The brown bear is an omnivore or predator. Polar bears - brown bears - photo of bears. The polar bear is the largest representative of the predatory

The brown bear, a brief description of which we will consider in this article, is a typical inhabitant of taiga-type forests. It can be found almost throughout Russia, especially in Siberia and Far East. It is found in coniferous, deciduous, and even mixed regions of different countries, including Central Asia and the Caucasus. So, get acquainted: the owner of the Russian taiga is a brown bear!

Brief description of the species

brown or common bear- This is a predatory mammal representing the bear family. Currently, the brown bear is the largest land predator in the world. The duration of his life in nature is estimated at 30 years. In captivity, a predator can live up to 50 years. Linguists believe that the name of this beast is composed of two words - “knowing” and “honey”. And this is understandable: despite its belonging to predators, the bear is a big lover of sweet honey and in general

Nutrition

The diet of clubfoot for ¾ consists of plant foods. These are various berries, nuts, acorns, rhizomes and tubers of plants. Sometimes these predators even eat grass. In lean years brown bears, like foxes, they encroach on oat crops in the stage of their milky ripeness and various insects, reptiles, amphibians, small rodents, fish and, of course, large ungulates make up food for animals. For example, it costs nothing for a clumsy giant to kill an adult large elk with just a blow of its powerful clawed paw!

Brief description of subspecies

The numerical difference between brown bears is so great that once these animals were classified into independent species. Currently, all brown bears are combined into one single species, which combines several subspecies or geographic races. So, brown bears include:

• ordinary (Eurasian or European);
• Californian;
• Siberian;
• satin;
• gobi;
• grizzly or mexican;
• Tien Shan;
• Ussuri or Japanese;
• kodiak;
• Tibetan.

Giant heavyweights

As you already understood, the brown bear, which we describe in this article, is the most common type of clubfoot in the world. Although it is called brown, it is not always painted in this particular color. In nature, you can meet black, and beige, and yellow, and even fiery red bears. But we will talk about the color of their coat a little later. Now we are interested in their sizes.

The sizes of these animals vary depending on their gender, age and habitat. But males are in any case larger than females and weigh 30% more. Most brown bears have a height at the withers ranging from 75 to 160 centimeters. Body length mainly ranges from 1.6 to 2.9 meters.

The mass of a brown bear directly depends on its habitat. One of the largest animals are bears that live on the Scandinavian Peninsula and, of course, on the territory of our country. Their weight is 350 kilograms. Their American relatives, living in and also inhabiting Canada, can sometimes weigh more than 400 kilograms of net weight. Their name is grizzly, or gray-haired.

The brown bear, whose size is considered impressive all over the world, is also found in Kamchatka and Alaska. There, these predators weigh more than 500 kilograms. Cases of hunting for brown bears are described, presumably reaching a weight of 1 ton! However, for the most part, these shaggy heavyweights do not exceed 350 kilograms of net weight. The maximum recorded weight, for example, of a Kamchatka bear was 600 kilograms. The animals preserved in Europe are small in size. Their weight does not exceed 90 kilograms.

Appearance

The brown bear, whose dimensions we examined above, has a pronounced barrel-shaped and powerful body with high withers (shoulder height). This body is held by massive and high paws with flat clawed soles. The length of the claws of this furry giant ranges from 8 to 12 centimeters. These animals practically do not have a tail, since its length does not exceed 21 centimeters.

The shape of the brown bear's head is round. It has small blind eyes and small ears. The muzzle is elongated, and the forehead is high. The owner of the Russian taiga is covered with thick and evenly colored wool. bears, like their size, is changeable. It all depends on certain habitats of these animals. For example, well-known ones may have brown hair with a silver tint. For this, by the way, they were called gray-haired.

Spreading

As mentioned earlier, bears are forest dwellers. We repeat that their typical habitats, for example, in Russia, are continuous forest tracts with dense growth of grasses, shrubs and hardwoods. The brown bear, a brief description of which we consider in this article, is found in both tundra and alpine forests. In Europe, he prefers mountain forests, and, for example, in North America it can be found in alpine meadows, in coastal forests.

Once upon a time, these animals inhabited the whole of Europe, including Ireland and Great Britain, and in the south the globe its habitat reached the African Atlas Mountains. IN eastbound this type of hairy heavyweight was distributed through Siberia and China to Japan. Scientists believe that brown bears came to North America from Asia about 40,000 years ago. They are sure that these animals were able to cross the Bering Isthmus on their own, settling in the west of America from Alaska to Mexico.

Winter dream

As you know, the physiological criterion of the brown bear is such that these animals hibernate for the winter. They do this in October-December. They come out of hibernation in the spring - in March. In general, the winter sleep of these shaggy heavyweights can last from 2 to 6 months. It all depends on the subspecies of the bear and on external factors. Curiously, in the most warm regions of our planet, subject to an abundant harvest of fruits, berries and nuts, bears do not lie in a den at all.

Preparation for sleep

Clubfoot begin to prepare for their wintering from the middle of summer. It's a brown bear! The description of his preparation for sleep is probably known to many people, because there is nothing secret and surprising in this. Six months before the onset of cold weather, they need to find a suitable place for their winter shelter, equip it and, of course, build up their reserves of subcutaneous fat. Most often, bear dens are located under the wells and eversion, under the roots of huge and massive trees - cedars or firs.

Sometimes these predators pull out "dugouts" for themselves directly in the coastal cliffs of the rivers. If during this time the bear has not found a secluded place for his winter shelter, he digs a large hole, after which he strengthens its walls with vertically protruding branches. With them, brown bears fill up the inlet, at the same time disguising themselves and isolating themselves from outside world for several months. Immediately before going to bed, the animal, having gained a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat, carefully confuses its traces of being near the den.

It is worth noting that unpaved dens are considered the most solid and practical bear dwellings. If the predator is lucky, then he will lie down for the whole winter in the ground. Such lairs are located deep underground and keep clubfoot warm. Near the entrance to the dirt den, you can find various trees and shrubs covered with yellowish hoarfrost. Experienced hunters know that the hot breath of a clubfoot gives this color to frost.

hibernation

Adult animals in most cases while away the cold winter days in their lairs one by one. Only a she-bear can hibernate together with last year's cubs. Scientists who observed the life of these predators (see photo of a brown bear and a description of its lifestyle) noticed that in certain regions of the globe where there are no places particularly suitable for wintering, bears use the same shelters several times.

In some areas, dens can generally be located in close proximity to each other, it turns out something like a bearish "apartment" house. If the choice of "winter apartments" is very tight, some especially arrogant bears encroach on other people's homes. For example, an adult male brown bear can, without any pity, expel a weaker relative from a vending den.

Brown bears sleep curled up. They press their hind legs to their belly, and cover their muzzle with their front paws. By the way, it is this fact that gave rise to many tales and sayings that bears suck their paws in winter. This is not entirely true. Clubfoot, of course, can from time to time, being in one or another phase of sleep, lick their front paws, but this has absolutely nothing to do with sucking them.

Watch out, scumbag!

Scientists say that the sleep of bears cannot be called strong. During short-term thaws, these predators can wake up and even leave their winter shelters for a while. At this time, clubfoots walk through the winter forest, knead their bones. As soon as it gets colder again, shaggy heavyweights return to their shelter again, covering up the traces of their stay outside the den. However, such habits of a brown bear are still flowers!

