The brown bear is active throughout the day, but more often in the mornings and evenings. The seasonal cyclicality of life is clearly expressed. The bear is fattening up for winter subcutaneous fat(up to 180 kg) and lies in a den since autumn. Dens are located in a dry place, in most cases in holes protected by windbreaks or under uprooted tree roots. Less commonly, bears dig shelters in the ground or occupy caves and rock crevices. Bears have favorite wintering places, where they gather from the whole neighborhood year after year. In different areas, winter sleep lasts from 75 to 195 days. Depending on climatic and other conditions, bears stay in dens from October - November to March - April, that is, 5-6 months. Bears with cubs live the longest in dens, old males live the least. In the south of the range, where winters have little snow, bears do not hibernate at all. During the wintering period, the bear loses up to 80 kg of fat. Contrary to popular belief, the brown bear's winter sleep is shallow; his body temperature during sleep fluctuates between 29 and 34 degrees. In case of danger, the animal wakes up and leaves the den, going in search of a new one. Sometimes a bear does not have time to fatten up properly during the fall, so in the middle of winter it wakes up and begins to wander in search of food; such bears are called connecting rods. The connecting rods are very dangerous, hunger makes them merciless predators - they attack anyone who crosses their path, even humans. Such bears have very little chance of surviving until spring. Despite its clumsy appearance, the brown bear runs extremely fast - at a speed of up to 50 km/h, swims excellently and climbs trees well in its youth (as it gets older, it does this more reluctantly). With one blow of his paw, a seasoned bear can break the back of a bull, bison or bison.
The brown bear is a wild predatory animal that lives only in the northern hemisphere of our Planet. In Russia, bears live only in forests, in Europe - in mountain forests, and in North America - more often in the tundra, on the coast and in alpine meadows. A map of the distribution of all types of bears on our Planet can be found in the article Types of Bears.
Scientific classification
Brown bears are divided into several subspecies, among which there are extinct individuals. They all differ in color and size. Small individuals inhabit Europe, and large ones inhabit Kamchatka and Alaska. Male bears can weigh over 1000 kg. A bear was caught on Kodiak Island, weighing 1134 kg. But these are rare specimens. On average, the weight is up to 500 kg. The length of European bears is from 1.2 - 2 meters, and grizzly bears can reach from 2 - 3 meters. They all live alone. Only the female can live with the cubs until they are three years old. Brown bears are omnivores. They eat: berries, nuts, grass, oats, corn, ants, butterflies, fish, rodents, as well as deer and roe deer. They love honey very much. The word bear means “knowing honey.”
The body of bears is powerful, the withers are high. Their head is large, but their ears and eyes are small. The tail is almost invisible. Its length is from 6-20cm. Powerful paws have non-retractable claws 8-10 cm long. The evenly colored wool is thick and coarse.
All brown bears hibernate in winter in their den, which they make for themselves safe place. A den is a place where a bear hides in winter. In the place where a bear sleeps, you will never see traces of other animals. They avoid him. A yellow coating on the trees around the den from the bear's breath can also give away the location of its shelter. The male sleeps alone, and the female sleeps with last year's cubs. They go to bed in November and wake up in March. They sleep curled up in a ball and cross their paws over their chest.
Females bring offspring once every two or even four years. Within three months, starting in May, they are ready for fertilization. But the bear embryo begins to develop only in November, after the female lies down in the den. Pregnancy lasts up to 200 days. Cubs are usually born in quantities of 2 - 5 pieces (weighing 500 - 600 grams) at the beginning of January.
Brown bear video:
Subspecies of brown bear
Today, science recognizes that there are only two subspecies of brown bear in North America: the Grizzly and the Kodiak.
Kodiak is one of the largest predators in the world. It lives on the islands of the Kodiak archipelago near Alaska. Their length is up to 2.8 m, weight is more than 500 kg. Their lifestyle is no different from other brown bears. In winter they sleep and live alone. They mate in summer. In winter, 1-3 cubs are born. In the capital of Providence, Rhode Island, USA, there is a life-size bronze sculpture of a Kodiak bear, created by Nick Bibby.
The grizzly bear lives mainly in Alaska and western Canada. Its name is horribilis, which in Latin means “terrible, terrible.” The size of this animal depends on where it lives and what it eats. Those bears that feed on fish on the coast are larger, and those that feed on berries and carrion in the forest are smaller.
The Gobi brown bear lives in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, where it has very rare status.
The Apennine brown bear lives in Italy in the central Apennine Mountains.
The Syrian brown bear lives in the mountains of Transcaucasia and the Middle East. Among the brown ones, it is the lightest and smallest. Its length is only 1.5 meters.
The Siberian brown bear lives in most of Siberia, as well as northern Xinjiang in China and the eastern border of Kazakhstan. Their length reaches 2.5 meters, and the weight of the largest individuals is up to 800 kg. Their fur is dark brown. They live alone and sleep in winter. Siberian bears are omnivores. In autumn and spring they fish in rivers.
The Tibetan brown bear lives in the east of the Tibetan plateau. Belongs to the rarest subspecies of brown bear. It feeds on pikas and grasses.
The Tien Shan brown bear lives in the mountains of the Himalayas, Pamirs and Tien Shan. Body length is up to 1.4 m, and weight is up to 300 kg. Its main difference is the light claws on its front paws.
The brown bear is one of the largest predators in Russian forests. His weight is 200-300 kg, his body length is more than two meters, his height during normal walking does not reach just one and a half meters, and when he stands up, his height can reach three meters. He is very strong, and he can rightfully be called the king of Russian windbreaks. It is found mainly in coniferous forests, where there is a lot of plant food under dark spruce trees. He also often visits swamps, where his delicacy grows - blueberry.
