In the territory Russian Federation There are mainly two species of bears, the Brown bear and the Polar bear. Let's look at each type separately:
(Ursus arctos): The brown bear in Russia is still quite common in the forests of Siberia and Far East, in Kamchatka. In summer it often enters the tundra and highlands. In Chukotka it is often found in the tundra.
In Russia, its usual habitats are forests with windbreaks and burnt areas with dense growth deciduous trees, shrubs and grasses, also often found near meadows and oat fields.
Appearance: Brown bears are difficult to confuse with other animals - they are all large, shaggy, awkwardly built, with a large head, small ears and a short tail. The eyes glow dark red at night. Body length is up to 2 m, in Far Eastern bears - up to 2.8 m. There is a clearly visible depression in profile between the forehead and the bridge of the nose. In a standing animal, the withers are noticeably higher than the croup. The color is brown, less often black or reddish; in Caucasian animals it is usually lighter. There is a light stripe on the shoulders, especially often in young and South Kuril bears. Occasionally there is also a light spot on the chest. The ears are small and rounded.
The tracks are very wide and deep, five-toed, distinguished by long claws and clubfoot (this position of the paw is more convenient for climbing trees). The length of the fingerprints on the tracks of the front paws is 2-3 times less than the length of the palm print.
Average statistical dimensions: body length: up to 200 cm, height at withers: up to 100 cm, weight: up to 600 kg, claw length up to 10 cm.
Behavior and lifestyle: Brown bears are most active at dusk and at night, but sometimes also travel during the day.
Brown bears generally lead a sedentary lifestyle, moving along familiar paths. Bears place them in the most convenient places, choosing the shortest distance between objects that are significant to them. Despite their sedentary lifestyle, bears make seasonal migrations to places where this moment there is food. In lean years, a bear can travel 200-300 km in search of food. For example, on the coast Pacific Ocean During the mass migration of red fish, bears come from afar to the mouths of rivers.
In winter, bears hibernate in a den. In different habitats, bears sleep in winter from 2.5 to 6 months.
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. Dens are located on small islands among moss swamps, among windbreaks or dense small forests. Bears arrange them under inversions and logs, under the roots of large cedars and spruce trees. In mountainous areas, bears roost in earthen dens, which are located in rock crevices, shallow caves, and recesses under stones.
Bears sleep alone; only females who have cubs this year sleep with their cubs.
Bears sleep very lightly; if the animal is disturbed, it easily awakens, leaves the den and wanders in circles for a long time before lying down again. Often bears themselves leave their dens during prolonged thaws and return to them at the slightest cold snap.
In the summer, male bears mark the boundaries of their territory by standing on their hind legs and tearing bark from trees with their claws. Where there are no trees, bears tear up any suitable objects, such as clay slopes.
Diet: The brown bear is an omnivore; it eats both plant and animal food, but most of its diet, oddly enough, is plant food.
It is most difficult for a bear to feed itself in early spring, when there is not enough plant food. At this time of year, he sometimes hunts even large ungulates, eats carrion, digs up anthills, getting larvae and the ants themselves.
From the beginning of the appearance of greenery and until the mass ripening of various berries, the bear spends most of its time fattening in forest clearings and meadows, eating umbelliferous plants (hogweed, angelica), thistle, and wild garlic. When the berries begin to ripen, the bears begin to eat them: first blueberries, raspberries, blueberries, honeysuckle, later - lingonberries, cranberries.
The autumn period is the most important for preparing for winter. At this time, bears eat acorns, hazel nuts, in the taiga - pine nuts, in the mountains southern forests- wild apples, pears, cherries, mulberries. Climbing fruit-bearing trees, the bear breaks off branches, eating the fruits on the spot, or throws them down, and sometimes simply shakes the crown.
In early autumn, the bear loves to eat ripening oats. 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 near the rivers of the Pacific coast, during the red fish run, gather in dozens near the rifts and deftly catch fish.
Reproduction: The breeding season of brown bears is May-June. At this time, the males are vigorously sorting things out. The formed pair stays together for about a month, and if a new contender appears, not only the male, but also the female drives him away. In January, mother bears bring from 1 to 4 cubs in their den, which weigh only 500 g. The cubs' eyes open after a month. After 2-3 months, the babies come out. By the time they leave the den, they weigh from 3 to 7 kg. The mother feeds the cubs for up to six months. But already at 3 months of age, young animals begin to eat plant foods, imitating a mother bear. 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.
Habitat: Each 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.
Economic importance: The bear serves as an object of sport hunting. Fat and bile are used for medicinal purposes. The value of bear bile provokes poaching of bears. Bear fat, like other hibernating animals, contains a large amount of vitamins and has healing properties.
In the mythology of most peoples of Eurasia and North America, the bear serves as a connecting link between the human world and the animal world. Primitive hunters considered it obligatory, after catching a bear, to perform a ritual ritual, asking for forgiveness from the spirit of the killed one. The ritual is still performed by the indigenous inhabitants of the remote regions of the North and Far East. In some places, killing a bear with firearms and is still considered a sin. The ancient ancestors of European peoples were so afraid of the bear that they pronounced its name arctos out loud (among the Aryans in V-I millennia BC, later among the Latin peoples) and mechka (among the Slavs in the V-IX centuries AD) was prohibited. Instead, nicknames were used: ursus among the Romans, vea among the ancient Germans, vedmid or bear among the Slavs. Over the centuries, these nicknames turned into names, which in turn were also prohibited among hunters and replaced by nicknames (among the Russians - Mikhailo Ivanovich, Toptygin, Boss). In the early Christian tradition, the bear was considered the beast of Satan.
