Omnivorous is a way of obtaining energy and nutrients through the consumption of food of animal and plant origin. Animals with such a diet are considered "omnivores". Most people, with the exception of vegans who completely eliminate animal products, are omnivores as well.

The meaning of the term

The word "omnivorous" comes from Latin words omnis"Everything" and vora, which means "devour or swallow" - so omnivorous means "devouring everything." This is a fairly accurate definition, as omnivores have a variety of food sources, including algae, plants, mushrooms, and other animals. Some animals can be omnivorous throughout their entire life, while others at certain stages of it (for example, some sea turtles).

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of omnivorousness is the ability to find food for itself in a variety of places and environmental conditions. For example, if there is no way to eat a certain food, an omnivore can change its diet quite easily. Some omnivores are also scavengers, meaning they feed on dead animals or plants, further increasing their feeding capacity.

Omnivores are forced to seek out their own food, and because they have such a varied diet, their methods of obtaining food are not as specialized as those of carnivores or herbivores. For example, carnivores have sharp teeth for tearing and grabbing prey, while herbivores have flatter teeth adapted to chop up vegetation. Omnivores can have a mixture of both types of teeth (for example, our molars and incisors).

The omnivorous disadvantages can be well traced in some species of marine organisms that are likely to invade non-native habitats. This has a cascading effect on native species that may be persecuted or moved by invasive omnivores. An example is the Asian coastal crab, native to the Pacific Northwest. It was introduced to Europe and the United States, but the food and habitat do not match it, and this animal causes significant damage to existing ones.

Examples of omnivores

Mammals

  • Pig: This is probably the most famous omnivore and is currently popular with humans as a pet or raised for meat.
  • Bear: These animals are among the most opportunistic creatures, as they adapt perfectly to different conditions. If there are many fruits in the area where they live, then the bears will feed on them. If, instead, there is a river with a lot of fish, the bear will catch it all day. The panda bear is also considered an omnivorous animal, as it can diversify its bamboo diet with rodents or small birds.
    The only exception is the carnivorous polar bear, possibly due to the lack of plant nutrition in its natural arctic habitat.
  • Hedgehog: Many believe that the hedgehog feeds on insects and small ones, but these small creatures sometimes like to eat fruits and vegetables.
  • Other omnivorous mammals: raccoons, mice, squirrels, sloths, chipmunks, skunks, chimpanzees, and of course humans.

Birds

  • Crows: As shown in many films, they are always on the prowl for animal remains, but aside from dead carcasses, they also tend to eat vegetables when no other food source is available.
  • Chickens: They are the complete opposite of a small child, as they consume everything. Whatever you give her, the chicken will swallow it without a moment's hesitation.
  • Ostriches: Although their main diet includes vegetables and plants, these animals are fond of all kinds of insects.
  • Magpies: These birds also eat almost anything, although they tend to become food for dogs and parrots.

Marine organisms

  • Many species of crabs (including blue crabs, ghost crabs, and Asian coastal crabs)
  • Horseshoe crabs;
  • Lobsters (e.g. American lobster, real lobster)
  • Some sea turtles - the olive turtles and the Australian green turtle - are omnivores. Green turtles are herbivores as adults, but the young are omnivores. Big-headed turtles become carnivores in adulthood, but they are omnivores when still young.
  • Common Littorina - These small snails feed mainly on algae, but can also eat small animals (such as barnacle larvae).
  • Some species of zooplankton;
  • Sharks are generally carnivores, although whale sharks and giant sharks can be considered omnivores as they are filter feeders and feed on plankton. When they swim through the water column with huge mouths open, the plankton they consume can include both plant and animal organisms. Mussels and barnacles can also be considered omnivores because they filter small organisms (which can contain both phytoplankton and zooplankton) from the water.

Omnivores and levels of the food chain

There are producers and consumers in the marine (and terrestrial) world. are organisms that produce their own food. These include plants, algae, and some types of bacteria. Producers are at the bottom.

These are organisms that other organisms must consume in order to survive. All animals, including omnivores, belong to consumers.

There are trophic levels in the food chain, which are the food levels of animals and plants. The first trophic level includes producers because they produce food that feeds the rest of the food chain. The second trophic level includes herbivores, which feed on producers. At the third trophic level are omnivorous and carnivorous organisms.