The bear has thick fur, in some places of its body, especially in winter, it reaches 10 cm, so one gets the impression that it is heavy and clumsy. However, it is not. This is a dexterous and nimble hunter, and it can also climb trees. Its claws, about 10 cm long, are powerful weapons.
Bears are territorial animals and lead a sedentary lifestyle. Each bear “owns” its own area, which it guards very jealously. IN summer time Brown bears, despite the fact that they are predators, feed mainly on vegetation. Its diet includes grass, plant roots and berries. Autumn pleases bears with acorns and nuts. The clubfoot can also attack ungulates, which is why it is a predator. It won’t be difficult to kill an adult moose if it falls into its paws. But in the summer he needs not only to feed himself, but also to prepare for life in the winter.
A bear's winter hibernation lasts from 2.5 months to 5-6, depending on the climate zone. The clubfoot arranges its den, in which it spends a significant part of its life, no worse than people. He chooses a place for a den in a dense thicket, under the root of a fallen tree, or digs a hole. The walls of the den are strengthened with branches, and the “floor” is lined with grass. The “ceiling” of a bear’s house is a dense layer of branches mixed with grass – and the result is a rather cozy (for a bear) housing. Before going into hibernation, the bear carefully camouflages its home and confuses its tracks to it. The life of a bear in winter is spent in hibernation, and if nothing bothers him, he does not come out of his den until it warms up.
But the bear's sleep is quite sensitive; it hears everything that happens nearby. The bear sleeps, curled up, covering its nose with its front paws. Each individual lives separately, one den - one bear. But in the females’ dens, replenishment occurs in January - 2-3 bear cubs are born. They are born blind and without hair, weighing no more than a kilogram. The mother warms them with her warmth, and after three months they are overgrown with wool and weigh about 5 kg. In the first year of life, they do not stray far from their mother and adopt her experience in hunting and obtaining food.
The bears' rut begins late spring. At this time, fierce fights take place between males; at this time, they can kill anyone who happens to be nearby. Living being. They are also dangerous for humans during this period. The couple's life together lasts no more than a month, after which the bears separate.
In the wild, the lifespan of bears is more than 25 years, and in captivity - more than 40. The lifespan of bears is relatively long by animal standards. One of the reasons is that he has no natural opponents in our Russian nature.
Why, then, in fairy tales and cartoons does the bear look, to put it mildly, stupid and not so aggressive, although he is a predator? Indeed, observing the life of bears in nature, one can notice that they are, one might say, kind, they do not pay attention to the reality around them, they do not care (if, of course, they are well-fed) who wanders around them -
Eurasia north to the tree line, south to the Himalayas, Mediterranean Sea and North-West Africa, North America west of 90° W. d., north almost to the northern tip of the continent, south to Mexico.
The range in the USSR (restored) occupies the entire forest and partly the forest-steppe and steppe zone, the eastern tundra, the Caucasus and the mountainous regions of Central Asia. It makes up a significant part of the species' range (about half) and occupies most of the territory of the USSR.
Within the USSR, the range consists of three more or less isolated main parts - the main European-Siberian massif associated with forests, partly forest-steppe and steppe, the Caucasus, mainly mountain-forest region, and the Central Asian part, where bears live in the mountains, partly treeless . All these three parts are connected or connected in the past outside our country in the south - the Caucasian with the European-Siberian through Asia Minor, Central Asian with the other two through Iran, Afghanistan and China. Behind historical time The habitat of the brown bear has changed greatly due to its reduction. IN former time and the isolation of individual parts of the range in our country, including the European-Siberian and Central Asian ones, was less. Obviously, there was some kind of contact in the east of Kazakhstan, and in distant times also in the western Ciscaucasia.
The habitat has changed significantly in recent decades and is changing quite quickly before our eyes. For this reason, more or less accurately establishing the boundaries of the animal’s distribution is impossible in many cases. In addition, in some areas in the north, brown bears roam very widely and it is difficult to distinguish between the area of normal permanent habitat, the area of regular visits and the area of rare, especially distant visits.
The northern border of the bear's distribution in the European-Siberian part of its range, generally speaking, is associated with the northern border of the forest and forest-tundra. There the bear is rare, although in some parts it stays constantly and visits regularly. Animals enter the tundra almost everywhere, mainly in its southern parts, but in some places they penetrate quite far to the north.
On the Kola Peninsula, the animal’s permanent habitat does not reach the Murmansk coast. Granite passes at the latitude of Murmansk and stretches to the mouth of the Ponoy on the eastern shore of the peninsula. In the summer, wandering animals go out into the tundra and in the north and east reach the seashore. There are no bears on the Solovetsky Islands and, obviously, there never were. Further to the east, the border covers the very lower reaches and mouth of the Mezen, the southernmost part of Kania (mainly the entrances) and runs along the southern border and southern edge of the Timan, Malozemelskaya and Bolshezemelskaya tundra, reaching the very lower reaches of the Pechora. In the area between Kanin and Pechora in the summer, bears go far into the tundra and even reach the seashore. 
In the Northern Urals, the brown bear normally lives at 65° N and is also found in the tundra up to 67° N. w. Further to the east, the border goes to the very lower reaches and mouth of the Ob, reaching it approximately at the latitude of the Arctic Circle near Salekhard. From here the border goes along the southern coast of the Ob Bay or slightly retreating from it. In any case, in the summer the animals live all the way to the coast. Further to the east, the border of the permanent habitat area forms an arcuate line, rising slightly to the north, and reaches the mouth of the Taz River into the Tazovskaya Bay. In the area between the Taz and Yenisei rivers, the border still rises to the north, capturing Bolshaya and Malaya Kheta, and reaches the Yenisei at Dudinka (69°30′ N).