It also happens that some bears, due to malnutrition in the autumn-winter period, cannot gain the required weight, find and equip their home. In this case, they do not lie in the den at all. Not having time to accumulate the reserves of subcutaneous fat necessary for a comfortable wintering, the beast simply staggers through the snowy forest, as if restless. The people called such poor fellows "rods". The connecting rod bear is a very dangerous and extremely aggressive animal! At this time, it is better not to mess with him at all, because the beast is very hungry, incredibly angry and attacks almost everything that moves.

reproduction

Female brown bears bring offspring from 2 to 4 times a year. Their mating season usually falls in May, June and July. At this time, the males behave aggressively: they begin to roar loudly, serious fights arise between them, sometimes ending in the death of one of the bears. Pregnancy in females lasts from 190 to 200 days. At one time, they can bring up to 5 cubs with a body weight of up to 600 grams and a length of up to 23 centimeters.

Offspring

The young are born blind, with overgrown ear canals and covered with short sparse hair. After two weeks, the cubs begin to hear, and after a month - to see. Already 90 days after birth, all milk teeth grow in them, and they begin to eat berries, plants and insects. As a rule, male brown bears are not engaged in offspring, raising young animals is the prerogative of females. Bear cubs become sexually mature by the age of 3, but continue to grow up to 10 years.

Brown bear. Red Book

Unfortunately, this one is listed in the Red Book as an animal that is endangered. Currently, in many areas and regions of the globe, hunting for brown bears is limited or completely prohibited. Nevertheless, no one canceled poaching. Bear skin mainly used for carpets and meat for cooking. He is such an important game animal - this brown bear! The Red Book, in which this species of large predators was once included, has not been reprinted at the present time. It is possible that the data on the number of bears as of this year will change dramatically for the worse.

To the question bears are herbivores or predators, asked by the author Elena Yakshigulova the best answer is Bears are omnivores. They eat grass, berries, mushrooms, they will not give up fish, especially meat, they fatten up - they eat everything until they are completely stupefied.
But pandas only eat bamboo, while polar bears prefer seal and seal fat.

Answer from Anastasia[newbie]
Predators))

Answer from merman[guru]
predators of course

Answer from Artyom Kirillov[master]
omnivores!!

Answer from Anyushka Selivanova[active]
predators, but from hunger they can pick up raspberries and chew grass =)

Answer from Anton Shefer[newbie]
The bear is an omnivore, just like humans.

Answer from Nastya Ropcea[master]
omnivores

Answer from Natasha[guru]
Bears (lat. Ursidae) - a family of mammals of the predatory order. They differ from other representatives of the canine in a more stocky physique. Bears are omnivorous, climb and swim well, run fast, can stand and walk short distances on their hind legs. They have a short tail, long and thick hair, as well as excellent sense of smell and hearing. They hunt in the evening or at dawn. Usually fearful of humans, but can be dangerous in areas where they are used to humans, especially polar bears and grizzly bears. Immune to bee stings. In nature natural enemies almost do not have.

Answer from Marina Mirutenko[guru]

Answer from Olesya Yudintseva (Yumasheva)[newbie]
100% carnivorous predators, because they eat meat and hunt. Only carnivores can hunt and eat meat, first of all, and only then fish, mushrooms, nuts, honey, berries, grass, roots. But herbivores cannot eat meat.

Answer from Lyudmila Valentinovna[guru]
white bear, grizzly, spectacled bear and many more members of the bear family eat- berries, nuts, honey, rodents, carrion, large mammals, other plants. FROM THE ORDER THEY ARE PREDATORS. but the koala, belonging to the marsupial bear family, is a herbivorous bear.

Answer from Iodionov Sergey[guru]
the bear is omnivorous. He eats almost everything that can be eaten. V summer period Vegetarian food predominates, most of the animal protein in the bear's diet is small animals. rodents. insects. the bear is engaged in hunting directly, especially hunting for large animals, extremely rarely only in the absence of more accessible and less "dangerous" food

Answer from Ѝyvind Storm of the Fjords[guru]
Bears are omnivores. In principle, they eat plant food all the time, and animal food only when it falls into their paws.

Answer from KOMOV MICHAEL[guru]
Browns are omnivores. Whites are predators

Answer from Alesya Benitsevich[newbie]
omnivorous

Answer from Marat Timirgalin[active]
omnivorous

Answer from Jena Sluchic[newbie]
Differently

Answer from Gulnara Abulkhanova[newbie]
Anatomically predatory. Teeth, that and that. And constantly on plant foods, he can not. But in last years in many regions, the bear is increasingly using plant foods. In this regard, its numbers are growing, in some places it is much larger than the wolf. That is, it sort of climbs off the top of the food pyramid.

This is the largest not only from the bear family, but among all terrestrial predators: in males, the body length is up to 280 cm, the height at the withers is up to 150 cm, the weight can reach 800 kg (in zoos, very obese animals can reach up to a ton); females are smaller and lighter than males. The body is elongated, narrow in the front, while the back is very massive; the neck is long and mobile. The feet are wide, especially on the front paws, the calluses are almost invisible under the thick hair. The head is relatively small, with a straight profile and a narrow forehead, rather high-set eyes. The ears are short, rounded, little protruding from the hairline. The fur is very thick and dense, coarse, not very long on the back and sides - there are no elongated hairs even on the withers. But on the belly back side paws have very long hair (in winter, the awn here is up to 25 cm), which is extremely necessary when you have to rest, lying on the snow. The hair on the feet is also elongated, surrounding them around the entire perimeter with a kind of thick halo: this increases the supporting surface, which is necessary both when moving on snow and when swimming. The coloration throughout the body is white: this is primarily characteristic of animals living in ice, and serves as a means of disguise. Only after a long stay on land, the animals acquire a dirty grayish-brown color. Thus, the brownish-gray-yellow multicolor, in which the fur of polar bears in zoos is decorated, is elementary urban dirt, completely unusual for wild animals.

Many features of the morphology and physiology of this species are associated with living in conditions of constant cold, the need for a long stay in the water, feeding on seals. Its fur is an excellent protection against very cold air, but it does not have water-repellent properties: it is striking that, unlike seals or sea otters, the polar bear's fur coat ice water to the skin. But all year round under his skin lies a thick - 3-4 cm - layer of fat: it not only protects the beast from the cold, but also reduces the specific gravity of his body, making it easier to stay on the water. The skin itself (mezdra) is dark in color, which allows you to capture more sunlight on clear days. The nature of the metabolism is such that even a temperature of -50°C does not seem very cold to this beast, but already at a temperature of +15°C the beast begins to overheat, tends to go into the shade. The structure of the digestive tract is also specific: the intestines are shorter than those of other bears, but the stomach is very capacious, which allows the predator to eat a whole seal at once after a long hungry journey through lifeless ice. An unusually high content of vitamin A in the liver of this animal is associated with feeding on very fatty food, which is necessary to maintain normal life in the cold.

The polar bear, without much exaggeration, can be considered a sea animal. Its range mostly extends in the floating ice of the Northern Arctic Ocean, capturing its islands and the mainland coast. This peculiar circumpolar region does not have a northern border, and in the south it is outlined by the northern coast of the mainland and the southern edge of distribution floating ice. In the expanses of the ocean, the existence of a predator is closely related to the places of concentration of seals - leads, cracks, edges of floating ice and fast ice. In particular, there are a lot of polar bears in the area of ​​the so-called “Great Siberian polynya” - an extensive network of breeding areas, the open water of which attracts many inhabitants of high latitudes. Most often, this polar inhabitant can be found on 1-2-year-old ice up to 2 meters thick, abounding in ridges of hummocks and snow drifts. On older ice, the surface of which has been leveled by repeated summer melting, there are fewer polar bears due to the lack of shelters and a water table. He also avoids young, still fragile ice 5-10 centimeters thick, which does not hold this overweight predator. On land, the bear rarely appears, mainly during migrations. However, polar bears often arrange winter dens on land, but not on the mainland, but on the Arctic islands.