The brown bear, or common bear, is a predatory mammal from the bear family. It is one of the largest and most dangerous land-based predator species. There are about twenty subspecies of the brown bear, differing in appearance and distribution.

Description and appearance

The appearance of a brown bear is typical for all representatives of the bear family. The body of the animal is well developed and powerful.

External appearance

There is a high withers, as well as a rather massive head with small ears and eyes. The length of a relatively short tail varies from 6.5-21.0 cm. The paws are quite strong and well developed, with powerful and non-retractable claws. The feet are very wide, five-toed.

Dimensions of a brown bear

The average length of a brown bear inhabiting the European part, as a rule, is about one and a half to two meters with a body weight in the range of 135-250 kg. Individuals inhabiting the middle zone of our country are somewhat smaller in size and can weigh about 100-120 kg. The largest are the Far Eastern bears and, the size of which often reaches three meters.

Skin color

The color of the brown bear is quite variable... Differences in skin coloration vary by habitat, and the color of the fur can range from a light fawn to bluish black. The brown color is considered standard.

It is interesting! A characteristic feature of the grizzly is the presence of hair with whitish ends on the back, due to which there is a kind of gray on the wool. Individuals with a grayish-white coloration are found in the Himalayas. Animals with a reddish-brown color of fur inhabit Syria.

Life span

Under natural conditions, the average life span of a brown bear is approximately twenty to thirty years. In captivity, this species can live for fifty years, and sometimes more. Rare individuals live in natural conditions up to the age of fifteen years.

Brown bear subspecies

The type of brown bear includes several subspecies or so-called geographical races, which differ in size and color.

The most common subspecies:

  • European brown bear with a body length of 150-250 cm, a tail length of 5-15 cm, a height at the withers of 90-110 cm and an average weight of 150-300 kg. A large subspecies with a powerful physique and a pronounced hump at the withers. General coloration ranges from light grayish yellow to blackish dark brown. The fur is thick, rather long;
  • Caucasian brown bear with an average body length of 185-215 cm and a body weight of 120-240 kg... The coat is short, coarse, of a paler coloration than that of the Eurasian subspecies. The color ranges from a pale straw color to a uniform gray-brown coloration. There is a pronounced, large dark-colored spot at the withers;
  • East Siberian brown bear weighing up to 330-350 kg and large skull sizes... The fur is long, soft and dense, with a pronounced sheen. The coat is light brown or blackish brown or dark brown in color. Some individuals are characterized by the presence in the color of quite clearly visible yellowish and black shades;
  • Ussuri or Amur brown bear... In our country, this subspecies is well known as the black grizzly. The average body weight of an adult male can vary between 350-450 kg. The subspecies is characterized by the presence of a large and well-developed skull with an elongated nasal part. The skin is almost black in color. A distinctive feature is the presence of long hair on the ears.

One of the largest subspecies in our country is the Far Eastern or Kamchatka brown bear, whose average body weight often exceeds 450-500 kg. Large adults have a large, massive skull and a wide, raised front part of the head. The fur is long, dense and soft, pale yellow, blackish brown or completely black in color.

The area where the brown bear lives

The natural distribution area of ​​brown bears has undergone significant changes over the past century. Previously, subspecies were found in vast territories stretching from England to the Japanese Islands, as well as from Alaska to central Mexico.

Today, due to the active extermination of brown bears and their eviction from inhabited territories, the most numerous groups of the predator are recorded only in the western part of Canada, as well as in Alaska and in the forest zones of our country.

Bear lifestyle

The period of activity of the predator falls on twilight, early morning and evening hours. The brown bear is a very sensitive animal, orienting in space mainly with the help of hearing and smell. Low vision is characteristic. Despite their impressive size and large body weight, brown bears are practically silent, fast and very easy-to-move predators.

It is interesting! The average running speed is 55-60 km / h. Bears swim well enough, but they are able to move with great difficulty on deep snow cover.

Brown bears belong to the category of sedentary animals, but young animals separated from the family are able to roam and actively look for a partner. The bears mark and defend the borders of their territory... In the summer, bears rest directly on the ground, settling among the forbs and low shrub plants. With the onset of autumn, the animal begins to prepare for itself a reliable winter refuge.