In the space between the Northern Urals and the Yenisei, the northern border of the area of irregular habitat and entry goes through the sources of the Usa (about 68° N), slightly north of Lake. Yarro and through Cape Kamenny (about 68°30′ N latitude) on Yamal, along the northern shore of the Tazovsky Peninsula (about 69° N latitude) across the top of the river. Gydy on the Gydan Peninsula (70°30′ N) and still rises on the left bank of the Yenisei to the level of Tolstoy Nos (70°15′ N) and even further north (Shirokaya Bay). The delineated area occupies not only the entire forest-tundra, but also a significant part of the southern tundra.
From the mouth of the Yenisei, the border goes to the mouth of Khatanga, capturing the basin of Lake Pyasinsky (69°30′ N), the basin of Kheta and tributaries to the left Dudypty (Kamennaya) to 71°30′ N. w. and leaving for Khatanga at 72°30′ N. w. (R. Novaya). On Taimyr, therefore, the area of more or less regular habitation and short-term access (it is difficult to distinguish between them) goes farthest to the north and covers the real tundra. This is also where the farthest approaches extend farthest to the north.
Further east, the border is very poorly defined. It can be considered that it goes along the very lower reaches of Olenek, Lena, Omolon, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma, passing along the mouth of the latter. On the Lena, bear dens, although rare, are found near Bulun (70°30′) and Kumakh-Surt (71°30′) not far from the beginning of the delta. The bear makes its visits to the north - at Cape Bykovsky (72°N latitude). Throughout the entire indicated area of Central and part of Eastern Siberia, the border of the range generally runs along the border of crooked forest and tundra, and the strip of crooked forest also serves as an area of normal habitat for the animal, and the tundra area is mainly a summer habitat.
East of Kolyma, the border of the range goes significantly north of the tundra border, passing along the northern slope of the Anadyr Range and reaching the Pacific Ocean somewhere in the middle part of the Chukotka Peninsula (north of the Gulf of the Cross).
Summarizing the data presented, we can assume that the northern border of the bear’s normal sedentary residence runs (except in the northeast of Siberia) along the northern border of the forest. However, in the summer, animals (mainly, apparently, males) roam quite widely and, in fact, enter everywhere into the southern tundra, and in fact, the border, strictly speaking, is located in this zone. In addition to this regular phenomenon, there are longer movements of the animal to the north over a distance of tens and even hundreds of kilometers. In addition to the above mentioned approaches in the European part of the country and in Western Siberia, particularly distant approaches are known in Taimyr to 73° and even to Taimyr Lake at 74° and to the ocean in Yakutia.
The eastern border of the range is formed by the Pacific coast to the southern borders of the state. Bears are found on Karagip Island, Shumshu and Paramushir from the northern Kuril Islands and on Kunashiri and Iturup from the southern ones (not on the rest), on Sakhalin and the Shantar Islands. The northern and eastern border of the range is still the same as described, and obviously has not changed significantly in recent centuries. On Shumshu Island, however, the bear has recently disappeared.
The southern (restored) border of the range in our country, from the Pacific Ocean to Altai and Tarbagatai, coincides with the state border. There is no animal and, obviously, there was no animal in the steppes of the southeastern and, probably, southwestern Transbaikalia. This border apparently has not undergone significant changes over the past century.
From Tarbagatan, in a general direction to the northwest, the border goes through the steppes of Kazakhstan to the Urals. It covers the Kazakh small hill (Kazakh folded country) from the south, passing somewhere in the middle between Karkaralinsk and the northern shore of Balkhash. Further, crossing the Nura and the upper reaches of Ishim, the border covers the Kokchetav Highlands from the south and goes west to the upper reaches of the Tobol, crossing them a little south of Kustanai (Ara-Karagai forest). From here the border line, bypassing the habitats of the animal in the bay from the south. Troitsky district (Kaban-Karagay), goes to the upper reaches of the Ayat (a tributary of the Tobol, flowing above Kustanai), and from here to the Ural valley, approximately to Orsk. The habitat of brown bears here, in particular, was noted near Rossypnaya and Nizhne-Ozernaya (below Orenburg). Along the Ural valley the bear was distributed as far as Uralsk.
In the delineated steppe and forest-steppe part of Kazakhstan, the bear was distributed only sporadically. He stayed in island forests, forests and mountain areas (small hills) with tree and shrub vegetation and even without it. The brown bear lived in some parts of Kazakhstan back in the 18th century. (the sources of the Nura south of Karkaralinsk, Ara-Karagay), in others it existed until the beginning of the 20th century. (Sapdyktau, Kokchetav Mountains near Borovoye). It is possible that in more distant times the bear was distributed further south than is now known and described here. Thus, it is possible to live in Ulutau, although there is no information about this, and in some other places in the south. It is interesting that the entire outlined border runs along the steppe zone, in the east very close to the border of the semi-desert and desert zones.
The bear's habitat in Kazakhstan is the southern edge of the central and western Siberian part of its range. However, in the steppe and forest-steppe of Western Siberia there have been no bears for a long time, and it is difficult to trace how the range retreated here. Apparently, in Kazakhstan, the bear persisted in some places even when it was no longer present in large areas to the north.
The modern (50s) line of the southern border of the range in Western Siberia cannot be delineated sufficiently accurately due to lack of information. In Altai, animals are found everywhere, including the southernmost basin of the lake. Markakol and up to the Zaisan depression (not in the depression itself), in the Narym ridge and in the Kalbip Altai (left bank of the Irtysh). Further it goes along the border of more or less continuous tall forests, i.e. along the northern foothills of Altai, enclosing this arc in an arc mountainous country, bypasses Kuznetsk Alatau from the west and from the north, goes to Tomsk and from here to Novosibirsk. Bypassing the Barabinskaya steppe from the north and passing a little north of Lake Chany, the border of the range crosses the Irtysh a little south of 56° N. sh., Ishim - a little north of this degree, goes to Tyumen and goes to the Ural ridge, covering the Sverdovsk region a little north and west (45-50 km) of the city. In the Urals, the bear's habitat descends in a large cape to the south, reaching 52° N. sh., in the east capturing the sources of the Urals. Thus, in Western Siberia, the modern range of the brown bear no longer occupies the steppe and forest-steppe, and its southern border runs along the southern parts of the forest (taiga) zone. In some parts of Siberia, for example in the Baikal region, significant spaces have formed in some places within the range where the bear, which until relatively recently was a fairly common species, disappeared completely or almost completely. This, unfortunately, is facilitated by the attitude towards the bear as a predator, the hunt for which is not limited in any way.