The habitats of the polar bear are called the “Arctic desert” - partly because there are fewer animals and birds there than, for example, in middle lane, partly because of their low suitability for humans. Therefore, this predator spends most of its time outside the areas of active economic activity of people. In the recent past, when the uncontrolled hunt for the white giant flourished, he shunned human settlements. Now, having a protective status, the beast does not feel uncomfortable next to them. In some places, polar bears, like brown relatives in national parks, even form a kind of "semi-domestic" populations, for which landfills and garbage dumps serve as a food base. Quite freely behave in the villages and migrating animals, which, if the opportunity arises, even strive to invade dwellings for the sake of something edible.

Most of the life of a polar bear takes place in migrations and does not imply attachment to any particular small territory. These nomadic predators do not have specific individual areas - they own the entire Arctic. During autumn and spring migrations, animals are able to cover 40-80 kilometers per day. In conditions of little mobile sea ice, the range of their migrations is about 750 kilometers, while some animals are able to move 1000 kilometers from their main habitat. Migrations are mainly associated with seasonal changes in the ice regime and are due to the need to search open water, are limited mainly by the sea and the coastline. Polar bears go deep into the mainland only along the valleys of such major rivers, like Khatanga in Taimyr or Anadyr in Chukotka, and even then no more than 200-300 kilometers from the sea coast.

Mass movements of polar bears from the deep regions of the Arctic occur mainly in a southerly direction. They begin everywhere in autumn, when ice fields begin to close and polynyas close. Wanderings of polar bears do not occur randomly, but along certain routes. Particularly noticeable are the “bear roads” along the coasts of the Arctic islands and the headlands of the continental land that are far out into the sea. So, polar bears constantly travel along the “ice bridge” between Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. The spring melting of ice and the release of polynyas encourages bears to return to their former places.

Where sea ​​ice mobile, bears drift with them, making “passive migrations”. Animals floating on large ice floes can be carried by sea currents far beyond the Arctic - to the shores of Newfoundland, Iceland, Kamchatka, and even further south. It is noteworthy that such “seafarers”, carried away by the ice to the southern coast of Chukotka, return to their native places not by sea, but by land, crossing the tundra and high rocky mountains straight across.

A wandering lifestyle frees the polar bear from the need to make permanent shelters. Many animals do without shelters at all, resting right on the snow or on the top of a cliff - where fatigue overtakes. Unless they hide among hummocks, coastal cliffs or buried in deep snow from a particularly blizzard. The problem of establishing long-term shelters is mainly faced by females preparing for motherhood: like other bear species, they need warm (by Arctic standards) wintering dens to give birth to offspring.

“Maternity” dens are most often located on large islands - Greenland, Wrangel, Svalbard and others, usually no further than a few kilometers from the coastline, but they had to come across in the mountains 25-27 kilometers from the sea. It is interesting that these animals, not numerous and generally unsociable, like all large predators, in some places arrange something similar to “maternity hospitals”, tearing out dens not far from each other. So, on about. Wrangel every year 180-200 she-bears gather for wintering; moreover, on one of the mountain ranges in the northwestern part of this island, with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bonly 25 km2, there are different years 40-60 dens, sometimes located at a distance of 10-20 meters from one another.

A female bear digs a permanent lair in a many-meter-long snow pile that has accumulated on the slope of a hill or mountain. This is most often a simple chamber with a diameter of 1-2 meters, which communicates with the surface with a stroke of the same length. There are more complex structures with multiple cameras. The thickness of the roof above the nesting chamber is usually half a meter to a meter, but sometimes it is only 5-10 centimeters. Such a clearly unsuccessful structure, it happens, collapses and the female is forced to seek or dig a new shelter. As in the Eskimo “igloo” ice dwelling, the main chamber of the den is located above the manhole, which helps to preserve the heat generated by the animal itself: it is usually 20 ° warmer in the chamber than on the snow surface. The she-bear digs a lair for two or three days. After it finally lies down, the rest of the work is completed by blizzards, which completely clog the entrance hole with a snow plug, only occasionally a small ventilation hole remains. Temporary male dens are simpler; sometimes the beast just burrows into the snow. The winter decrease in activity in the polar bear has its own specifics. In this species, an indispensable winter sleep is characteristic only of females ready for the birth of cubs: they lie in dens for 5 months, fit in November and leave in March-April. Males and barren females in a significant part of the range, especially in its southern regions, can be active all year round. Only in places where the climatic conditions in winter are more than severe even for such hardy animals and food is difficult to obtain, many males also save themselves in dens. They disappear in December for a month or two, but as soon as the period of bad weather ends, they leave their hiding places and continue their wanderings. IN rare cases animals lie in dens in the summer. This interesting feature is characteristic, for example, of bears on the coast of Hudson's Bay: some of them survive short periods of starvation in pits dug in sandy cliffs or on coastal spits.

Compared to the brown bear, the white bear seems less smart and less agile. He is less trainable, in his actions he is somewhat “straightforward”. All this is obviously related to its living in more homogeneous environmental conditions and greater food specialization, which does not require a variety of skills and the ability to quickly respond to unexpectedly emerging difficult situations. However, in terms of the ability to assess the quality of ice, to adapt hunting tactics to the specific terrain, he has no equal among the inhabitants of the Arctic deserts.

The animal runs very rarely, while pursuing it can gallop for a short time at a speed of 20-30 km/h, but soon gets tired and switches to a sprawling trot, slowing down to 8-12 km/h. An adult heavy beast is generally not able to run more than 10 kilometers. If the chase drags on, he sits down and, barking loudly, tries to frighten and put the pursuer to flight. In general, the predator does not feel very confident on the ground and, when pursued, tends to go onto the ice or into the water. Here among the hummocks, this seemingly heavy beast is amazingly dexterous and agile: it easily overcomes ice ridges up to 2 meters high, leaving not only humans, but also dogs. Clinging with its claws, it climbs steep, almost sheer ice walls, boldly jumps from boulders 3-4 meters high into water or onto ice, jumps out of the water onto a flat, low ice floe without a splash.

These inhabitants of the Arctic seas swim well and willingly - however, mainly in summer, in winter only especially well-fed individuals go into the water. The bear rows with its front paws, and with its hind legs it mainly steers. Under water, it lasts up to 2 minutes, while the eyes are open and the nostrils are closed. In the open sea, adult animals are sometimes found 50 or even 100 kilometers from the nearest earthly firmament. The 5-6-month-old cubs go into the water themselves and swim well.

The power of this beast is truly amazing. He is able to pull a walrus carcass weighing more than half a ton onto the ice and up the slope. A bearded seal, weighing slightly less than the bear itself, can be killed by a predator, crushing the skull of the victim with a single crushing blow of the paw, and, if necessary, transferring its carcass in its teeth for a distance of up to a kilometer.

The polar bears have the most developed sense of smell and hearing. When hunting or surveying the situation, he goes against the wind, often stopping and sniffing. The smell of a dead seal carcass, even if it is powdered with snow, can be smelled hundreds of meters away. The creaking steps of a man trying to approach the animal in the snow from the leeward side, he hears two hundred meters away, and the noise of an all-terrain vehicle or aircraft engine - several kilometers away. The vision is also very sharp: a polar predator is able to distinguish a dark point of a seal lying on a snow-white ice floe at a distance of several kilometers.