Bear meat is almost always infected with worms, especially in old and weakened animals. Therefore, it should be consumed with great caution. Of particular danger is trichinosis, which can infect up to a third of brown bears. Triquinas are not killed by smoking, freezing or pickling; Meat can only be reliably disinfected by heat treatment, for example, boiling for half an hour.
(Ursus maritimus): The polar bear is the largest predator in the animal kingdom. Body length is 1.6-3.3 m, weight of males is 400-500 kg (sometimes up to 750), females - up to 380 kg. The bear swims and dives excellently, and swims tens of kilometers into the open sea. Moves quickly on ice. Leads a solitary lifestyle, but sometimes groups of 2-5 animals are found; Several bears may gather near large carrion.
Habitat: In Russia, the polar bear constantly lives in the space from Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya to Chukotka. On floating ice it sometimes reaches Kamchatka. Distances deep into the continent have been noted (up to 500 km along the Yenisei River). The southern border of the habitat coincides with the edge of drifting ice. As the ice melts and breaks up, bears move to the northern border of the Arctic Basin. With the beginning of stable ice formation, animals begin their reverse migration to the south.
Behavior and lifestyle: Polar bears hunt pinnipeds, mainly ringed seals, bearded seals and harp seals. They come onto the land of coastal zones of islands and the mainland, hunt walrus cubs, and also eat sea waste, carrion, fish, birds and their eggs, and less often rodents, berries, mosses and lichens. Pregnant females lie down in dens, which they build on land from October to March-April. In broods there are usually 1-3, more often 1-2 cubs. They stay with the female bear until they are two years old. Maximum lifespan polar bear- 25-30 years, rarely more.
The polar bear has incomparable resistance to cold. Its thick, long fur consists of hairs that are hollow in the middle and contain air. Many mammals have similar protective hollow hairs - an effective means of insulation - but those of the bear have their own characteristics. Polar bear fur retains heat so well that it cannot be detected by aerial infrared photography. Excellent thermal insulation is also provided by the subcutaneous layer of fat, which reaches 10 cm in thickness with the onset of winter. Without it, the bears would hardly be able to swim 80 km in icy Arctic water.
In July, many of the polar bears that traveled with drifting ice move to the coasts of continents and islands. On land they become vegetarians. They feast on cereals, sedges, lichens, mosses and berries. When there are a lot of berries, the bear does not eat any other food for weeks, gorging on them to the point that his face and butt turn blue with blueberries. However, the longer the bears starve, forced to prematurely move to land from the melting ice as a result of warming, the more often they go in search of food to people who have been actively exploring the Arctic in recent decades.
The question of whether an encounter with a polar bear is dangerous for a person is difficult to answer unequivocally. Sometimes bears attacked people out of curiosity, quickly realizing that they were easy prey. But most often, tragic incidents happen at campsites, where bears are attracted by the smell of food. Usually the bear goes straight to the smell, crushing everything in its path. The situation is complicated by the fact that the animal, in search of food, tears into pieces and tastes everything it comes across, including people who turn up by chance.
It should be noted that bears, unlike wolves, tigers and other dangerous predators, have virtually no facial muscles. They never warn of impending aggression. By the way, circus trainers argue that because of this feature, it is most dangerous to work with bears - it is almost impossible to predict what to expect from them in the next moment.
Now, thanks to the efforts of Greenpeace, they try not to kill bears that wander into the city in search of food, resorting to temporarily tranquilizing shots from a special gun. The sleeping animal is weighed, measured and recorded. A colored tattoo is applied to the inside of the lip - a number that remains for the entire bear's life. Females, in addition, receive a collar with a miniature radio beacon as a gift from zoologists. The euthanized bears are then transported by helicopter back to the ice so that they can continue living a full life in their natural habitat. Moreover, females with cubs are transported first.
Females produce offspring every three years. Thanks to natural selection, the pregnancy process was amazingly synchronized with the period hibernation. In October or November, pregnant bears leave sea ice and head to the nearest land in search of a den where they raise their young during the long polar night. Having reached land, the bear searches for a suitable place for a long time until she chooses a depression or cave in a snowdrift of old snow. Gradually, snowstorms sweep the den and leave traces that reveal its location. After a few months, tiny bear cubs no larger than a rat appear inside the snow den. Newborn bears, burrowing into their mother's fur, immediately look for nipples and begin to suck. A baby bear's claws are curved and sharp - this helps him hold on to the soft fur on the mother bear's belly.
Meanwhile, the female is starving and her weight drops by almost half. But she will only be able to go hunting when her children grow up and gain strength. Cubs need time to get used to arctic temperatures after several months of living in a den warm from their mother's body. After 2-3 months, the weight of the cubs increases 4-5 times, and the family begins to take short walks in the immediate vicinity of the home. The mother bear introduces the cubs to a new environment for them, teaches them hunting skills and shows amazing patience with the cubs' frisky games and curiosity. The mother bear's care for her cubs does not stop until they become independent.
Fathers, as often happens in nature, do not take the slightest part in the fate of their offspring, shifting all worries about feeding the cubs onto the shoulders of the bear. However, food is not the only problem facing a female with cubs. The real threat comes from adult males who compete with each other for the possession of a female. If the chance comes, big male can easily kill her cubs. The female will then go into heat again and he can mate with her to ensure that the next generation will inherit his genes. Therefore, females are very vigilant and do not let their cubs go far from them.
The population of polar bears, which was on the verge of extinction in the 60s, is gradually recovering thanks to the work of nature conservation societies. And now about 20,000 polar bears roam the polar region, the true masters of the snow fields and arctic ice.