In the European part of the Union in the south, the natural range of the brown bear occupied not only the entire southern part of the modern forest zone, but also the forest-steppe strip and extended far into the modern steppes.
Between the Volga and the Urals, animals were found in Kinel, Samara and Zhiguli. The southern border, however, lay further south. Walking from the river Ural (Uralsk), it apparently covered General Syrt and its southern spurs, went to the Irgiz and along it to the Volga. And in this area, animals were thus quite widespread in the steppe zone. In some places the bears probably went further south than indicated.
The distribution of the animal along the Volga valley has not been clarified, but it probably traveled quite far to the south along the urem lands, since it was apparently quite widespread in the forest-steppe and steppe zone in the Don basin. Here the animals lived throughout the Medveditsa to the mouth and along its tributaries Tersa, Knyazevka, Karamysh, Idolga, Kamyshley. Along the Don itself, bears were found not only in the north (Shipov forest near Pavlovsk), but also much lower - near the village of Starogrigorievskaya, at the mouth of the Khopr and Medveditsa, and even in the Kletskaya area. Along the Donets, bears lived mainly in the north - near Chuguev, Zmiev and in other places to the south and southeast and southwest of Kharkov, but even in the area of the mouth of Oskol they reached places near present-day Lugansk.
To the west, the animals were distributed in the Chernigov and Kyiv regions and near Poltava. The exact distribution of the beast along the left bank of the Dnieper is unknown, however, it probably descended to the south much further than Poltava. It can be assumed that the border of the range from the Donets went to the Dnieper approximately to Zaporozhye. In the south of the right bank of the Dnieper there are indications of the presence of brown bears in the Black Forest near Kirovograd, in the Savran steppe southeast of Balta at the mouth of the Samotkan River and even in the steppes near Ochakov, in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and near Perekop, i.e. bears were widespread to the shores of the Black Sea.
Thus, in the European part of the Union, bears were distributed not only in the forest-steppe, but were also widely found in the steppe zone, especially, apparently, in its western part.
In the west, the range of the brown bear in the past reached the Baltic Sea and the southwestern foothills of the Carpathians - the Pannonian Lowland.
Information about Uralsk, the Volga, the Don basin and the Black Forest dates back to the 18th century, information about Balta, the lower Dnieper, Ochakov and Perekop from the 16th - 17th centuries. Known bear fossils from Crimea date back to the Pleistocene.
The described southern restored border of the brown bear's range in the European part of the Union, in contrast to the northern one, has changed very much over the past centuries and has moved northward by hundreds of kilometers - in some places up to almost 1000, and maybe more. The process of habitat reduction has been very intensive in the 20th century, especially in recent decades.
The boundary has not changed so quickly in the entire history of the species. Not only the lack of accurate data, but no less the indicated circumstance does not allow us to draw the modern southern border of the range with sufficient accuracy - it changes before our eyes from year to year. It has changed more and, apparently, faster than the southern border in Siberia.
In the 40s and 50s of our century (before 1960), the southern border of the distribution of the brown bear in the Urals and in the European part of the country can be outlined as follows. Beginning on the eastern slope of the Urals, approximately 50 km west of Sverdlovsk, it runs due south along the eastern edge of the forests of the Urals, occupying a ridge south to approximately 52° N. w. (Shaitantau). From here the border turns sharply to the north, limiting the Ural “cape” of the range from the west. The border runs along the foothills of the Urals, without crossing Belaya to the west. Somewhere in the area of 60° N. w. it turns sharply to the west, separating the northeastern part of the Perm region, where the bear still exists, from the rest, in which the beast has already been destroyed. The western direction of the border soon gives way to the southwest and again to the west - the border, going down to the lower Kama, goes around it from the north and crosses the lower reaches of the Vyatka, thus bypassing the Tatar Republic from the north. There have been no bears here as a permanent resident since the late 20s - early 30s, although individual visits from the north-west (from the Mari Republic) took place back in the 40s, 50s and even 60s. Entering animals are hunted almost immediately.
Having crossed the Volga, apparently, somewhere in the region of 48° E. etc., the border goes steeply to the south, capturing the forests of the Sura basin and descending here quite far to the south to approximately 54° N. w. From here the border, bending slightly to the north, goes at the level of Temnikov in the Mordovian Republic, moves west to Moksha and through the forests of the Tsna basin gives a long, very narrow cape to the south. This cape, however, does not reach Tambov. These data refer to recent decades, but in 1960 there were apparently no bears in the forests of Tsna and Moksha, except for the Sarov forests (Zametchinsky district).
From the area of the Moksha mouth, the border goes somewhere along the left bank of the Oka, retreating from it, then steeply descends to the south, making a loop that captures the Ryazan Meshchera. The southern border of this loop runs along the river. Pre. From Pra the border turns sharply to the north, and, first passing through the regions of the Vladimir region, surrounds the Moscow region from the east, north and west.