Food and prey for brown bears

Brown bears are omnivorous, but the basis of the diet is vegetation, represented by berries, acorns, nuts, roots, tubers and stems of plants. In lean years, oats and corn are good substitutes for berries. Also, the predator's diet necessarily includes all kinds of insects, represented by ants, worms, lizards, frogs, field and forest rodents.

Large adult predators are capable of attacking young artiodactyls. Roe deer, fallow deer, deer, wild boars and elk can be prey. An adult brown bear can break the ridge of its prey with one blow with its paw, after which it fills it with brushwood and protects it until the carcass is completely eaten. Near water areas, some subspecies of brown bears hunt seals, fish and seals.

Grizzlies are capable of attacking baribal bears and take prey from smaller predators.

It is interesting! Regardless of age, brown bears have an excellent memory. These wild animals are able to easily memorize mushroom or berry places, and also quickly find their way to them.

Spawning salmon becomes the basis of the diet of the Far Eastern brown bear in summer and autumn. In lean years and poor in food supply, a large predator is capable of attacking even domestic animals and grazing livestock.

Reproduction and offspring

The mating season of the brown bear lasts a couple of months and begins in May, when the males engage in fierce fights. Females mate with several adult males at once. Latent pregnancy consists in the development of the embryo only during the hibernation stage of the animal. The female bears cubs for about six to eight months... Blind and deaf, completely helpless and covered with sparse hair, cubs are born in a den. As a rule, the female bears two or three babies, whose height at the time of birth does not exceed a quarter of a meter with a weight of 450-500 g.

It is interesting! In the den, the cubs feed on milk and grow up to three months, after which they develop milk teeth and become able to feed on berries, vegetation and insects on their own. Nevertheless, bears are breastfed for up to one and a half years or more.

Not only the female takes care of the offspring, but also the so-called pestun daughter, which appeared in the previous litter. Next to the female, the cubs live up to about three to four years, before reaching puberty. The female acquires offspring, as a rule, every three years.

Brown bear hibernation

The brown bear's sleep is completely different from the hibernation period typical for other mammalian species. During hibernation, the body temperature of a brown bear, respiration rate, and pulse practically do not change. The bear does not fall into a state of complete numbness, and in the first days it only slumbers.

At this time, the predator listens sensitively and reacts to the slightest danger by leaving the den. In a warm winter with little snow, with a large amount of food, some males do not hibernate. Sleep occurs only with the onset of severe frosts and can last less than a month... In a dream, the reserves of subcutaneous fat, which were accumulated in the summer and autumn, are wasted.

Preparation for sleep

Winter shelters are settled by adults in safe, remote and dry places, under a windbreak or the roots of a fallen tree. The predator is able to independently dig a deep den in the ground or occupy mountain caves and rocky crevices. Pregnant brown bears try to equip for themselves and their offspring a deeper and more spacious, warm den, which is then lined from the inside with moss, spruce branches and fallen leaves.

It is interesting! Fledglings always spend the winter with their mother. Lonchak cubs of the second year of life can join such a company.

All adult and solitary predators hibernate one by one. The exception is individuals living on the territory of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Here, the presence of several adults in one den is often observed.

Hibernation duration

Depending on weather conditions and some other factors, brown bears can be in their den for up to six months. The period when the bear lays in the den, as well as the duration of the hibernation itself, may depend on the conditions set by the weather conditions, the yield of the fatty food base, gender, age parameters and even the physiological state of the animal.

It is interesting! An old wild animal that has grown a lot of fat goes into hibernation much earlier, even before a significant snow cover falls, and young and insufficiently fed individuals lie in a den in November-December.

The bedding period extends over a couple of weeks or several months. Pregnant females are the very first to winter. In the last place, the dens are occupied by old males. The same winter hibernation site can be used by a brown bear for several years.

Crank bears

The connecting rod is a brown bear that did not have time to accumulate a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat and, for this reason, is not able to plunge into hibernation. In the process of searching for any food, such a predator is able to wander around the surroundings all winter. As a rule, such a brown bear moves uncertainly, has a shabby and relatively exhausted appearance.

It is interesting! When faced with dangerous opponents, brown bears emit a very loud roar, stand on their hind legs and try to knock down their opponent with a strong blow from their powerful front paws.