The ability of polar bears to navigate in the vast expanses of seemingly homogeneous ice plains causes surprise and admiration. Being on land or on ice, the animal is able to accurately locate areas of open water, sometimes remote for tens of kilometers, and confidently go to them. During seasonal migrations, overcoming hundreds of kilometers in a once chosen direction, these wanderers deviate from the course by some 20-30 °. Even when traveling with drifting ice, the animals make their way back in a straight line, and do not follow the whims of floating ice blocks.

Polar bears lead a solitary lifestyle. Only sometimes they are found in several individuals near abundant prey - for example, near a whale carcass thrown ashore - or on mass migration routes, and females live side by side in places of “maternity hospitals”. In general, these animals, which do not need to protect their sites from anyone, are not aggressive. For this reason, and also due to the fact that they are not timid, at the first meeting with a person, the bear reacts to him in general quite peacefully, without fear or aggression, and sometimes simply indifferently. If a person tries to approach him, a huge predator prefers to leave: the real threat can be mainly a female with cubs or a wounded beast. True, cases of attacks on people are still noted, and several times it was necessary to shoot cannibal bears. It is curious that this predator usually hides a person lying on ice or snow - perhaps the bear is driven by the instinct of a seal hunter, for whom the lying posture is most common.

In recent years, due to the introduction of measures to protect the polar bear and the growth of the population in the Arctic, people's meetings with this unique animal have become more frequent and sometimes begin to bring obvious inconvenience. As in the case of the brown bear, in a number of places the animals congregate in the vicinity settlements, where they feed on garbage, and when there is a lack of it, they break into storage facilities. Once in one of the fishing points in Chukotka, when people worked there, an adult male settled in an empty barn and lived in it until the end of the fishing season. On the coast of Hudson's Bay, where it accumulates in autumn a large number of migratory bears, they are so impudent that, for example, in the village of Churchill, they walk the streets in broad daylight and sometimes cause traffic jams.

The polar bear, unlike its omnivorous relatives, is a predator that actively hunts large animals. Its main food is arctic seals, primarily the smallest of them. ringed seal, rarer bearded seal, even rarer hooded seal and harp seal. As an exception, the animal hunts larger prey - walruses, beluga whales and narwhals, attacking, however, only young individuals, so adult giants are completely indifferent to this predator. During winter wanderings on land, a bear, having stumbled upon a herd of reindeer, can, if he is very lucky, drive some kind of deer into the water and crush it there. Among polar bears, cases of cannibalism are not uncommon, to which they are prompted by the harsh conditions of existence: especially often, cubs fall into the mouths of adult males. At the end of summer-autumn, bears explore the coasts in search of the corpses of marine animals thrown out by the sea: sometimes 3-5 feasting predators gather near the carcass of a whale. They rarely catch fish themselves, but they willingly pick up those thrown onto the ice by the waves. However, in those days when polar bears were common in Labrador, they gathered near spawning rivers during the course of salmon and, like brown ones, were actively engaged in fishing.

On land, bears sometimes feed on birds and their eggs, and on occasion they grab lemmings. With a lack of familiar animal food on the mainland and islands, they do not disdain vegetable food: in the tundra they eat cloudberries, in the intertidal zone - algae such as kelp (“seaweed”), fucus. Bears have been observed on Svalbard, even diving underwater in search of these algae. Females are especially fond of green vitamin food immediately after leaving the den: they dig up the snow and eat willow shoots found under it, sometimes moss and sedge leaves. Near housing, these predators willingly “graze” in landfills, where they devour everything that seems edible to them. This sometimes leads to the death of animals, because among the swallowed may be, for example, a tarpaulin soaked in engine oil.

Arctic foxes feed on the remnants of the polar bear's meal, gulls - white and burgomaster. Some of them gather at the feast site only after the bear has already left it. Other “freeloaders” accompany the predator in its wanderings among the ice, especially often in winter. With each bear, sometimes you can see 2-3 arctic foxes and 4-6 large gulls.

The hunting tactics of this predator is quite flexible, determined by the season of the year, weather conditions, the state of ice, the abundance of potential prey. In essence, it is based on the use of several basic techniques: the predator hides the prey on the ice, watches over the water, or approaches it through the water. In any case, the success of the hunt depends on whether or not the beast has time to grab the prey on the ice floe, because in the water, neither in speed nor in maneuverability of movements, the bear can be compared with the seal.

Stealing is used most often: a bear looks out for prey from afar and approaches it behind hummocks or snow puffs. Once on smooth ice, it spreads out on its belly and crawls, pushing off with its hind legs and freezing every time a seal lying on the edge of an ice floe or hole wakes up and raises its head to look around. Approaching the victim at 4-5 meters, the bear jumps up and in a swift throw with one or two jumps tries to get the seal. If he did not have time to slip into the water, the predator kills or stuns the victim by hitting the front paw on the head and immediately pulls it away from the water. The whole episode of hiding can take from 2 to 5 hours, depending on how long and winding the hunter's path among the shelters was. Sometimes the direction of the attack changes to the opposite: the predator cautiously swims across the water to the seal lying on the edge of the ice floe, plunging so that only the upper part of the muzzle remains on the surface, and, jumping out onto the ice floe with one jump, tries to cut off the prey's escape route.

Quite often, a bear watches for a seal at the exit from the water, lying motionless for hours at the edge of a hole or air in an ice floe. If the hole is small, the animal expands it with its claws and teeth before starting the sitting. As soon as the seal's head appears, the bear's paw falls on it with lightning speed, and then the predator literally pulls the motionless carcass out of the water onto the ice, sometimes breaking its ribs on the icy edges of a narrow hole.

During the breeding season, ringed seals arrange shallow snowy shelters - "huts" where the cubs hide. The bear knows how to find them by smell and, bringing down the snow vault with its paws or with all its weight, tries to get to the victim littered with snow clods as quickly as possible. If a predator encounters a rookery of breeding harp seals, it can wreak great havoc among the openly lying and completely helpless pups, continuing to kill them after it has had its fill. According to eyewitnesses, the bear plays with seal pups like a cat with a mouse.

Adult walruses, even single ones, are simply afraid of the water and do not touch the polar bear. And on land, the predator tries to bypass these giants. Nevertheless, he sometimes approaches their rookeries in the hope of grabbing carrion, since the screening of walruses in the first days and weeks of their life is quite large. Sometimes the bear itself “puts its paw” on this, disturbing the rookery with its appearance and prompting heavy carcasses to move from place to place, crushing one or two pood-long adolescents.

On sea ​​coast bears sometimes visit bird markets, picking up fallen local inhabitants at their feet or trying to get close to eggs. They are also interested in the colonies of geese, extracting molting birds from them. Some "specialists" contrive to hunt in the water for resting on the surface of sea birds - eiders, guillemots, gulls, swimming up to them under water and grabbing them from below.

The availability of food for polar bears depends on the season. In spring and summer, predators living in ice do not lack food. The hungriest time for bears is winter: seals keep under thin ice margins of large ice fields, and bearded seals completely migrate to areas of open water. It is this circumstance that prompts the bears that have remained awake to make long journeys: sometimes, from one hunted seal to another, the animal is forced to travel more than one hundred kilometers, remaining without food for a week or a half.

At one time, an adult bear eats up to 20 kilograms of food. Most often, the predator is limited to the most high-calorie part of the seal carcass - the subcutaneous layer of fat, which he devours along with the skin, pulling it off with a “stocking” from the killed victim. Only a very hungry beast eats meat, leaving large bones intact.