In the Moscow region, brown bears were quite widespread until recently and lived not far from Moscow. In 1891, a bear raised from a den by wolves was killed near Pushkin (about 30 km from Moscow along the Northern Railway). Back in the 20s, animals constantly stayed in the bay. b. Bogorodsky (Noginsk), Dmitrovsky and Klinsky districts (east, northeast and north of the region). In the 20s, they were still found in the then Dolgolugovsky forestry, which included vast forests near Khotkov, Sofrin and Pushkin (Northern railway - between Moscow and Zagorsk); they were also found in the forests near Zagorsk and to the north. Bears began to rapidly disappear in the 30s and in the 40s and 50s they were no longer permanent residents of the area; very rarely they appeared entering from the north along Dubna or from Meshchera into the forests near Shatura, that is, from the east and southeast. The last such visit took place on December 7, 1960, during an exceptionally warm winter, when the connecting rod was killed in the forests near Lukhovitsy.
It is impossible to establish any exact position of the border in the regions of Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Kalinin. Apparently, the range includes the western parts of the Oryol region and, perhaps, Kapuzhskaya, since in the 50s it included the entire Bryansk region, except for its southernmost parts (Brasovsky, Sevsky, Novozybkovsky, Klimovsky, Klintsovsky and Starodubsky forestry enterprises). In the Vladimir region in the 50s there were no longer bears.
In Belarus, where until recently the animal was widespread and almost everywhere, already in 1950-1951. it was found only in the northern regions. The border ran north of Mogilev and northeast of Minsk, and then turned sharply to the northwest and north and went through the areas of Borisov, Pleschenitsy, Begoml, Donshchitsa, Glubokoye, and Markovshchina. A small habitat of the animal, separated from the North Belarusian one, is located in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Further north, the border, apparently capturing the westernmost outskirts of Latvia (there are no bears in Lithuania now), goes to Estonia. Here the bear was quite widespread back in 1960, found west of the line Pärnu (Gulf of Riga) - Cape Juminda (Gulf of Finland) and reaching north to the Gulf of Finland, and in the south to 58° N. w. A separate habitat, recently connected to the main one, is located northeast of Hapsalu.
From northern Estonia, a short distance from the coast of the Gulf of Finland, the border goes east to Leningrad. In the west of the Leningrad region, the range includes the areas of Luga, Slantsev, and Kingissep. Surrounding Leningrad from the south and east, the border goes through Gatchina (about 40 km from Leningrad), Vyritsa (60 km), Tosno (about 60 km), Lisino (45-50 km along the highway to Moscow), MGU (about 40 km) , goes to the shore of Lake Ladoga and, surrounding it, passes into Karelia. There are no animals on the Karelian Isthmus. The western border of the range in Karelia and to the north is the state border.
Within the area limited by the indicated line of the southern border, the distribution of the animal is very uneven and, along with areas where the population is in a more or less normal state, there are significant spaces where it is sparse (western and eastern parts of the Leningrad region) or animals are very rare or appear only approaching In large areas within the range there are no bears at all. It is not possible to characterize different parts of the range from this side, not only due to the lack of information in the literature, but also because the distribution and abundance of bears in negative side changes very quickly - literally within individual years. So, if at the beginning of the century it was still common in some places in the northern regions of Ukraine, then by the end of the 40s there were only visits of single animals from Belarus to the northern parts of the Chernigov, Zhitomir and Volyn regions, and later even this disappeared; in Belarus, until recently the animal was distributed almost everywhere, but at present its range is limited to the described northern part, etc.
Indicative is the picture of changes in the distribution, part of the number, of bears at the southern border of the modern range, which was drawn by a special survey conducted in 24 middle regions in 1962. These are the regions from the upper Dnieper in the west (the border of Belarus) to the Kama in the east. Within this territory, the bear lives only in large forest areas, so the southern border of its distribution quite accurately coincides with the modern border of large forest areas. In the Smolensk region, the border runs along the right bank of the Dnieper, and in the vicinity of Dorogobuzh there are no a large number of Bears are also found in the forests rich in swamps on the left bank of the Dnieper. From Dorogobuzh the border rises north-northeast to the village. Sychevka, from here it goes along the left bank of the Volga to Kalinin, and then to Bezhetsk and east to Uglich and Tutaev. Further, the border goes again along the right bank of the Volga to Zelenodolsk (Tataria), from where it rises northeast to Malmyzh, Vyatskie Polyany and Izhevsk.
North of this line at the indicated time the bear is found everywhere, but in the south there were only a few isolated areas of its habitat:
1) forest area between the cities of Kostyukevichi, Kletnya and Roslavl within the Bryansk and Smolensk regions (up to 10-15 individuals);
2) forest area along the left bank of the Desna, in the interfluve of the Zhizdra and Resseta rivers and at the sources of the river. Vytebet within the Bryansk, Kaluga and Oryol regions (from 20 to 30 animals);
3) Meshchersky forest on the left bank of the Oka in the Ryazan region (5-10 animals);
4) forest along the banks of the Tsna, the middle reaches of the Moksha and the right bank of the Oka within the Tambov, Penza, Ryazan, Gorky regions and the Mordovian Republic (30-40 bears);
5) forest area along the right bank of the Sura in the Chuvash Republic (15-20 animals);
6) forest on the right bank of the Kuibyshev Reservoir south of the town of Tetyushi (in 1960 there was a mother bear and her cub).
In the 60s, the entry of a bear into the Taldomsky district of the Moscow region was noted by garter guards in the Vladimir region.
As of 1960, as a remnant of a vast range in the European part of the Union, there is a fairly large, completely isolated habitat of the honeyeater in the Carpathians within our country. It is a narrow strip stretching in a northwesterly direction from the Romanian border (from a place southwest of Chernivtsi) and almost to the state border with Poland south of Drohobych. This is a higher and densely forested region of the Carpathians within the Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi and Lviv regions. In particular, the range includes Chornohory, Gorgany, Beskydy (Borzhavska meadow) and other places. This site represents an extension of the bear's range in Romania.