Hunger makes the beast often appear in close proximity to a human dwelling.... The connecting rod bear is typical of the northern regions characterized by severe winters, including the territory of the Far East and Siberia. A massive outbreak of connecting rod bears can be observed in lean seasons, about once every ten years. Hunting for connecting rod bears is not a fishing activity, but a necessary measure.

We all know these powerful animals from childhood. But few people know what types of bears exist. Pictures in children's books most often introduced us to brown and polar bears. It turns out that there are several species of these animals on Earth. Let's get to know them better.

Bear appearance

If we compare bears with other predators, then they differ in the most monotonous appearance, features of the internal structure, and size. Currently, these are the largest representatives of terrestrial predatory animals. For example, polar bears can reach a body length of up to three meters with a weight of 750 or even 1000 kg!

The fur of animals has a well-developed undercoat, it is rather rough to the touch. The hair is high. Only he cannot boast of such a fur coat - his cover is low and rare.

The color is varied - from black to white, it can be contrasting. The color does not change over the seasons.

Lifestyle

Different types of bears live in a wide variety of conditions. They feel great in the steppes and highlands, in forests and in the Arctic ice. In this regard, the species of bears differ in the way of feeding and lifestyle. Most of these predators prefer to settle in mountainous or lowland forests, much less often in treeless highlands.

Bears are active mainly at night. The only exception is the polar bear - a species of animal that leads a diurnal lifestyle.

Bears are omnivorous. However, some species have a preference for one or another food. For example, a polar bear almost always eats mammalian meat; for a panda, there is no better treat than bamboo shoots. True, they supplement it with a small amount of animal food.

Variety of species

Quite often, animal lovers ask the question: "How many species of bears live on Earth?" To those who are interested in these animals, it seems that there are a myriad of them. Unfortunately, this is not so. Today our planet is inhabited by species of bears, the list of which can be presented as follows:


There are subspecies and varieties of these animals, but we will talk about this in another article.

Brown bears

They are large and clumsy-looking animals. They belong to the bear family. Body length - from 200 to 280 cm.

This is a fairly common form. inhabits the entire territory of the Eurasian and North American forests. Nowadays, this predator has completely disappeared from the territory of Japan, although in ancient times it was widespread here. On the territory of Western and Central Europe, the brown bear can be found quite rarely, in some mountainous regions. There is reason to assert that it is an endangered species in these territories. The brown bear is still widespread in Siberia, the Far East and the northern regions of our country.

Brown bears are sedentary animals. A forest area occupied by one individual can reach several hundred square kilometers. This is not to say that bears strictly guard the borders of their territories. Each site has permanent places where the animal feeds, builds temporary shelters and dens.

Despite the sedentary nature, this predator can wander in hungry years in search of more abundant food over a distance of more than 300 kilometers.

Hibernation

Everyone knows that the brown bear hibernates in winter. Previously, he carefully prepares his den, which he equips in hard-to-reach places - on islets in the middle of swamps, in a windbreak. The bear covers the bottom of its winter dwelling with dry grass or moss.

To survive the winter safely, a bear must accumulate at least fifty kilograms of fat. To do this, he eats about 700 kilograms of berries and about 500 kilograms of pine nuts, not counting other feed. When a year is bad for berries, bears in the northern regions raid the fields sown with oats, and in the southern regions - on corn crops. Some bears attack and destroy apiaries.

Many believe that during hibernation, animals fall into suspended animation. This is not entirely true. They sleep quite lightly. During hibernation, when the animal lies motionless, its cardiac and pulmonary systems slow down. The body temperature of a bear ranges from 29 to 34 degrees. Every 5-10 breaths there is a long pause, sometimes lasting up to four minutes. In this state, the fat reserve is consumed sparingly. If, during this period, the bear is raised from the den, it begins to quickly lose weight and is in dire need of food. Such a bear turns into a "vagabond", or, as the people call it, a crank. In this state, he is very dangerous.

Depending on climatic conditions, the predator can hibernate for three to six months. In the presence of food in the southern regions, bears generally do not go into continuous hibernation, but fall asleep only for a short time. Females with one-year-old cubs sleep in the same den.