The mating season of polar bears begins in early Arctic spring and lasts until June. At this time, you can meet double and triple chains of tracks: this is a female and the males who found her make joint walks. After the clarification of the relationship between the males, which is accompanied by a roar and fights, the female remains with the winner for another month, and then the couple breaks up, the animals begin to prepare for a long winter night. Pregnant females go to the islands in search of suitable places for dens, where in November-January each bear 1-2 cubs are born. They are born helpless, covered with short sparse hair, weighing 600-800 grams. Eyes and ears open by the end of the first month of life, the cubs begin to crawl on the curled up mother. By the end of the second month, their milk teeth erupt, fluffy fur grows. 3 months after the birth of the cubs, the family leaves the winter shelter.

The first few days after leaving the den, the female with the cubs keeps near her, hiding in the shelter at the first danger. Then they take small walks in the vicinity of the “maternity hospital”, and the female almost does not leave the cubs. On clear days, the cubs happily ride down the steep snow-covered slopes sparkling in the sun, leaving characteristic “paths” on the surface. A few days later, the she-bear with her cubs goes to the coastal sea ice. For the duration of the hunt, she leaves the cubs in a safe place - away from adult males, which pose a serious danger to cubs. The young begin to feed on the fat of the seals caught by the mother at 3-4 months. Feeding with very fatty milk, like that of seals and whales, usually lasts 6-8 months, by the end of this period the cubs already weigh 50-60 kilograms. If there are not enough seals and hunting for them is not successful, lactation lasts even longer: the female, lying in a den with second-year cubs who did not have time to gain the required amount of subcutaneous fat by winter, feeds them with milk until the next spring.

All next summer, while the family is together, the she-bear teaches the cubs how to catch seals during joint hunts. A two-year-old bear cub is still too clumsy to steal a cautious seal lying near the hole, and its mass is simply not enough to bring down the roof of the seal's “hut” and profit from the seal. Therefore, young ones themselves begin to successfully extract prey only at the age of three. The family breaks up in the fall, when the young animals are equal in size to the female, although there are cases of cubs lying together with the she-bear in one den and for the second winter. Animals mature at the age of 3-4 years, life expectancy is up to 30 years, in captivity - up to 40 years.

The long-standing neighbors of the polar bear in the Arctic - the Chukchi, Eskimos, Nenets - have always treated him with respect. They have an extensive folklore associated with this beast, glorifying its strength, dexterity, and endurance. For hundreds of years specially guarded cult altars - sedanga - were formed from the skulls of hunted bears. They tried to appease the “spirit” of the killed animal by arranging a holiday in honor of a successful hunt, they brought the skin with the skull left in it into the dwelling, offered it food, drink, and a pipe. Among the Russian coast-dwellers, this animal, hunted by them with great difficulty and risk, also aroused respect. It is noteworthy that they themselves called themselves “ushkuyns”, i.e. “bear cubs”: the Pomors called the polar bear with usk.

The polar bear has always had local residents great practical importance. Meat and fat were used as food and feed for sled dogs, shoes and clothes were sewn from skins, bile was used as a medicine. It is possible that the masterly ability to hunt seals, the art of building a “needle” that retains heat in severe frosts, was borrowed by the northern peoples from this polar predator. Intensive widespread hunting for the polar bear began in the 17th-18th centuries, when St. John's wolves, whalers, fur traders, and later polar expeditions rushed to the north. Although their goals were different, polar bears were considered by all of them in exactly the same way - only from a “gastronomic” point of view, as a source of fresh meat. Another purpose of the fishery was the skins used for the manufacture of carpets. In places of fox hunting, this predator, during the winter hungry migrations “checking” the traps and warehouses of hunters, was shot as a supposedly “dangerous pest”. The beast was beaten without counting and without pity, sometimes up to 1.5-2 thousand pieces a year, even females with cubs in "maternity hospitals". The result was not slow to affect: by the end of the 19th century, clear signs reduction in the number of polar bears. However, even in the 30s of our century, when it became clear that the breeding of bears could no longer compensate for losses from predatory hunting, the volume of annual fishing fell only slightly.

The turning point occurred in the 1950s, when polar bear hunting was banned in most countries. A certain number of predators were allowed to be hunted only by the indigenous inhabitants of the North, and shooting for self-defense was also allowed (which is sometimes justified by poachers). The annual capture of a small number of cubs for zoos and circuses is also allowed. To protect the “maternity hospitals” of polar bears, wildlife sanctuaries and reserves have been organized - in the northeast of Greenland, off the southern shores of Hudson Bay, on our island. Wrangel. Considering that this animal breeds successfully in zoos, we can assume that the threat of direct destruction of the species has now been removed.

Nevertheless, the ban on polar bear hunting remains, populations from the European and Beringian (Chukotka, Alaska and adjacent islands) sectors of the Arctic are included in the Red Book of Russia.

Pavlinov I.Ya. (ed.) 1999. Mammals. Big encyclopedic Dictionary. M.: Astrel.

THESE AMAZING BEARS

youngest

The youngest of the modern species of the bear family is the polar bear, or oshkuy, which evolved from the coastal Siberian brown bear 100,000 to 250,000 years ago. Today it is the largest predator among land mammals.

Bear claws do not retract

The soles are convex, the surface is rough, adapted for movement on slippery ice. Paws in polar bears are much larger in relation to the body than in other bears. When walking, bears step on the foot completely, like a person, and not like dogs - with claws

flat feet

All bears are flat-footed: the sole and heel of the foot touch the ground equally. On each paw they have five long curved claws, with which the bear is equally good at digging the ground (or ice) and coping with prey. The polar bear has long fur between its toes, which makes it easier for the animal to move on the ice and warms its paws. Very wide front legs serve as skis when moving on land and help with swimming. Polar bears are kept on the water by a thick layer of subcutaneous fat and two rows of hair, greased and waterproof.

Up to 40% of the mass of a polar bear

is subcutaneous fat, which reliably protects the animal from hypothermia.

Vision and hearing of bears

Not well researched, available evidence suggests they can be compared to canine vision and hearing

Orientation and sense of smell

Polar bears have a well-developed sense of orientation and a fine sense of smell: a dead seal can be smelled by a polar bear from a distance of 200 miles. It senses prey under the ice as well: it detects a live seal from a distance of 1 m, even if it is under the ice in the water, and the polar bear is on land.

Bears are very smart

They are very smart when it comes to getting food. All polar bears Ursus (Thalarctos) maritimus are left-handed.

Withstand temperatures up to -80C

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and seals withstand temperatures down to -80°C, ducks and geese are less afraid of the cold, withstanding temperatures down to -110°C. Polar bear hair has the properties of fiber optics: colorless hairs conduct sunlight to the skin that absorbs it. During the summer, the bear receives up to a quarter of the energy it needs in the form of solar heat.

The ears of a polar bear are smaller than those of relatives

This helps him retain body heat.

Polar bear fur

...corresponds to the name of a mammal, but in the summer it sometimes becomes straw-yellow, oxidizing in the sun. Individual outer hairs, called guard hairs, are transparent and hollow. Absorbing ultraviolet, they pass it into the black, like the nose and lips, the skin of a bear. Wool retains heat so well that it cannot be detected by infrared photography, only by ultraviolet. When the air temperature is below zero, a bear can swim in the icy Arctic water up to 80 km without rest.

Polar bears turn green in the tropics

The white-and-yellow fur of the polar bears living at the Singapore Zoo turned green from the fact that algae began to actively bloom on the wool. This is a consequence of Singapore's hot and humid climate. The bear managed to be cleaned with hydrogen peroxide, but her son still continues to turn green and moldy: he has bright light green marks between his ears, on his back, and also on his paws. Last time a similar case of "greening" polar bears was observed at the San Diego Zoo in 1979. Three bears were cleaned with saline.

Fur indicates allergies

An unusual allergic reaction was found in a polar bear that lives in an Argentine zoo. After a doctor gave the bear an experimental drug for dermatitis, the bear changed color. It used to be white, but now it's purple. The bear himself did not react to what happened. Veterinarians say that the bear will turn white again in about a month.