The polar bear is the largest species of the bear family (Ursidae). In its homeland, in the Arctic, it is, without a doubt, the “king of beasts”, which has practically no natural enemies. But what do we know about polar bears, except that they live in northern latitudes? This article will tell you in detail about the life and behavioral characteristics of polar predators and will help you understand what kind of rulers of the far north they really are?
Polar bears live in the ice of the circumpolar Arctic. There are about 20 populations, which hardly mix with each other and vary greatly in number - from 200 to several thousand individuals. The size of the entire world population is approximately 22-27 thousand animals.
The permanent residence of polar bears is coastal ice continents and islands, where the number of their main prey - ringed seals - is quite high. Some individuals live among less productive multi-year ice in the central Arctic region. From the south, their distribution is limited to the southern limit of the seasonal ice cover in the Bering and Barents Seas and in the Labrador Strait. In areas where the ice melts completely in the summer (Hudson Bay and southeast Baffin Island), animals spend several months on the shore, using up their fat reserves, until the water freezes.
Description and photo of a polar bear
The polar bear is the largest representative of the bear family. As an independent species, it was first described in 1774 by K. Phipps, receiving the Latin name Ursus maritimus, which means “sea bear.”
Polar bears evolved from brown bears during the late Pleistocene; the oldest find, 100 thousand years old, was discovered in the Royal Botanic Gardens in London.
Body length of males is 2-2.5 m, females – 1.8-2 m; the weight of males is 400-600 kg (especially well-fed individuals can weigh a ton), females - 200-350 kg.
In the photo, a polar bear is jumping from an ice floe. Despite their massive body, these animals are surprisingly agile. If necessary, they can swim for several hours, and on land they can cover up to 20 km in a day, although sometimes this leads to overheating.
The structural features are associated with living conditions in a harsh climate. The body of the polar predator is stocky; They do not have the raised withers characteristic of brown bears. Compared to other species, the polar head is narrower and longer, with a flat forehead and long neck. The animal's ears are small and rounded.
Thanks to their thick fur and thick layer of fat, polar predators feel quite comfortable at temperatures of -50°C. Their fur is naturally white; it serves as an ideal camouflage for the beast. However, the fur often takes on a yellowish tint due to pollution and fat oxidation, especially in summer. It is interesting that while the coat is white, the animal’s skin is dark. This feature serves as a natural accumulator for animals of solar energy, which, as is known, is in great short supply in their habitats.
Large front paws, reminiscent of oars, are an excellent device for swimming, in addition, there are swimming membranes between the toes. When swimming, the hind legs play the role of a kind of rudder. Wide feet increase the supporting surface when moving on snow.
Interesting fact: despite the fact that polar and brown bears are very different in appearance, they are close relatives and can interbreed in captivity. A hybrid of such a cross is called a grolar or pizzly.
Polar bear lifestyle
Polar bears lead a predominantly solitary lifestyle; They stay in pairs only during the rutting season. Cases of their accumulation, sometimes up to several dozen individuals, in places where there is a sufficiently large amount of food, are quite rare. Groups of polar predators are quite tolerant of each other’s company even when feeding on large prey, such as a dead whale. However, ritual battles or games are not uncommon, but each animal does not forget about its hierarchical status.
Animals lead a predominantly nomadic lifestyle, with the exception of the time spent in dens. Dens are primarily used by females to give birth and raise their young. It is also a refuge for winter sleep, but animals hibernate for a short time and not every year.
How are dens arranged?
Dens of breeding females can be divided into generic and temporary. At birth, female bears give birth to offspring. Their stay in such dens averages 6 months. A temporary den serves breeding females for a short time - from 1 day to 2-3 weeks, and in isolated cases up to 1 month or more.
The birth den consists of one or more chambers. The length of the chamber is on average from 100 to 500 cm, width - from 70 to 400 cm, height - from 30 to 190 cm, the length of the corridor varies from 15 to 820 cm. The entrance hole is often poorly visible from a distance of several meters.
Temporary dens differ from ancestral dens in structure. They are usually of a fairly simple structure: with one chamber and a short (up to 1.5-2 m) corridor, as a rule, with completely “fresh” walls and vault, and a slightly icy floor.
Depressions, pits and trenches without a vault and a clearly defined entrance are sometimes referred to as temporary dens, but it would be more correct to call them shelters. Such shelters usually serve polar bears for a short time - from several hours to several days. They provide the animal with minimal comfort, for example, shelter during bad weather.
In particularly severe weather conditions (blizzard, frost), bears, in order to save energy, can lie down in temporary shelters for several weeks. The northern predator has one interesting physiological feature: while other bears can only hibernate in winter, our hero can enter a state similar to hibernation at any time.
What does the lord of the north eat?
The ringed seal (ringed seal) is food No. 1 in the diet of polar bears; to a lesser extent, the sea hare becomes their prey (the animal catches it when it comes up to breathe). The animals hunt for seals by waiting for them near “vents”, as well as at their breeding sites on ice floes, where inexperienced pups become easy prey for predators. The bear sneaks up on the victim unnoticed, then makes a sharp throw and plunges into the water. To expand the small “vents”, the animal breaks the ice with its front paws, using its impressive mass. Having immersed the front part of the body in the water, it grabs the victim with its powerful jaws and pulls it onto the ice. Bears can find the location of a seal's hole through a meter-long layer of densely packed snow; they walk towards it from a kilometer away, guided solely by smell. Their sense of smell is one of the most acute among all mammals. They also hunt walruses, beluga whales, narwhals, and waterfowl.