Nutrition

Different types of bears prefer to eat different foods. Animals of this species most often feed on fruits, berries and other plant foods, but sometimes they can eat ants, insect larvae, rodents, along with winter supplies. Quite rarely, males hunt forest ungulates. Despite the outward clumsiness, the brown bear can be very fast and agile. It sneaks up on its prey unnoticed and grabs it in a swift throw. Moreover, its speed reaches 50 km / h.

White bears

IUCN - The International Union for Conservation of Nature has expanded the list of critically endangered animals for the first time in several years. New species have appeared in it. Polar bears were included not only in this international list, but also in the Red Book of Russia. Today their number is only 25 thousand individuals. According to scientists, this population will decline by almost 70% in the next 50 years.

Rare species of bears (you can see the photo in our article), which recently include white individuals, suffer from industrial pollution of their habitats, global warming and, of course, poaching.

Appearance

Many people believe that white, polar, northern, sea or oshkui are species of polar bears. In fact, this is the name of one species of predatory mammal from the bear family, the closest relative of the brown bear.

Its length is three meters, weight is about a ton. The largest animals are found off the coast, the smallest - on Svalbard.

Polar bears are distinguished from other species by their long hair and flat head. The color can be completely white or with a yellowish tinge. In summer, the fur turns yellow when exposed to sunlight. The skin of these animals is black.

The soles of the paws are reliably protected by wool so that they do not slip on the ice and do not freeze.

Lifestyle and nutrition

According to scientists, the polar bear is the most predatory of the entire family. After all, he practically does not use plant foods. Various types of bears (photos and names of which are posted in our article) are almost never the first to attack a person. Unlike their counterparts, the polar bear hunts people quite often.

Basically, the “menu” of these predators is made up of seals, mainly the ringed seal. In addition, he feeds on whatever animals he manages to kill. These can be rodents, birds, walruses, whales, washed ashore. For the predator itself, the danger is represented by killer whales, which can sometimes attack in the water.

Reproduction

In October, females begin to dig a den in the snow. They settle there in mid-November. Pregnancy lasts 230-240 days. Cubs are born at the end of the arctic winter. For the first time, a female gives birth to offspring when she is 4-6 years old. Cubs appear once every two to three years. There are from one to three cubs in a litter. Newborns are completely helpless, weighing about 750 grams. Babies begin to see in a month, two months later, their teeth erupt, babies begin to gradually leave the den. They do not part with the bear until one and a half years. Polar bears are not fertile, so their numbers are recovering too slowly.

Bear black

It is also called baribal. Its body length is 1.8 m, its weight is about 150 kg. The bear has a sharp snout, high paws with long and sharp claws, short and smooth black hair. Sometimes the color is black and brown, except for a light yellow muzzle.

The black bear eats exclusively plant foods - larvae, insects, and small vertebrates.

The female's pregnancy lasts up to 210 days, the cubs are born in January-February, weighing 400 grams, stay with their mother until April.

Himalayan bear

This animal is inferior in size to the brown one. In addition, these types of bears differ in appearance. The Himalayan bear has a slender physique, a thin muzzle. Thick and lush coat is usually black with a white, sometimes yellowish spot on the chest (it resembles the letter V in shape).

Large adults can reach a length of 170 cm with a weight of 140-150 kg. Habitat - East Asia. In the west, it can be found in Afghanistan, in Indochina, on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. On the territory of our country, it is found only in the Ussuriysk Territory, north of the Amur.

In the spring it feeds on last year's acorns and pine nuts. In summer, she enjoys eating juicy grass, berries, insects with pleasure. There is information that in South Asia, he often attacks domestic animals, can be dangerous to humans.

There are usually two cubs in a litter. Their weight does not exceed 400 grams. They develop very slowly, even at the age of a month and a half, completely helpless.

Spectacled bear

We continue to study the species of bears, getting acquainted with the indigenous inhabitant of South America. He settles in the mountains - from Colombia to Northern Chile. This spectacled bear is not very large in size. Its body, no more than 1.7 m long, weighs about 140 kg.

The bear is covered with thick, shaggy hair of black or black-brown color, with white spots around the eyes (hence its name). Preferring mountains, the animal also often appears on meadow slopes. Its biology is still poorly understood, but at the same time, scientists consider it to be the most herbivorous in the entire family. He is a lover of leaves and roots, fruits and branches of young shrubs. Sometimes, for his favorite delicacy, he climbs high palm trees, breaks young branches, and then eats them on the ground.