42 teeth

Bears have 42 teeth

Tramp Bear

The polar bear is distributed throughout the Arctic. In Yakutia - in the basins of the Laptev and East Siberian seas. But they don't call him a tramp for nothing. In search of food, he makes long-distance migrations, sometimes getting on drifting ice floes to Iceland and southern Greenland. From there, along the western coast of Greenland, it goes under its own power to the islands of the Canadian Arctic.

Migration of polar bears

The nature of seasonal migrations of polar bears is closely related to changes in ice conditions. As ice melts and breaks, polar bears move northward, to the border of the Arctic Basin. With the onset of stable ice formation, the bears begin their reverse migration to the south.

Bear swimmers

The polar bear is able to chase a deer for half a kilometer, but it swims much better than it runs on land. A bear can swim over 80 miles at a time. Polar bears also dive well - it is common for them to dive under floating ice floes. The polar bear swims at speeds up to 6.5 km per hour and can stay underwater for up to 5 minutes. This allows him to move away for long distances from the coast, there are cases of meeting with an animal 100 km from the ice edge.

Hunts near the Great Siberian polynya

Most often, our polar bear hunts near the Great Siberian polynya. This is a year-round open water surface in the area of ​​the Laptev Sea adjacent to the Lena Delta. It attracts all arctic animals and birds, especially in winter. The main diet of the bear is sea hares and seals, if you're lucky - seals. A polar predator can endure prolonged hunger strikes, but on occasion it immediately eats up to 20 or more kilograms of meat and fat.

Live to eat

In order to maintain the necessary supply of fat, the polar bear must eat a lot of food. At one time he eats at least 45 kg of seal meat. Half of the calories are used to keep the body warm. Polar bears feed on seals, reindeer, walruses, and white whales. Berries, mushrooms and lichens and rare tundra vegetation serve as an addition to their diet. In general, bears are omnivorous, like foxes, badgers and mongooses. The polar bear prefers to stay among the floating ice or on fast ice at their edge, near polynyas and leads. Here, seals are the most numerous all year round, which serve as the main food for this predator (a bear hunts and eats up to 40-50 seals a year).

But polar bears do not drink water - they get the necessary moisture from their prey.

What do bears do

During the daytime, polar bears roam in search of prey. The bear is inseparable from the kids, the grown-up cubs play, simulating a fight.

Not particularly lucky hunters

Although polar bears hunt almost all of their time. their hunting is successful only in 2% of all cases.

Aggressive polar bear

Aggressiveness peaks during the breeding season, when males fight over females. Bears, although half the size of males, attack them when protecting their offspring. More often it happens that fights can be avoided, and the fight is guarded only by a demonstration of aggressive postures. One of these postures can be observed when the bear rises on its hind legs and opens its mouth wide, exposing fangs. The fight continues until the first blood, after which, as a rule, it stops.

Polar bear vs whale

On rare occasions, beluga whales get trapped by drifting ice. They are forced to swim up to the polynyas that seals arrange for themselves in order to breathe air. In these cases, polar bears have a chance to attack the whales, exhausted by the struggle with the ice. When the whale swims up to the polynya, the bear attacks it, tears it with its claws and teeth - and wins.

Why bears have to be big

The larger the bear, the more opportunity she has to bring healthy offspring. for a male, weight also means a lot, a giant is more likely to find a girlfriend. It is known that bears are 1.2 - 2.2 times heavier than she-bears.

Lone Bears

Unlike other species, polar bears live alone.

Families and singles in the world of bears

Bears are family animals, the family group consists of a she-bear with cubs, between which for a long time the warmest relations are maintained. The cubs are born very small, weighing no more than a kilogram, for 40 days they remain blind, and the mother bear feeds them many times a day. She keeps them close to her, warming with her warmth. Except during the breeding season, the males are solitary and roam over vast areas in search of food. The mating season is short - from May to June. At this time, the males fight fiercely over the females. Couples are fragile, male and female can mate with several partners.

short family life

Females breed once every three years, mating occurs in March-May. The couple stay together for only a few days, during which time the partners continue to mate frequently. like other predatory Carnivora, the male has a ossified penis structure "baculum". by which the female is stimulated to ovulate. Mating can last 10 - 30 minutes, and during this time the partners cannot move away from each other. Fertilized eggs appear by September. Females give birth for the first time between 4 and 8 years of age and remain fertile until 21 years of age, with a peak between 10 and 19 years of age. There are usually 2 cubs in a litter, less often - 1, occasionally - 3.

Polar bears have delayed conception

Pregnancy lasts 190 - 260 days, such an interval is explained by the possibility of "delayed conception", that is, the embryo begins to develop in the mother's body not from the moment of her fertilization. Sperm is stored in her body until favorable conditions for breeding offspring.

Only females hibernate

Unlike other bears living in cold climates, polar bears do not usually hibernate for long periods of time. They rarely hibernate, with the exception of pregnant females, which hibernate every 2-5 years. The she-bear makes a lair in the snow. As a rule, this is a long tunnel leading to an oval-shaped chamber. In some cases, bears have additional tunnels and chambers.

Hibernation duration

Black, brown and polar bears hibernate and spend 3-5 winter months without food. In northern Alaska, bears hibernate for 7 months. The metabolic process at this time is slowed down, waste products are not excreted from the body. If we compare wintering bears with hibernating rodents, we get a similar picture. The body temperature of bears is higher than that of rodents. but the heart beats at a rate of 10 times per minute (normally 45). In the warm winter months, wintering bears leave the den for a while, then return to sleep.

polar bear cubs

… weigh less than 700 grams at birth. Polar bear cubs weigh only a tenth of the usual weight of cubs in other mammals of the same mass. The reason for this is the prolonged fasting of the mother, who does not feed all the time of pregnancy. As a result, the fetus receives nutrients from the mother's body, and not from the food she ingested. Compensation for the lack of nutrients is especially fatty bear milk, which in polar bears exceeds in calories all other relatives in the family. Usually, a female gives birth to two cubs, however, there have been cases of five cubs in one litter, only none of them survived. The bear cub stays in the den until it gains a weight of 8-9 kg. The cubs stay with their mother for two and a half years. Physical maturity occurs at the age of 5-6 years for females and 10-11 years for males, puberty - at the age of 5 years.

Not afraid of man

The polar bear is the only large land mammal that is not afraid of man. He continues to pursue the hunters and after a severe wound, struck in the vital organs. Polar bears often do not pay attention to people - but this is only if they are not hungry and do not hope to profit from their prey.

Life span of bears

Mortality among adult bears is estimated at 8-16%, in immature 3-16%, in cubs 10-30%. The maximum life expectancy is 25-30 years, rarely more. There is evidence of a polar bear that has reached the age of 37 years.

The metabolic rate of a polar bear

The metabolic rate of the polar bear is obviously higher than that of the brown one. White has also been found to have an extraordinary resistance to low temperatures, not only due to its perfect thermoregulation, but also because of the low "critical temperature". Even at -50 ° C, it does not observe a noticeable increase in the level of gas exchange, i.e., there is still no need to use the physiological mechanism of thermoregulation (“chemical”), associated with a large expenditure of energy

Polar bear breathing rate
The respiratory rate of the polar bear noticeably increases with increasing air temperature; at - 10 ... - 20 ° C it is 5.3, and at 20 ... 25 ° C - 30 per minute.