In historical times on our territory, the Caucasian part of the bear’s range apparently did not connect with the European-Siberian part. The connection was carried out through Central Europe, the Balkans and Asia Minor. In the Holocene, however, there was communication between northern populations of bears from the Caucasus and through the steppe region. Bears undoubtedly lived along the urems of the southern Russian rivers and rivers of the northwestern Ciscaucasia and the steppe ravines and reeds of this region. In the lower reaches of the Don, animals were found even in the 8th-13th centuries. Some features of the geographical variability of Caucasian bears also indicate past direct connections between Caucasian bears and Russians.
In the past, the range covered all forest areas of the country, i.e., essentially the entire Caucasus - Greater and Lesser, as well as Western Transcaucasia from high altitudes to sea level 3. There were no animals only in the steppe regions of Eastern Transcaucasia, although through the tugai forests of the Kura they penetrated into treeless areas at least to the level of Alazani; maybe they met along some other rivers. It is possible that there were no bears in some desert treeless places in the mountains of internal Dagestan, in the desert spaces of the Yerevan basin and, perhaps, in some other, relatively small areas.
Along the Main Caucasus Range, the range in the west began at Anapa and in the east reached the Caspian coast - to the forests in the foothills of Dagestan and the forests along Samur in its lower reaches and mouth. It occupied all the forests of the northern foothills and foothills to Maykop, Pyatigorye (Zheleznovodsk), Nalchik, Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz) and Khasavyurt. Its range also included forest areas of the Stavropol Upland.
To date, the range of the brown bear in the Caucasus has decreased, in some places significantly. Partly this happened in the last century, partly and even mainly in our century - in the second quarter of it. There is no bear in Pyatigorye (he only comes here occasionally), the border has been pulled back, partly due to large clearings, from the northern foothills, the bear is now not near Maykop, it has almost disappeared from Kabarda and Balkaria, near Khasavyurt, etc. The animal has disappeared from many regions of Western Transcaucasia (Colchis), the area of its habitat in Armenia has somewhat decreased. The bear is nowhere to be found in the steppe Transcaucasia, it is almost never found in Talysh, etc.
In the steppe Transcaucasia near Stavropol, it disappeared much more than 100 years ago; along the Black Sea coast, animals were found almost to the sea even today; near Khasavyurt it lived in the 900s and 10s, and in the early 20s it was found in the forests of the foothills (“Black Mountains”) is positively a few kilometers from Ordzhonikidze (Vladikavkaz). Almost everywhere, especially in the Lesser Caucasus, the number of animals has decreased. There is very little accurate data on the modern distribution of brown bears in the Caucasus. In general, its range is steadily declining due to direct persecution and forest loss.
In Central Asia, the bear's habitat is associated with the mountains, and in some places the bear lives in places where there are only sparse thickets of tree-like junipers or pistachios, or shrubs along the gorges, while in some places it lives in completely treeless, even deserted mountains. The restored range in Central Asia and Semirechye occupies the Saurs, Tarabagatai, Dzungarian Alatau and the entire Tien Shan system, including the western ranges and Karatau. Further, the range includes all the ranges of the Pamir-Alai system to the west to the western parts of the Turkestan, Gissar and Darvaz ranges. In Kugitangtau and Babatag and in some other uplands of the interfluves of the right tributaries of the Amu Darya, the bear, apparently, did not exist from time immemorial, or at least for a long time. Apparently, the Nurata Mountains were not included in the range. In Turkmenistan, the range was occupied by Kopet-Dag, but in the Big Balkhan, in the mountains along the right bank of the upper Tedzhen (Gyaz-Gyadyk) and in the mountains east of Kushka (Mount Chengurek) there were no bears.
Due to lack of information, the current habitat of the bear in Central Asia cannot be covered in more detail. Compared to what was described, it has undoubtedly changed over the last century and especially over the last decades - the total area of its range has decreased, and significant “gaps” have appeared in it, but the animal is still found, apparently, in most of the ridges where it lived before. He, however, is no longer in Karatau, and he has disappeared or is found only very rarely entering from Iran in Kopet-Dag.
Range outside the USSR. In Asia, the restored habitat occupies the island of Hokkaido, the Korean Peninsula and Northeast China, in addition to its central steppe spaces, i.e. mainly the Greater Khingan, Ilkhuri-Alin, Lesser Khingan mountains, the East Manchurian Mountains, Changbai Shan, Kentei-Alin , Laoeling, Zhangguangcailing. In the Mongolian Republic, the range occupies the Khentei ridge in the north, the near-Sologol part of the country to the south to approximately 48°30′ N. w. and the region bordering the USSR but on the left bank of the river. Selenga. In China, in the far west, the range occupies the eastern part of the Tien Shan country, in Kashgaria and Dzungaria, in particular, the Borokhoro Mountains near Barkul. From here the range extends to the Trans-Altai Gobi and the Gobi and south-eastern parts of the Mongolian Altai in the Mongolia.
Further, the range includes all of Tibet, including Nanshan and Tsaidam, the region in the south of the great bend of the Yellow River (the Qinling and northern mountains), apparently also northern and western Sichuan. The question of the habitat of the brown bear in the eastern part of China, east of specified limits remains open. It is possible that it once existed here, but culture has long erased all natural relations here to such an extent that it is impossible to find out.
In the south, the bear's Central Asian range covers the Himalayas, including Nepal, Kumaon, Kashmir with the Karakoram and northern Punjab and Waziristan. The described beast apparently does not penetrate further south (to Balochistan). In the east, it does not go to Burma (information about living in the Shan country has not been confirmed).
In Afghanistan, the range occupies areas associated with the Pamirs (Badakhshan, Wakhan) and the Hindu Kush. Details are not known. In Iran, the range occupies, on one side, the very north of the country - forest areas associated with Elburz, and stretches in a strip from Talysh to Koyet-Dag. On the other hand, it runs with a wide cape from northern Iran to the southeast along the western and southwestern parts of the country through Luristan approximately to Shiraz. The described species is not found in central, southern and eastern Iran. The range occupies all of Asia Minor (mountainous parts), the mountainous regions of northern and western Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
In Europe beyond our borders, the restored range occupies, in essence, the entire continent to the very north, to the west including England and Ireland; to the south it reached everywhere to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, including the Apennine and Iberian peninsulas. There were no bears in Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia, as well as on the islands of the eastern part of the sea. In Africa, the bear occupied the Atlas Mountains.