Sloth bear

For our compatriots, the last animals on our list are exotic bear species. Photos and their names you can see in numerous domestic and foreign publications about animals.

Sloth bear is an inhabitant of tropical countries. He lives in the forests of Hindustan and Ceylon. In length it can be up to 1.8 m, weight is about 140 kg. This is a rather slender animal, on high legs, with huge claws. The muzzle is somewhat pointed. On the chest there is a light V-shaped mark. The bear is active at night. During the day, he sleeps soundly, while (which is typical only for this species), snores surprisingly loudly.

The sloth beetle feeds mainly on fruits and insects. With the help of huge claws, he easily breaks rotten, dilapidated tree trunks, and then he sets in motion an amazing device that may resemble a pump. The long muzzle of the animal has very mobile lips, which stretch out to form a kind of tube.

The sloth beast lacks an upper pair of incisors, as a result of which there is a gap in the oral cavity. This feature allows the animal to catch termites. First, he blows all dust and dirt out of the insect's "house", and then draws in the prey through lips extended into a tube.

Sloth mating occurs in June, after seven months 2-3 babies appear. They spend 3 months in a shelter with their mother. At first, the father of the family takes care of his cubs, which is not typical of other bear species.

Panda

This animal, 1.2 m long and weighing up to 160 kg, lives in the mountain forests of the western provinces of China. Prefers solitude, with the exception of mating time. It is usually spring.

The offspring appears in January. Basically, 2 cubs are born, each weighing about two kilograms. Unlike other bears, it does not hibernate. It feeds on various plants, bamboo roots, sometimes small rodents and fish.

Biruang

This is the name of the Malay bear. This is the smallest member of the bear family. Its body length does not exceed 1.4 m, its height is no more than 0.7 m, and its weight is about 65 kg. Despite its modest size, compared to its brethren, this animal is strong. Biruang has a short snout, wide paws with powerful curved claws. The body of the animal is covered with smooth, short, straight black hair. There is a white or orange horseshoe mark on the chest. The muzzle is orange or gray. Sometimes the legs are also light.

Biruang is a nocturnal animal, so during the day he sleeps and bask in the sun's rays, in the branches of trees. By the way, he climbs trees perfectly and feels completely comfortable on them.

It feeds on young shoots. The female brings two cubs. The animal does not hibernate.

This is the largest not only from the bear family, but among all terrestrial predators: males have a body length up to 280 cm, a height at the withers up to 150 cm, 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 part, while the back part is rather massive; the neck is long and mobile. The feet are wide, especially on the front legs, 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, protruding little from the hairline. The fur is very thick and dense, rough, not very long on the back and sides - there are no elongated hairs even on the withers. But on the belly and the back of the paws, the hair is very long (in winter the awn is up to 25 cm), which is extremely necessary when you have to rest lying in the snow. The hair on the feet is also lengthened, surrounding them around the entire perimeter with a kind of thick halo: this increases the supporting surface, which is necessary both when driving on snow and when swimming. The color is white throughout the body: this is primarily characteristic of animals living in ice, and serves as a means of camouflage. Only after a long stay on land do the animals acquire a dirty grayish-brown color. Thus, that brownish-gray-yellow multicolor, in which the fur of polar bears in zoos is painted, is elementary urban mud, completely unusual for wild animals.

Many features of the morphology and physiology of this species are associated with living in conditions of constant cold weather, the need for a long stay in the water, and feeding on seals. Its fur provides excellent protection from very cold air, but it is not water-repellent: it is amazing that, unlike seals or sea otters, a polar bear's fur coat allows ice water to pass through to the skin. But he has a thick layer of fat - 3-4 centimeters - under his skin all year round: it not only protects the animal from the cold, but also reduces the specific weight of its body, making it easier to stay on the water. The skin itself (flesh) is dark in color, which allows it to catch more sun rays on clear days. The nature of the metabolism is such that even a temperature of -50 ° C does not seem very cold to this animal, but already at a temperature of + 15 ° C the animal begins to overheat, tends to go into the shade. The structure of the digestive tract is also specific: the intestines are shorter than that 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 on lifeless ice. Eating very fatty foods, necessary to maintain normal life in the cold, is associated with an unusually high content of vitamin A in the liver of this animal.