Body temperature of an adult polar bear
The body temperature of an adult polar bear, measured rectally, is 36.8-38.8 ° C (lower than that of a brown one); no diurnal changes in temperature were noted. The temperature of the skin surface, measured in calm weather, reaches 30-36 °C, and in the wind it drops to 27 °C. The difference between the temperatures under the skin and on its surface increases to 10-14 °C when the animal is in the water. The internal body temperature of cubs aged 2 to 8 months, measured using radio pills, varied from 37.4 ° C in dormant animals to 40 and 40.5 ° C when the animals moved uphill, and in swimming animals it was about 38.5 ° WITH.

Heart rate of an adult polar bear
The heart rate of an adult bear at rest is 50-80 per minute, while in an active state it can reach 130 per minute, during sleep it is reduced to 50 and during artificially induced hibernation - up to 27 per minute (for American brown and black bears in the latter case was reduced to eight)

Polar bear milk

Bear milk is very thick, fatty, with the smell of fish oil, contains 44.1% dry matter (including 1.17% ash, 31% fat, 0.49% lactose and 10.2% protein). By chemical composition it approaches the milk of cetaceans and pinnipeds. Milk fat contains 13.9% bituric, 22.6% palmetic and 33.4% oleic acids.

The content of hemoglobin in the blood of polar bear cubs ranges from 66 to 84%, erythrocytes - from 3.5 to 4.9 million, and leukocytes - from 5800 to 8300 per 1 mm3. Of the total number of leukocytes, 5% are neutrophils, 1.2 - eosinophils, 4 - basophils, 2-3 - monocytes, 34-40% - lymphocytes. In adult female bears, the leukocyte formula is different: stab neutrophils - 10 and segmented - 17%, eosinophils - 1, besophiles - 2, monocytes - 4 and lymphocytes - 60%
According to the general serological characteristics, the polar bear is very close to the brown one.

Evolution, taxonomy and variability of the polar bear

According to modern concepts, the genealogical tree of the bear family - Ursidae begins from the Middle Miocene from large representatives of the genus Ursavus, known from finds in Europe. In the Pliocene in Eurasia and North America, there were already 14 genera, or groups, of bears. In the Pleistocene, obviously, there were representatives of both all modern genera of bears, including the genus Thalassarctos Gray, and a number of others that have now become extinct.
The paucity of paleontological materials is the reason for the divergence of opinions of researchers about the antiquity of the divergence of the polar bear from the trunk of brown bears proper (no one doubts the latter). Most authors attribute the time of polar bear isolation to the early or middle Pleistocene (1.5 million years ago), or to the transitional era between the Pleistocene and Pliocene, and Ursus etruscus Fale is considered the direct ancestor of the brown and polar bears. generalized bear type. However, I. G. Pidoplichko admits its isolation already in the Pliocene (more than 2 million years ago).
In the languages ​​of the local indigenous population of the Arctic regions, the polar bear is called:
sira bogto, uloddade boggo, serwarka,
yavvy - in Nenets (north of the European part of the USSR and Western Siberia);
uryungage and khuryung-ege - in Yakut;
nebaty mamachan - in Evenk;
poinene-haha - in Yukagir;
umka and umky - in Chukchi;
nanuk, nyonnok and nanok - in Eskimo (north-east of Siberia, north North America, Greenland).
The acquaintance of a person with a polar bear has as long a history as the human settlement of the coasts and islands of the northern seas, in the north of Europe it probably dates back to the Holocene, and in the north of Asia to the Paleolithic. The first written sources containing the mention of the polar bear also belong to very distant times. It became known to the Romans, apparently, in the 50s. ad. In Japanese manuscripts, living polar bears and their skins were first mentioned in 650, and the first information about these animals from Northern Europe(Scandinavia) date back to 880 AD. Later, living animals, their skins began to get to European rulers quite often.

How bears communicate

By studying polar bears, scientists have found that they prefer to stay alone. This does not apply to a family consisting of a bear with her offspring, they have a well-developed language for communication. If you hear a dull growl, it means that they warn relatives of the approaching danger. With the same sound, the bear drives others away from its prey. Begging for food from a more fortunate fellow, the bear approaches slowly, sways, then reaches nose to nose for a greeting ritual. As a rule, a polite request does not go unanswered, and after an exchange of courtesies, the relative is allowed to eat together. Young bears are very fond of playing, it is boring to play alone, therefore, inviting to fun, they shake their heads from side to side.

polar bear day

In winter, in some countries of the world, February 27 is the Day of the White Polar Bear. Based on data from the World Fund Wildlife(WWF), there are currently 20-25 thousand polar bears in the world. But due to many factors, by 2050 the population of this species may be reduced by two thirds. The polar bear is the most major representative detachment of predatory mammals on earth. In length, it reaches 3 meters, weighing up to 1000 kg. As a rule, males weigh 400-600 kg; body length 200-250 cm, height at the withers up to 160 cm. Females are noticeably smaller (200-300 kg). The smallest bears are found in Spitsbergen, the largest in the Bering Sea.

The polar bear is the largest representative of the predatory

Just think of the trials Mother Nature sometimes puts on her creatures. Getting acquainted with the way of life of some animals, one involuntarily asks the question: “How do they survive?” After all, they live where, it would seem, life is impossible, they are subjected to all sorts of hardships. Well, those who were not able to gain a foothold on the "edge of life" are weeded out by natural selection. Others, the most viable, live and prosper.
One of these winners is the polar bear, the eternal wanderer among the boundless polar expanses. In proud loneliness he reigns here, he has no equal. This bear is not at all like its brothers living in the southern countries - neither in appearance, nor in habits, nor in terms of living conditions. But there is one sad similarity in which the bear is innocent. This inhabitant polar ice, like some clubfoot inhabitants of the forests, has become rare in nature through the fault of man. It is included in the Red Book of the USSR, where it has category III of protection, and the IUCN.
The polar bear is the largest representative of the order of predatory mammals, the largest land predator. His body length reaches 3 m. Can you imagine if he stands on his hind legs? Impressive spectacle! The weight of large males sometimes reaches 800 kg. The physique of the polar bear is quite massive. At the same time, the “outline” of his body in some details is not bearish at all, probably because of his neck, which is long and movable. The legs are rather high, thick and powerful. The feet of the front paws are wide, their surface is additionally enlarged by overgrown dense hair. The fur is very thick and long, especially on the belly. The color is white, with a yellowish-golden hue along the

To the question bears are herbivores or predators, asked by the author Elena Yakshigulova the best answer is Bears are omnivores. They eat grass, berries, mushrooms, they will not give up fish, especially meat, they fatten up - they eat everything until they are completely stupefied.
But pandas only eat bamboo, while polar bears prefer seal and seal fat.

Answer from Anastasia[newbie]
Predators))

Answer from merman[guru]
predators of course

Answer from Artyom Kirillov[master]
omnivores!!

Answer from Anyushka Selivanova[active]
predators, but from hunger they can pick up raspberries and chew grass =)

Answer from Anton Shefer[newbie]
The bear is an omnivore, just like humans.

Answer from Nastya Ropcea[master]
omnivores

Answer from Natasha[guru]
Bears (lat. Ursidae) - a family of mammals of the predatory order. They differ from other representatives of the canine in a more stocky physique. Bears are omnivorous, climb and swim well, run fast, can stand and walk short distances on their hind legs. They have a short tail, long and thick hair, as well as excellent sense of smell and hearing. They hunt in the evening or at dawn. Usually fearful of humans, but can be dangerous in areas where they are used to humans, especially polar bears and grizzly bears. Immune to bee stings. In nature, they have almost no natural enemies.