For the nutrition of hungry polar predators, emissions from the sea are essential: the corpses of dead animals, the waste of sea animals. A large number of bears usually accumulate near the carcass of a beached whale (photo).
The polar bear, being a typical carnivore, nevertheless, being hungry and not being able to hunt its main prey - seals, can easily switch to other foods, including plant foods (berries, seaweed, herbaceous plants, mosses and lichens, twigs of shrubs). This, apparently, should be regarded as an evolutionary adaptation of the species to harsh environmental conditions.
In one sitting, the animal is capable of eating a very large amount of food, and then, if there is no prey, starve for a long time.
In modern conditions, increased technogenic impact on ecosystems may lead to a deterioration in the food supply of the polar bear, forcing it to increasingly switch to secondary food and visit landfills in populated areas, destroy warehouses, etc.
Eternal nomads
Constantly changing ice conditions force northern bears to regularly change their habitats, looking for areas where seals are more numerous and among the ice fields there are open or covered with young ice leads, channels and cracks, which make it easier for them to catch prey. Such areas are very often confined to the french zone, and it is no coincidence that many animals concentrate here in winter. But from time to time, the french zone is completely closed due to pressure winds, and then the bears have to migrate again to other areas in search of more favorable places for hunting. Fixed ice remains stable, and then only for the period of winter and early spring, but it is not everywhere suitable for the existence of seals, and therefore, polar bears.
In search of more suitable places for hunting, animals sometimes travel hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, their habitat varies significantly even within one season, not to mention interseasonal and annual differences. In the absence of territorialism in the polar bear, individual individuals or family groups take over a relatively small area for some time. But as soon as conditions begin to change dramatically, animals leave such areas and migrate to other areas.
Continuation of the family line
The mating season occurs in April-May. At this time, there is quite an intense struggle between males for females.
Females are characterized by induced ovulation (they must mate many times over several days before ovulation and fertilization occurs), and therefore pairs remain together for 1-2 weeks to successfully reproduce. In addition, polar bears are characterized by a delay in implantation until mid-September-October, depending on the latitude at which the animals live. After 2-3 months, cubs are born in most areas. This happens in a snowy den. Babies are born weighing about 600 grams. At birth, their fur is so thin that they appear to be hairless. Until 7-8 months of age, the basis of nutrition for cubs is mother's milk. The milk is very fat – 28-30%, but it seems to be separated in small quantities.
Sometimes a she-bear leaves a den that has become “dysfunctional” when the cubs are still weak. They move with difficulty and require constant care. If such a family is disturbed at this time, the female, saving the cubs, carries them away in her teeth.
When the cubs reach a weight of 10-12 kg, they begin to accompany their mother everywhere. They freely follow her along steep slopes, often starting games during walks. Sometimes the games end in a fight, with the cubs roaring loudly.
Some female bears who go for a walk do some kind of gymnastics in the snow. They clean themselves on the snow, rub their snouts against it, lie on their stomachs and crawl, pushing off with their hind legs, slide down the slope in different poses: on their backs, sides or stomachs. For adult bears, these are apparently hygienic procedures aimed at keeping their fur clean. In cubs imitating their mother, this behavior also has a playful overtone.
The mother bear's training of the younger generation probably lasts as long as the family group remains. Imitation of the mother is already evident when the babies are in the den, for example, digging activity. They also sometimes imitate her when eating plants.
Having finally left the den, the family goes to the sea. On the way, the female often stops to feed the cubs, sometimes she feeds herself, digging out plants from under the snow. If the weather is windy, she lies with her back to the wind; if the snow is deep enough, it digs a small hole or temporary den. Then the families go into the ice. In the first half of May, sometimes females and cubs are still seen on land, but probably from among those who, for some reason, left their den with a delay.
Females can reproduce once every 3 years, since the cubs are with her for up to 2.5 years. Females become mothers for the first time, usually at the age of 4-5 years, and then give birth every 3 years until death. Most often, 2 bear cubs are born. The largest litters and the largest cubs are found in females aged 8-10 years. Young and old female bears more often give birth to 1 cub. There is evidence that adult females in natural conditions They can exchange cubs or adopt cubs that have lost their mother for some reason.
The lifespan of female polar bears is 25-30 years, males - up to 20 years.
Diseases, enemies and competitors
A dangerous intestinal-muscular invasive disease such as trichinosis is widespread among polar bears. They have other diseases very rarely.
Much more often they suffer from various injuries, including those inflicted in a fight with each other for the possession of a female or food. But they do not have serious consequences for the population.
A polar bear's competitor can only be a person who hunts seals for their skin, fur and meat, upsetting the natural balance between predator and prey.
The wolf and arctic fox have a minor impact on the population, attacking and killing bear cubs.
Polar bears and humans
Thanks to measures to protect polar predators, the risk of their extinction is low. They were previously considered a vulnerable species, but after the 1973 Polar Bear Conservation Agreement came into force, the population size stabilized.
Provided that the hunting of northern bears is controlled, they are not in danger of being destroyed. However, there are concerns that their numbers may decline due to low reproduction rates. They are shot mainly by the local population, whose representatives kill about 700 individuals per year. But the main danger for our heroes is climate warming and pollution environment.