Without much exaggeration, the polar bear can be considered a sea animal. Its range for the most part extends in the floating ice of the Arctic Ocean, capturing its islands and the mainland coast. This peculiar circular polar region does not have a northern border, but in the south it is outlined by the northern coast of the mainland and the southern edge of the distribution of floating ice. In the ocean, the existence of a predator is closely related to the places of concentration of seals - streaks, cracks, edges of floating ice and coastal fast ice. In particular, there are many polar bears in the area of ​​the so-called “Great Siberian Polynya” - an extensive network of breeding grounds, 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, teeming with ridges of hummocks and snow drifts. On older ice, the surface of which is leveled by repeated summer melting, the polar bear is smaller due to the lack of shelter and a water mirror. 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 usually arrange winter dens on land, but not on the mainland, but on the Arctic islands.

The polar bear's habitat is called the “Arctic desert” - partly because there are fewer animals and birds than, for example, in the middle lane, and 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 avoided human settlements. Now, having a protective status, the animal does not feel uncomfortable next to them. In some places, polar bears, like their brown relatives in national parks, even form a kind of "semi-domestic" populations, for which landfills and garbage dumps serve as food sources. Migrating animals behave quite freely in settlements, which, at an opportunity, even strive to invade dwellings for the sake of something edible.

Most of the life of a polar bear is spent in wandering 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 capable of moving 1000 kilometers from the main habitat. Migrations are mainly associated with seasonal changes in the ice regime and are caused by the need to search for open water, limited mainly to sea spaces and the coastline. Inland, polar bears enter only along the valleys of such rather large rivers as 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 the fall, when ice fields begin to close and open holes. The wanderings of polar bears do not take place chaotically, but along certain routes. Particularly noticeable are the "bear roads" off the coasts of the Arctic islands and headlands of the continental land that are far out in the sea. Thus, polar bears constantly travel along the “ice bridge” between Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. The spring ice melting and the release of wormwood encourages the bears to return to their former places.

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

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

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

The bear digs up a permanent den in a multi-meter snow blow 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 also more complex designs with several chambers. The thickness of the roof above the nesting chamber is usually half 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 igloo Eskimo 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 bear digs a den 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. Male temporary dens are simpler; sometimes the animal just buries itself in the snow. The winter decrease in activity in polar bears has its own specifics. In this species, the indispensable winter sleep is characteristic only of females ready for the birth of cubs: they lie in dens for 5 months, laying down in November and leaving 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 climatic conditions in winter are more than harsh even for such hardy animals and it is difficult to get food, many males are saved 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 down in dens even in summer. This interesting feature is typical, for example, of bears on the coast of Hudson Bay: some of them survive short periods of starvation in holes dug in sandy cliffs or on coastal spits.

Compared to the brown bear, the polar bear seems less smart and less agile. He is less susceptible to training, in his actions he is somewhat “straightforward”. All this, obviously, is associated with its habitation 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 arising difficult situations. However, in his ability to assess the quality of ice, to adapt the hunting tactics to the specific relief of the area, 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 it gets tired and switches to a loose trot, slowing down to 8-12 km / h. An adult heavy animal is generally unable 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, on the ground, the predator does not feel very confident and, when pursuing, seeks to leave on the ice or into the water. Among the hummocks, this seemingly heavy animal is amazingly agile and agile: it easily overcomes ice ridges up to 2 meters high, moving away not only from humans, but also from dogs. Clinging with claws, he climbs steep, almost sheer ice walls, boldly jumps from boulders 3-4 meters high into the water or ice, without a splash jumps out of the water onto a flat, low ice floe.

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 is rowing with its front paws, and the hind legs are mainly ruled. It lasts up to 2 minutes under water, 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. They themselves go into the water and already 5-6-month-old cubs swim well.

The strength of this beast is truly amazing. He is able to pull out onto the ice and lift up the slope a walrus carcass weighing more than half a ton. A bearded seal, which weighs not much less than the bear itself, can be killed by a predator by crushing the victim's skull with a single crushing blow of the paw, and, if necessary, transfer its carcass in its teeth to a distance of up to a kilometer.