Answer from Marina Mirutenko[guru]

Answer from Olesya Yudintseva (Yumasheva)[newbie]
100% carnivorous predators, because they eat meat and hunt. Only carnivores can hunt and eat meat, first of all, and only then fish, mushrooms, nuts, honey, berries, grass, roots. But herbivores cannot eat meat.

Answer from Lyudmila Valentinovna[guru]
the white bear, grizzly bear, spectacled bear, and many other members of the bear family eat wild berries, nuts, honey, rodents, carrion, large mammals, and other plants. FROM THE ORDER THEY ARE PREDATORS. but the koala, belonging to the marsupial bear family, is a herbivorous bear.

Answer from Iodionov Sergey[guru]
the bear is omnivorous. He eats almost everything that can be eaten. in the summer, plant foods predominate, most of the animal protein in the bear's diet is small animals. rodents. insects. the bear is engaged in hunting directly, especially hunting for large animals, extremely rarely only in the absence of more accessible and less "dangerous" food

Answer from Ѝyvind Storm of the Fjords[guru]
Bears are omnivores. In principle, they eat plant food all the time, and animal food only when it falls into their paws.

Answer from KOMOV MICHAEL[guru]
Browns are omnivores. Whites are predators

Answer from Alesya Benitsevich[newbie]
omnivorous

Answer from Marat Timirgalin[active]
omnivorous

Answer from Jena Sluchic[newbie]
Differently

Answer from Gulnara Abulkhanova[newbie]
Anatomically predatory. Teeth, that and that. And constantly on plant foods, he can not. But in recent years, in many regions, the bear is increasingly using plant foods. In this regard, its numbers are growing, in some places it is much larger than the wolf. That is, it sort of climbs off the top of the food pyramid.

The bear is the largest predator on earth. This animal belongs to the class of mammals, order carnivores, family bears, genus bears ( Ursus). The bear appeared on the planet about 6 million years ago and has always been a symbol of power and strength.

Bear - description, characteristics, structure. What does a bear look like?

Depending on the species, the body length of a predator can vary from 1.2 to 3 meters, and the weight of a bear varies from 40 kg to a ton. The body of these animals is large, stocky, with a thick, short neck and a large head. Powerful jaws allow you to easily gnaw both plant and meat foods. The limbs are rather short and slightly curved. Therefore, the bear walks, swaying from side to side, and rests on the entire foot. The speed of a bear in moments of danger can reach 50 km / h. With the help of large and sharp claws, these animals extract food from the ground, tear apart prey and climb trees. Many bear species are good swimmers. The polar bear has a special membrane between the fingers for this. The life expectancy of a bear can reach 45 years.

Bears do not have sharp eyesight and well-developed hearing. This is offset by a great sense of smell. Sometimes animals stand on their hind legs in order to obtain information about the environment with the help of scent.

thick bear fur, covering the body, has a different color: from reddish-brown to black, white in polar bears or black and white in pandas. Species with dark fur turn gray and gray in old age.

Does a bear have a tail?

Yes, but only big panda is the owner of a noticeable tail. In other species, it is short and almost indistinguishable in the fur.

Types of bears, names and photos

In the bear family, zoologists distinguish 8 species of bears, which are divided into many different subspecies:

• Brown bear (common bear) (Ursus arctos)

The appearance of a predator of this species is typical for all representatives of the bear family: a powerful body, rather high at the withers, a massive head with rather small ears and eyes, a short, slightly noticeable tail, and large paws with very powerful claws. The body of a brown bear is covered with thick hair with a brownish, dark gray, reddish color, which varies from the habitat of the "clubfoot". Baby bear cubs often have large light tan marks on the chest or in the neck area, although these marks disappear with age.

The distribution range of the brown bear is wide: it is found in mountain systems Alps and on the Apennine Peninsula, distributed in Finland and the Carpathians, feels comfortable in Scandinavia, Asia, China, in the northwest of the United States and in Russian forests.

• Polar (white) bear (Ursus maritimus)

It is the largest representative of the family: its body length often reaches 3 meters, and its mass can exceed one ton. It has a long neck and a slightly flattened head - this distinguishes it from its counterparts in other species. The color of the bear's coat is from boiling white to slightly yellowish, the hairs inside are hollow, therefore they give the bear's "fur coat" excellent thermal insulation properties. The soles of the paws are densely “lined” with tufts of coarse wool, which allows the polar bear to easily move on the ice cover without slipping. Between the toes of the paws there is a membrane that facilitates the process of swimming. The habitat of this species of bears is the polar regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

• Baribal (black bear) (Ursus americanus)

The bear is a bit like a brown relative, but differs from it in its smaller size and blue-black fur. The length of an adult baribal does not exceed two meters, and the female bear is even smaller - their body usually has a length of 1.5 meters. A pointed muzzle, long paws ending in rather short feet - this is what is remarkable this representative bears. By the way, baribals can become black only by the third year of life, at birth getting a gray or brownish color. The habitat of the black bear is vast: from the expanses of Alaska to the territories of Canada and hot Mexico.

• Malayan bear (biruang) (Helarctos malyanus)

The most "miniature" species among its bear counterparts: its length does not exceed 1.3-1.5 meters, and the height at the withers is slightly more than half a meter. This type of bear has a stocky build, a short, rather wide muzzle with small, round ears. The paws of the Malayan bear are high, while large, long feet with huge claws look a little disproportionate. The body is covered with short and very hard black-brown fur, the chest of the animal is “adorned” with a white-red spot. Malayan bear lives in southern regions China, Thailand and Indonesia.

• White-breasted (Himalayan) bear (Ursus thibetanus)

The slender physique of the Himalayan bear is not too different large sizes- this representative of the family is two times smaller than the brown relative: the male has a length of 1.5-1.7 meters, while the height at the withers is only 75-80 cm, the females are even smaller. The body of a bear, covered with shiny and silky hair of dark brown or black, is crowned by a head with a pointed muzzle and large round ears. An obligatory "attribute" of the appearance of the Himalayan bear is a spectacular white or yellowish spot on the chest. This species of bears lives in Iran and Afghanistan, is found in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas, in Korea, Vietnam, China and Japan, feels at ease in the open spaces Khabarovsk Territory and in the south of Yakutia.

• spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus)

Medium-sized predator - length 1.5-1.8 meters, height at the withers from 70 to 80 cm. The muzzle is short, not too wide. Wool spectacled bear shaggy, has a black or black-brown hue, around the eyes there are necessarily white-yellow rings, smoothly turning into a whitish "collar" of fur on the animal's neck. The habitat of this species of bears is the country South America: Colombia and Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama.

• Gubach (Melursus ursinus)

A predator with a body length of up to 1.8 meters, at the withers, the height varies from 65 to 90 centimeters, females are approximately 30% smaller than males in both indicators. The trunk of the sloth is massive, the head is large, with a flat forehead and an overly elongated muzzle, which ends in mobile, completely devoid of hair, protruding lips. The bear's fur is long, usually black or dirty-brown in color, often forming a semblance of a shaggy mane in the neck of the animal. The chest of the sloth bear has a light spot. The habitat of this species of bears is India, some parts of Pakistan, Bhutan, the territory of Bangladesh and Nepal.

• Big panda (bamboo bear) ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

This type of bear has a massive, squat body, which is covered with dense, thick black and white fur. The paws are short, thick, with sharp claws and absolutely hairless pads: this allows the pandas to firmly hold the smooth and slippery bamboo stems. The structure of the front paws of these bears is very unusually developed: five ordinary fingers are complemented by a large sixth, although it is not a real finger, but is a modified bone. Such amazing paws enable the panda to easily manage the thinnest bamboo shoots. The bamboo bear lives in the mountainous regions of China, especially large populations live in Tibet and Sichuan.