In the Arctic regions, due to population growth, the likelihood of a polar predator colliding with humans has potentially increased. As a result, a conflict situation is created that is dangerous for both parties. Polar bears, however, cannot be considered aggressive towards people, but there are exceptions. Most animals retreat when they meet a person, others do not pay attention to him. But there are also those who chase a person, especially if he runs away. Most likely, at this moment the animal’s instinct of pursuit is triggered. Therefore, to claim that the polar bear is a completely harmless animal would be a dangerous misconception. The real threat is posed by exhausted individuals. First of all, these are old animals that have lost the ability to successfully hunt for their usual food, as well as young ones that have not yet adequately mastered hunting techniques. Females protecting their cubs also pose a considerable danger. The polar bear can also become aggressive if it unexpectedly encounters a person or if it is being chased.
In contact with
The polar or polar bear is the only one that is classified in most countries (USA, Norway, Greenland and Russia) as a marine mammal. The exception is Canada, which currently classifies the polar bear as a terrestrial mammal. Polar bears are found at the top of the Arctic, where they feed primarily on seals.
Who are polar bears?
According to the latest data from numerous studies, the ancient ancestor of polar bears is the brown bear. Their origin dates back to about 350 thousand to 6 million years ago. Unlike their brown relatives, who live on land, polar bears are perfectly adapted to survive in the Far North. Exist different populations polar bears. In total, there are 19 species of different subpopulations of polar bears. According to more recent studies, there are four main groups. This classification is based on the characteristics of the places where polar bears live: divergent ice, convergent ice, seasonal ice and archipelagos.
The polar bear is the closest relative. Adult males usually weigh between 350 and 600 kilograms. Adult females are smaller - usually their weight ranges from 150 to 295 kilograms. Polar bears are considered long-lived. IN wildlife they live on average 15 to 18 years, although biologists have recorded several 30-year-old individuals. In captivity, some long-lived bears reach 40 years of age. A striking example of this is the captive-bred Debbie bear from Canada, who lived to be 42 years old.
Where do polar bears live?
The polar bear's habitat is its natural environment, where it can hunt for food and reproduce by constructing snow dens for hibernation and protection of its cubs. Polar bears are found throughout the Arctic. They most often live in areas where there is a population of ringed seals. The polar bear's habitat covers the entire circumpolar Arctic.
These large mammals have adapted to live in water and on land. Unlike other bears, the polar bear is an excellent swimmer and can sometimes be seen more than 160 km from land or ice. Currently, more than 40 percent of all polar bears live in Northern Canada, on the ice along the shores of numerous islands.
Threat of extinction
Polar bears are considered a fairly vulnerable species in terms of extinction. In Russia, animals are listed in the Red Book, which includes rare or endangered animals. In the United States, polar bears are listed as an endangered species on the Endangered Species List. Canada believes they require increased attention within the National Species at Risk framework. Measures to protect animals are taken at the legislative level.
Habitat loss due to climate change is a cause for concern. Scientists predict that due to intense melting of ice, two-thirds of the world's polar bears could disappear this century. The study also shows that the situation can still be improved if measures are taken soon to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Polar bear habitats should not be polluted by commercial exploitation of the Arctic.
Polar bears: habitat
Bears are adapted to arctic climate, where winter temperatures can drop to -45º C. These animals have two insulated layers of fur that help them retain body heat. In addition, in good times they also have a thick layer of fat. Compact ears and a small tail also prevent heat loss. In fact, polar bears have more problems with overheating than with cold, especially when running. An excellent sense of smell helps them hunt, and their claws can hold prey weighing 40-90 kg.
The polar bear's place in the food chain
The habitat of these furry predators is the Arctic deserts. The polar bear is found in the upper Arctic the food chain. In this way, natural balance is achieved in order to prevent overpopulation of the habitat. When an adult bear is in good shape, the established fat reserves support the body between meals.
Bears hunt ringed seals, sea hares, and baleen whales. These white and furry mammals are excellent swimmers: they use their front legs as oars while their back legs act as a rudder. In addition, they have a wonderful sense of smell: they can smell their prey from a distance of one kilometer.
Offspring
Depending on the condition of the body, females usually reproduce two to three cubs every 4-6 years. Because of this, polar bears have one of the slowest reproductive cycles in nature, typically producing offspring no more than five times during their lives. The habitat of a polar bear allows you to choose a suitable shelter for the birth of cubs. Cubs are born in November or December in snow caves called birth dens.
At birth, babies resemble large white rats, which reach 30-35 centimeters in length and weigh just over half a kilogram. Blind, toothless and covered in short, soft fur, they are completely dependent on their mother for warmth and food. The cubs grow quite quickly thanks to their mother's high-calorie milk, which contains about 31% fat. Little bears stay with their mother until they are 2.5 years old.
Habitat Features
The polar bear's habitat may change as the animals may make long-distance migrations over land and water along continental coasts or islands. Some individuals spend most of the year on land. Most pregnant females spend the fall and winter on the ground in their natal dens.
Air temperatures in the Arctic average -34°C in winter and 0°C in summer. The coldest zone in winter is the northeastern part of Siberia, where temperatures drop to -69°C. The warmest areas in the summer are considered to be the inland regions of Siberia, Alaska and Canada, where temperatures can reach + 32°C.
Polar bears, whose habitat is in the northern circumpolar regions, are often depicted alongside penguins in illustrations in popular fiction and children's books. However, they live at different poles. Polar bears do not live in Antarctica: penguins live there on an ice-covered continent surrounded by oceans, and the habitat of polar bears is the Arctic.
That's what they are, these amazing animals - polar bears.
The polar bear lives in one of the most remote corners of our Earth. His life is spent in eternal wanderings across the icy expanses of the Arctic.
The Arctic is the northern hemisphere of our planet, which includes almost the entire Arctic Ocean and nearby islands (in addition to the Norwegian ones), the outskirts of the continents of Eurasia and North America, and also covers the adjacent parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This entire area is the habitat of the polar bear.