In North America, the brown bear's (restored) range occupies the western half of the continent approximately west of 90° W. e. The southern border of the range, starting along the Pacific coast, includes the northern part of the California Peninsula in the range. On the mainland, going some distance from the coast of the Gulf of California, it descends along the Mexican Plateau to the southern part of the province of Durango at approximately 22° N. w. This is the most southern point habitat of the beast in the New World. From here the border, outlining this southern cape from the east, goes north through northeastern Mexico (Coahuila province) to Texas (USA), leaving its western part within the range. Extending further north, the border leaves western Oklahoma and most of Kansas in its range, runs due north through the western edges of Iowa and Minnesota and through eastern Manitoba to the shores of Hudson Bay at Churchill. Continuing north along the western shore of the bay, the border somewhere near Chesterfield turns northwest and reaches the northern coast of the mainland. Along it, in some places at some distance from it, the border goes west, passes to the coast of the Bering Sea and, capturing the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, along the Pacific coast goes south to the above-mentioned place in California. The range apparently does not include that part of the territory projecting to the west, lying north of Bristol Bay, which contains the lower reaches of the Yukon and Kuskokwim. Brown bear is listed for St. Lawrence Island and Unimak in the Bering Sea; missing on others. There are apparently no brown bears on Queen Charlotte and Vancouver Islands either.
The current range of the bear is very different from the outlined one and constitutes only a smaller part of it. At the same time, the area was divided into separate, relatively small, some very small, areas, completely separated from each other. Throughout the entire delineated range, only a few more or less large areas of the animal’s habitat remain. The largest of them is the European-Siberian one within the USSR, the Central Asian one is quite large, and there is a significant area in North America.
Currently in Europe, bears remain in Norway, Sweden and Finland, in the French and Spanish Pyrenees, in the Cantabrian Mountains in Spain, in the Italian Alps, in the middle part of the Apennines, in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, the European part Turkey. They are most common in Scandinavia, partly in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, especially in Romania. In the rest of the named countries, animals are very few in number, some of them only have single specimens. In Africa, the bear was completely exterminated a long time ago.
In Asia outside the borders of our country, the brown bear has survived only in Asia Minor (in some places), northern Iraq and in the indicated places in Iran. It has been exterminated in Japan. The range on the Korean Peninsula and the Mongolian Republic has shrunk and is shrinking. The part of the range that occupies Tibet and areas adjacent to the Himalayas is still large.
In America, the range has shrunk very much. The animal is still widespread in Alaska, northern and western Canada (except Manitoba), but in the United States it is found essentially only in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Colorado. A separate habitat is located far to the south on the Mexican plateau. Obviously, a further reduction in the range and number of the animal is inevitable.
Origin of the species and description
According to scientists and archaeologists, bears descended from ancient martens about 3-4 million years ago. The remains of such an ancient species were discovered on the territory of modern France. It was small. This species evolved into a larger predatory beast - the Etruscan bear. Its territory extended to Europe and China. Presumably this species became the founder of large, black bears. About 1.8-2 million years ago, cave predators of the bear family appeared. It was from them that brown and polar bears originated, which later divided into many subspecies.
Appearance and features
The appearance of the predator is striking in its size and power. The weight of one adult individual reaches 300-500 kilograms, the body length is up to two meters. Most major representative This species lives in the zoo of the capital of Germany. Its weight is 775 kilograms. Males are always larger and are approximately twice as large as females. The body has a barrel-shaped body and massive withers. Powerful, well-developed limbs have five fingers and huge claws up to 15 cm long. There is a small round tail, the size of which does not exceed two tens of centimeters. The large head with a wide frontal part has an elongated nose, small eyes and ears.
The thickness and color of the coat depends on the region where it lives. Bears molt in the summer. During the cold season, as well as during mating periods, bears are especially aggressive. Predators spend almost half the year sleeping. They climb into the den and curl up into a ball. The hind limbs are pressed to the stomach, the front limbs are covering the muzzle.
The brown bear is a forest animal. Lives in dense forests with dense green vegetation. Places such as tundra, taiga, mountain ranges are ideal place habitats of clubfoot predators. Previously, the habitat ranged from England to China and Japan. Today, due to the extermination of the species, its habitat has decreased significantly. Bears remain only in Russia, Alaska, Kazakhstan, and Canada. IN natural conditions one bear occupies a territory of 70 to 150 kilometers.
- Eastern part of the Siberian taiga;
- Mongolia;
- Pakistan;
- Iran;
- Korea;
- Afghanistan;
- China;
- The foothills of the Pamir, Tien Shan, Himalaya mountains;
- Kazakhstan.
Almost all bears live in areas near open water sources.
The brown bear is by nature a predatory animal. However, we can confidently call it an omnivorous animal. He eats plant foods for most of the year. It is vegetation that makes up almost 70% of the predator’s entire diet. It is possible that the diet contains small bugs, insects, and larvae.
By nature, these animals are endowed with the ability to fish. Due to this, in its habitat there is almost always a water source in which the bear can catch fish. The predator has powerful, strong and very developed forelimbs. With a blow of one front paw, he is capable of killing a wild boar or deer. Small herbivorous mammals such as hares and raccoons are often preyed upon.
In Russian folk tales, the brown bear appears as a sweet tooth and lover of honey. And it is true. He really enjoys the honey of wild bees.
The basis of the brown bear's diet is:
- wild berries, mainly raspberries, lingonberries, blueberries, strawberries;
- cereals;
- corn;
- fish;
- small and medium-sized mammals – , wild , ;
- representatives of the rodent family, frogs, lizards;
- forest vegetation - nuts, acorns.
