietly and peacefully, eating plant foods, fish.
Very rarely, when there is not enough food, Baribal can drag off livestock. With a growth of up to two meters, Baribal cubs are born so small that their weight ranges from 200 to 400 grams.
In captivity: in zoos and circuses, they can live up to 30 years, but in nature only 10. Now there are about 600,000 individuals.
4th place - American Grizzly
Among the brown bears, he is the strongest, but not so big. The grizzly is very hardy and if there is a fight with another large animal, the beast has an instant grip, which leads to victory. He is considered friendly, but if there is not enough food or feels aggression, the good character disappears. The rather strong scent of the Grizzly allows you to feel prey at a great distance. It feeds on plant foods, loves fish, and, like any predator, does not refuse animal food.
It lives in Alaska and western Canada and reaches 450 kg.
Grizzly in translation means "terrible", but it does not just try to attack people, but only when it is hungry or very angry. It was on such rare occasions that the Grizzly was said to be a cannibal. In the rest of the prey-rich time, he is not dangerous.
The brown Siberian bear takes the third place
The dimensions of the Russian Siberian reach: in weight up to 800 kg, and in height up to 2.5 meters. This is a big fan of fish, living near the Anadyr, Kolyma and Yenisei rivers. Occasionally found in Chinese provinces.
Although in these places the warm season is short, there is a lot of plant and animal food and allows you to gain a lot of weight.
Siberian are loners and hibernate for the winter. They fish very interestingly: when salmon jump out of the water, the bears try to catch them in the air.
2nd place - one of the brown individuals - Kodiak
They live on the shores of Alaska on Kodiak Island. From this island the brown beast got its name. The largest brown bear in the world. A muscular animal with long legs, Kodiak easily obtains numerous food.
They grow up to 2.6 meters long and gain up to 1000 kg. The growth of an adult predator can be up to 2.8 meters.
There was a time when animals could completely disappear, and therefore it was forbidden to shoot them. Now their number is increasing, but so far only 3000.
They do not attack people, and therefore they do not pose a danger to tourists. But for the animals themselves, these meetings are rather unpleasant. Animals, frightened by strangers, stop eating normally and gain too little fat before hibernation. And a beast caught for the sake of keeping in a zoo may simply not survive in captivity.
And finally, the first place - Polar Bear
Wikipedia believes that the white is the world's largest bear living in the Arctic and reaching a mass of 1 ton or even more. This predatory animal reaches 3 meters in length - what a huge one!
This is a real record in weight among all species. Imagine such a huge beast like white steamer moving slowly through the snow. There is also wool on the paws, so they easily move on the ice and do not freeze in the most terrible frosts.
There are even more white bears on the island of Svalbard than people living there. Long neck with a flat head allows you to stretch and see far.
It is clear that living among the snows on drifting ice, he eats animal food: bearded seals, fish, walruses, arctic foxes. Also, like the brown ones, they live alone and up to about 30 years. Only females when pregnant fall into hibernation in order to gain strength for the upbringing of the future generation.
There are 28,000 polar bears all over the world, and only in Russia there are about 6,000. And although hunting for them is strictly prohibited, every year poachers destroy up to 200 bears.
In the photo you saw the largest bears on earth. They are all listed in the Red Book, but poachers do not think about it, destroying animals for the sake of a beautiful skin. In the entire history of mankind, so many of these animals have been destroyed that many populations are difficult to increase again.
We say goodbye to you until the next meeting on the pages of our site. If you liked the article, share it with your friends, they will also be interested in it.