Polar bears spend their lives on drifting ice floes. IN summer time The ice actively begins to melt, during this period polar bears move north. By autumn, when there is more drifting ice, they return to the south. In winter, an immovable strip is formed in the zone of drifting ice, along which bears often move to the land of nearby islands and coasts. At this time of year, they most often go into hibernation, lasting from 50 to 80 days. Favorite places where polar bears spend their wintering grounds are Wrangel Island and Franz Josef Land. You can also meet a polar bear in such countries as: Norway, Canada, USA (Alaska), Denmark (Greenland), Russia. 
In total, about 20,000-25,000 polar bears live in the Arctic expanses. The largest population of 5,000-7,000 individuals lives in Russia.
What do polar bears eat in Antarctica?
The polar bear is a predator. Its main prey in the vast expanses of ice are representatives of the local fauna: seals (hares, ringed seals), walruses. Finding food in such conditions is not easy, but the predator skillfully copes with this task. Polar bears hunt , using special tactics. They quietly approach the hole and keep watch near it until the seal emerges to breathe air. When the animal surfaces, the bear stuns it, and then immediately drags it onto the ice and eats the prey. Only 1 in 20 such hunts are successful.
In addition to food obtained as a result of hunting, bears eat carrion, beached whales, narwhals, belugas, and fish. Sometimes, given the opportunity, bears attack them. 
In summer, the polar bear's food becomes quite scarce. It eats berries, fish, algae, bird eggs and chicks, carrion, and lichens. During this difficult time, the bear can lose up to half of its weight.
Sometimes hungry individuals penetrate into the houses of Eskimos or into the warehouses of polar expeditions, where they feast on various food products. Most often, polar bears eat canned food, meat, fish and other food.
Polar bear habitats often overlap with human habitats. In such cases, bears often hunt in garbage dumps in search of food.
The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) belongs to the class Mammals, order Carnivores, family Ursidae. Very close to dogs, bears appeared about 5 million years ago. The lonely ruler of the Arctic, the polar bear reigns on the floating ice off the northern shores of Eurasia and America. This is his element! He wanders all day long, covering vast distances, enjoying rolling in the snow or sleeping.
The polar bear can only be classified as a “terrestrial” mammal only conditionally, since these animals appear on land very rarely, only on the Arctic islands and the sea coast. They spend most of their time wandering across the ice of the Arctic Ocean. The polar bear is perfectly adapted to life in the polar seas. Snow storms often occur in the Arctic. To escape from them, polar bears dig holes in the snowdrifts, lie down in them and come out only after the storm subsides.
This is a real amphibious beast! 
Its body has a streamlined shape: its pointed muzzle easily cuts through the water, very warm, thick fur and a layer of subcutaneous fat allow the well-swimming predator to stay in water for a long time. cold water swimming across long distances between ice fields. The hind legs serve as a rudder, and the front legs, densely covered with hair, form continuous paddle blades. The specific gravity of a bear's body is close to the specific gravity of water. The fur in the water does not get wet and retains air, supporting the body of this giant in the water, allowing it to swim for hours and even sleep without getting out on the ice. Bears can swim 100 km from land!
The eyes, ears and nose are located significantly higher on its relatively small head than on its more rounded head brown bear, so all the polar bear's main senses are above the water. He is also a good diver. A swimming bear reaches a speed of 5-6 km/h, and when diving, it can stay under water for about two minutes.
The polar bear is the largest land predator and the largest bear of all. existing species. Adult males reach 3 m in length and weigh 500 - 700 kg, but giants are known that weighed 1000 kg! For comparison: the weight of even the most large lions and tigers do not exceed 400 kg. The height at the withers is up to 1.5 m, the tail length is from 8 to 15 cm. It lives in nature for about 25 years, but in zoos, where conditions are much less harsh, it can live up to 40 years.
The bear feels confident on the ice surface.
Extremely dexterous, it jumps over cracks up to 3.5 m wide and never breaks the ice, as it evenly distributes its weight, spreading its paws widely.
Its coloring is protective; its white fur with a yellowish tint is hardly noticeable against the background of ice and snow. The hollow hairs of the bear's fur work like light guides, through which the weak radiation of the northern sun reaches the bear's skin and warms it. Sharp curved claws help them easily climb slippery ice blocks. Polar bears even grow hair on their paw pads, which allows them to prevent slipping on ice and keeps their paws warm.
The polar bear is an unsurpassed hunter of sea animals. He has keen eyesight, excellent hearing and an excellent sense of smell and is able to smell the scent of a prey from 7 km away. Thanks to its keen sense of smell, a bear can learn a lot from the tracks left by its relatives, for example, their gender or readiness to mate.
The polar bear is selective in its diet among bears and is the only bear that feeds primarily on meat. He is able to travel long distances in search of his favorite food - seal. Polar bears have come up with different hunting techniques. Most often they watch for seals near their ventilation holes in the ice. While swimming underwater, seals periodically need to take in air. For this purpose, a hole is maintained in the ice. A polar bear stands guard at its edge, often for several hours.
As soon as the seal carelessly surfaces, the bear throws it out of the water with a powerful blow of its paw or jumps into the hole itself, killing the prey underwater. Sometimes, just one blow with a paw is enough to kill a seal. Often seals do not rest in the water, but on the edge of their holes. Then the polar bear carefully creeps up to them. Sometimes it even crawls on its belly, hiding behind snow drifts and ice floes. However, he makes a jerk from a distance of 20-25 m. After all, if a seal discovers him, he will quickly slide into the water.