The bear has a natural ability to perfectly adapt to any conditions. It is able to withstand even hunger and survive for a long time without meat and fish. He tends to stock up. What the animal does not eat, it hides in thickets of forest vegetation, and then eats. It is noteworthy that it is not difficult for them to find the supplies they have made, since they have a well-developed memory.
They can obtain food both at night and during the day. It is unusual for them to develop a hunting strategy, track down prey, or attack. Only extreme need can push a bear to take such a step. In search of food, they can often go to human settlements and exterminate domestic animals.
Features of character and lifestyle
Despite big sizes and external clumsiness, brown bears are very neat and almost silent animals. Predators are solitary animals. Their habitat is divided between adult individuals. One male covers an area of 50 to 150 square kilometers. Males occupy a territory 2-3 times larger than that of females. Each individual marks its territory with urine and claw marks on trees.
The brown bear is most active during daylight hours, mainly in the early morning. Capable of running fast, reaching speeds of up to 45-55 km/h. Can climb trees, swim, and move long distances. The predator has a very subtle sense of smell. He is able to smell meat at a distance of up to three kilometers.
These animals are characterized by a seasonal lifestyle. IN warm time throughout the year, animals lead an active lifestyle, moving through the thickets forest areas. During the cold season, bears sleep in dens. In the fall, bears begin to prepare for hibernation, arranging a place for this, as well as the accumulation of subcutaneous fat. Hibernation lasts from one to four to five months. It is noteworthy that the number of heartbeats, respiratory rate and level of arterial respiration during hibernation remain practically unchanged. During the period hibernation the animal loses a large amount of weight – up to 60-70 kilograms.
Bears very scrupulously choose a place for winter sleep. It should be a secluded, quiet and dry place. The den should be warm and comfortable. Bears line the bottom of their shelter with dry moss. During sleep, they remain sensitive and have shallow sleep. They are easy to disturb and wake up.
Social structure and reproduction
The mating season for brown bears begins in late spring and lasts for several months. Males are quite aggressive during this period. They tend to attack each other and fight fiercely for the opportunity to mate with females. Males also emit a loud, aggressive roar. Females, in turn, immediately enter into marital relations with several males at once.
Mother bears tend to give birth to cubs approximately once every 2-3 years. The gestation period lasts approximately two hundred days. The fetus develops in the womb of the female only during hibernation. Most often, two or three cubs are born in the middle or towards the end of winter. The average weight of one baby does not exceed 500 grams, length - 22-24 cm.
Newborn cubs see and hear absolutely nothing. Hairline poorly developed. After 10-12 days, the cubs begin to hear, and after a month, they begin to see. The she-bear feeds her offspring with milk in the den for three to four months. At this age, the cubs begin to develop their first teeth, which allow them to expand their diet. However, with the appearance of teeth, the cubs do not stop feeding on their mother’s milk. It serves as a source of food for 1.5-2.5 years.
The cubs are under the care of their mother until they are 3-4 years old. At this moment they reach puberty and begin their independent existence. However, the growth period does not end; it continues for another 6-7 years.
The female is responsible for raising and caring for the babies. The breeding bear, an adult female from the past offspring, also takes part in this process. Under natural conditions, a brown bear lives about 25-30 years. When living in captivity, life expectancy can double.
Natural enemies of the brown bear
The natural enemy of the predator is man and his activities. When existing in natural conditions, the beast has no other enemies. Not a single animal dares to attack a bear. No one else has the strength and power to defeat him.
Today, the brown bear is listed in the Red Book as an endangered species. This phenomenon occurred as a result of human activity. Shooting adult individuals, as well as catching bear cubs, is widely considered an elite trophy for poachers. The skin of the animal is highly valued, as is the meat and bile.
Poachers sell meat at a high price to representatives of the restaurant business. The skins are sold as raw material for making carpets. Bear fat and bile are in demand in the pharmaceutical industry for the production of medicinal products.
Previously, bears were widespread and lived almost everywhere. In the British Isles, the last representative of this was killed in the 20th century. In Europe, in particular in Germany, the species disappeared a little over a hundred years ago. In the south-east of European territory, bears are found in single numbers. Despite the fact that the representative of the bear family is listed in the Red Book, poachers continue to destroy representatives of the species.
Population and species status
Today the brown bear is listed in the Red Book. The population has the status of an endangered species. Today there are about 205,000 individuals in the world. Approximately 130,000 live in the Russian Federation.
The brown bear, depending on its habitat, is divided into several more subspecies:
Siberian bear. It is rightfully considered the owner of the Siberian taiga forests.
Atlas bear. Today the subspecies is officially recognized as extinct. The habitat ranged from Morocco to Libya, in the Atlas Mountains zone.
Completely destroyed by poachers and hunters. Considered an integral part of Californian flora and fauna.
Ussuri bear. It is distinguished by its more modest size and dark, almost black color.
Tibetan bear. One of the rarest representatives. The subspecies got its name due to its habitat on the Tibetan plateau.
It is considered the largest predator. The subspecies got its name thanks to its habitat - the islands of the Kodiak archipelago. The weight of one adult individual reaches more than four hundred kilograms.
In order to preserve the species, the brown bear is listed in the Red Book. Hunting for it is strictly prohibited. Violation of this requirement is criminally punishable. On the territory of the Russian Federation, brown bears are bred in artificial conditions and released into the wild.
In 1975, an agreement was concluded between the USSR, England, Canada, Denmark, and Norway to take joint measures to preserve and enhance the species.
In 1976, a reserve for brown bear was created on Wrangel Island.
One of the most beautiful, powerful and majestic predators - Brown bear. His habits and way of life are unique in their kind. That is why today such colossal efforts are being made to preserve this species.