In the spring, female seals make burrows in the snow, almost invisible from the outside, with access to water. In them, seals whelp and leave their young when going fishing. With an exceptionally keen sense of smell, a polar bear is able to smell a seal among the ice. With a powerful jump, he breaks through the icy roof or breaks it with his paw. In this case, the seal, as a rule, has no chance of escape.
These predators catch larger animals - young walruses, beluga whales - less often. It also feeds on fish, lemmings, musk ox calves, eggs and carrion. IN summer months They even eat plants. Polar bears have an excellent sense of smell, which allows them to smell carrion at a distance of more than 30 km. Arctic foxes and gulls often feast on the leftovers of a bear's meal.
In the summer, he uses a different tactic: he swims underwater for a long time, then suddenly emerges and attacks seals lying on an ice floe or geese, swans, and ducks resting on the waves. Bears usually do not hunt on the shore.
Polar bears have a large reserve of fat under their skin, which protects them from the cold and allows them to go without food for a long time. But if a bear catches prey, it can eat 10-25 kg at once. An experienced bear catches a seal every 3-4 days.
Their decent size does not prevent these animals from running at a speed of 40 km/h. On average, they travel about 15,000 km per year in search of food.
Male polar bears all year round walk around the Arctic. They live on their own, making an exception only for the mating season. Going on a hunt or in search of a female to prolong the family, they move across endless icy expanses and sometimes walk many tens of kilometers a day. Females live in small family groups with their young, usually two and sometimes more.
By the beginning of the mating season, the bear becomes restless, and her walking routes lengthen. When the male comes across her droppings or traces of urine, he senses that the female is ready to mate and takes her trail. At the first meetings, the bear demonstrates inaccessibility and rejects him with a roar or a blow of her paw. Standing on its hind legs and growling loudly, the bear tries to impress its partner. He stubbornly follows her, and gradually the female lets him closer. The bears are together for some time, frolicking and playing. But after a few days their paths diverge. After one or two days, mating occurs. Both animals later mate with other partners. It may happen that cubs from the same litter have different fathers.
If several males follow the trail of a female bear ready to mate, then the issue is decided by the size and self-confidence of the applicant. Each of the males shows what they are capable of, rising to their full height, exchanging blows with their paws and growling loudly.
During the summer, the female polar bear stores fat under its skin to survive the long winter. After the mating season, the female hibernates during the coldest months of the year. It digs a den in the snow or climbs into naturally formed snow voids to hibernate. The bear makes her den not among the ice, but on the land of the Arctic islands.
The bear does not eat or drink for months, gaining energy by “burning” the fat reserves accumulated by the fall. A mother bear nursing her cubs may lose more than half her body weight during hibernation. Her body temperature remains normal - unlike animals that go into real hibernation.
It is very warm in the den (the temperature reaches + 30 °C), and here by December the bear gives birth to cubs. A female bear usually gives birth to 2-3 cubs every 3 years. Polar bear cubs are born weak, blind, and their mothers take care of them with great love. The newborn weighs only 700 g and is 20 cm long. Mothers fiercely protect their babies, especially from male bears, which, if hungry, can kill and eat the cubs.
Babies open their eyes about a month after birth, and take their first steps at the age of one and a half months. For the first few months, the cubs are in a snow den and feed on rich mother's milk. Bear cubs are born completely without hair, but after a while it grows back and becomes thick and dense.
Four-month-old cubs weigh 10 kg and still suckle their mother (sometimes for up to a year), but the mother bear is already beginning to feed the cubs with seal blubber. Despite all the efforts of the female, out of three cubs, usually only one survives.
With the end of the polar night, the cubs come out with their mother from the cramped ice den and frolic with pleasure in the open air.
Now they can come out of hiding, and no frost will be scary for them. The she-bear will teach them to hunt and swim. While they are small, the mother allows them to sit on her back and happily rides them, like on a steamboat.
At two years old, a young bear begins to live independently. At this age, the risk of death is still quite high, since he is still an inexperienced hunter and often remains hungry.
In Russia, the polar bear is distributed on the islands of the Arctic Ocean: on Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands and Wrangel Island.
The polar bear prefers to stay among floating ice or near wormwood, where seals can be caught. The largest number of snow dens in which cubs are born are located on Franz Josef Land and Wrangel Island. In November - December, female bears usually give birth to two cubs. In March - April, the cubs leave the den with their mother. By this time, their weight reaches 10-12 kg. A bear family persists for about two years.
In nature, the polar bear has no enemies. He is quite peaceful towards humans. When defending its prey (for example, a caught seal) or bear cubs, it can rush at a person, trying to scare him. Loud muttering serves as a warning of possible danger. There are very few actual cases of attack. On Novaya Zemlya, over more than 100 years of its development, three people died for this reason, and on Wrangel Island there were not a single casualty.
The acquaintance of a person with a polar bear has a long history. These animals were known to the ancient Romans in the 1st century AD. A written source containing information about polar bears dates back to 880.
In the XII-XIII centuries. Russian settlers who settled on the shores of the White and Barents Seas hunted polar bears and supplied bear skins to Veliky Novgorod and Moscow. As long as bears were hunted by residents of the Far North, the damage to the livestock was small.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Hunting vessels began to regularly penetrate the Arctic seas and hunting for polar bears began. It increased especially sharply in the middle of the 19th century, when the reserves of bowhead whales were depleted and the attention of miners switched to walruses and bears. At the beginning of the 20th century. the hunt was carried out on an unusually wide scale.
On Spitsbergen for 1920-1930. More than 4 thousand animals were killed. According to rough estimates, only in northern Eurasia with early XVIII V. until the middle of the 20th century. the production amounted to over 150 thousand bears.
Back in the seventies of the last century, polar bears were hunted with impunity in Canada, Greenland, Norway and Alaska.
By the beginning of the 70s. XX century 5-7 thousand polar bears lived in the Russian sector of the Arctic, and throughout the Arctic their number did not exceed 20 thousand. In 1973, an International Agreement on the Conservation of the Polar Bear was signed. Ten years later, the number of bears increased and amounted to over 25 thousand.
About 25,000 polar bears live around the North Pole in different packs, and their populations are stable. But they suffer from sea pollution and global warming. Today they are protected by international agreements, hunting them is prohibited, and the polar bear itself is listed in the Red Book. The polar bear is also protected in the reserve on Wrangel Island and is included in the IUCN-96 Red List and the Red Book of the Russian Federation.
Rapid climate warming has threatened the existence of the polar bear population off Hudson Bay in northern Canada. The sea began to freeze a month later, and this prevents them from hunting seals. Hungry bears approach villages and rummage through garbage dumps.
Studying bears is not easy: they live scattered over large areas, are cautious and too dangerous to approach. Researchers now have effective sedatives. Polar bears, which are aggressive and very active, are euthanized from the air: the bears are driven onto open ice by snowmobiles, and then arrows containing a tranquilizer are shot from a helicopter. The stunned animal is measured, examined for scars, teeth imprinted, and blood drawn. Analyzes of the integument and fat provide information about the state of his health. In female bears, based on a blood test, it can be determined whether she is ready for mating or is already pregnant.
Other data about the life of bears is obtained from paw prints, analysis of fur, dens and droppings, from which the type of food can be determined. Additional information make observations of behavior. In this way, it is possible to monitor the development of the bear population in a certain area over many years.
Bear trails and areas are explored using telemetry. Animals receive radio collars, thanks to which their location can be determined. Many collars are additionally equipped with sensors that record the animal's body temperature and movements.
From them, the researcher can determine whether the bear is resting or active. Every six hours, the exact coordinates of its location are transmitted to the satellite, and from there to the scientists’ computers. Many transmitters even send data constantly, so that the coordinates they provide are projected onto the map, and the movements of the bears can be monitored on the screen.
In order to determine the age of a bear, a small, non-functional tooth in the lower jaw is removed from a euthanized animal.
Bears' teeth form annual circles, like tree trunks. Inside they consist of dentin. The crown of the tooth is covered with dental enamel, the root is covered with dental cement. To ensure that the tooth always remains firmly anchored in the jaw, a layer of cement continually grows throughout the bear's life. Depending on the time of year, the growth of cement occurs in different ways: in winter it is slower, at this time only a thin dark layer forms around the tooth. At the beginning of the year and in the summer, a wider light layer appears. Both lines form a layer that grows in one year. The older the bear, the slower the cement grows and the smaller the distances between the annual rings become.
Polar bears have been studied quite well: the approximate size of their territories, types of food and mating behavior are known. Scientists were able to observe how mother bears raise their cubs.
Are polar bears threatened by the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect and global warming are primarily a consequence of gas emissions. Carbon dioxide and other gas compounds rise into the high layers of the atmosphere, forming a layer above the Earth that traps heat near the surface of the planet, like in a greenhouse. The consequences are already visible in the Arctic: over the past 100 years, air temperatures there have risen by about 5°C. The area of Arctic ice is decreasing every year.
Pollution is a problem for polar bears. Around oil rigs and oil harbors sea water often contaminated with oil. Thick fur protects polar bears from cold and dampness. But oiled wool loses its ability to hold air, so half its insulating effect is lost. The bear cools down faster, and in the sun there is a danger of overheating. If, while swimming, a bear swallows oil-contaminated water or licks it from its fur, this will lead to kidney damage, intestinal bleeding and other serious diseases. The following were found in the tissues of polar bears: harmful substances as chlorohydrocarbons. They accumulate from food and are deposited in fur, teeth and bones. In the future, harmful substances affect not only health, but also the ability of animals to procreate.
The life of polar bears depends on the presence of ice. Only if they go out into the ice to hunt seals in the summer do they manage to accumulate sufficient fat reserves for the winter. If the ice melts earlier in the summer or crumbles into ice floes, the animals have to return to the mainland, where there is less food. This affects the ability to procreate: bears that are less well-nourished have fewer offspring or no offspring at all. If warming continues at the same rate, the summer ice cover in the Arctic sea will disappear by 2080 at the latest. The polar bear will have to adapt to completely different living conditions or face the threat of extinction.
Bears and people
Today, zoos try to provide animals with housing appropriate to their species. Zoos serve an important role in maintaining endangered species by researching animal habits, educating the public about endangered species, and coordinating breeding programs internationally.
To keep the animals occupied, more and more zoos are developing entertainment programs for their bears. Bears are not couch potatoes at all. In nature, they are constantly busy exploring and searching for food. Animals that cannot satisfy their need for movement often demonstrate behavioral disturbances: they mark time, shake their heads, jump up every now and then, or show the same type of rhythmically repeating movements.
Food is no longer served in a feeder, but is scattered throughout the enclosures, buried or hidden in tree hollows or under roots.
So the bears have to look for it or catch it with their paws. Balls of straw or hay are filled with food, and honey is placed at the very tops of tall trees. Bears love frozen food. For example, carrots, apples and fish carcasses are placed in buckets of water or fruit juice and frozen.