Sense of smell and hearing are most developed in polar bears. When hunting or when examining the situation, he goes against the wind, often stopping and sniffing. The smell of the carcass of a dead seal, even if it is dusted with snow, can smell from hundreds of meters away. The creak of the footsteps of a person trying to approach the beast through 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. Vision is also very sharp: the polar predator is able to distinguish the 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 the endless expanses of seemingly homogeneous ice plains is surprising and admirable. Being on land or on ice, the animal is able to pinpoint the location of open water areas, sometimes tens of kilometers away, and confidently walk towards them. During seasonal migrations, overcoming hundreds of kilometers in a chosen direction, these wanderers deviate from the course by some 20-30 °. Even when traveling with drifting ice, animals make their way back in a straight line, and do not follow the whims of floating ice blocks.

Polar bears are solitary. Only sometimes they are found in several individuals at abundant prey - for example, at the carcass of a whale thrown ashore - or along the routes of mass migrations, and the 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 because they are not fearful, at the first meeting with a person, the bear reacts to him in general quite peacefully, without fear or aggression, and sometimes just indifferently. If a person tries to approach him, the huge predator prefers to retire: a real threat can be mainly represented by a female with cubs or a wounded animal. True, cases of attacks on people are still noted, and man-eating bears had to be shot several times. 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 recumbent position is most common.

In recent years, in connection with the introduction of measures to protect the polar bear and the growth of the population in the Arctic, meetings of people with this unique animal have become more frequent and sometimes begin to bring obvious inconveniences. As in the case of the brown bear, in a number of places the animals gather in the vicinity of settlements, where they feed on garbage, and if there is a lack of them, they break into warehouses. Once in one of the fishing points in Chukotka, when people were working there, an adult male settled in an empty barn and lived there until the end of the fishing season. On the coast of Hudson Bay, where a large number of migrating bears accumulate in the fall, 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 preys on large animals. Its main food is Arctic seals, first of all the smallest of them the ringed seal, less often the bearded seal, even less often the crested seal and the harp seal. As an exception, the animal hunts for larger prey - walruses, belugas and narwhals, attacking, however, only young individuals, so that 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 deer into the water and crush it there. Cases of cannibalism are not uncommon among polar bears, to which they are prompted by the harsh conditions of existence: especially often, bear cubs fall into the mouths of adult males. At the end of summer and autumn, bears explore the coast in search of the corpses of sea animals thrown out by the sea: at the carcass of a whale, it happens that 3-5 feasting predators gather at once. They rarely catch fish themselves, but they willingly pick up the fish thrown onto the ice by the waves. However, in those days when polar bears were common in Labrador, during the salmon run they gathered near spawning rivers and, like brown bears, 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 the usual animal food on the mainland and islands, they do not disdain vegetable: in the tundra they eat cloudberries, in the intertidal zone - algae such as kelp (“seaweed”), fucus. In Svalbard, bears were observed, even diving under water 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 the willow shoots found under it, sometimes moss and sedge leaves. These predators willingly “graze” in landfills near dwellings, where they devour everything that seems edible to them. This sometimes leads to death of animals, because among the swallowed there may be, for example, a tarpaulin soaked in machine oil.

Arctic foxes eat the remains of the polar bear's meal, white gulls and burgomaster eat the remains of the polar bear's meal. Some of them gather at the place of the feast only after the bear has already left it. Other "freeloaders" accompany the predator in its wanderings among the ice, especially often in winter. Sometimes you can see 2-3 Arctic foxes and 4-6 large gulls with each bear.

The hunting tactics of this predator are quite flexible, it is determined by the season of the year, weather conditions, ice conditions, and the number of potential prey. In essence, it is based on the use of several basic techniques: the predator hides its 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 animal has time to grab prey on the ice floe, because in the water, neither in speed nor in maneuverability of movements, a bear can be compared with a seal.

Sneaking is used most often: a bear looks out for prey from afar and creeps up to it behind hummocks or snow blows. 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. Having approached the victim by 4-5 meters, the bear jumps up and in a swift throw tries to get the seal with one or two jumps. If he did not have time to slip into the water, the predator kills or stuns the prey with a blow of its front paw on the head and immediately pulls it away from the water. The entire episode of concealment can take from 2 to 5 hours, depending on how long and winding the path of the hunter was among the shelters. Sometimes the direction of attack changes to the opposite: the predator carefully swims along the water to a seal lying on the edge of the ice floe, sinking so that only the upper part of the muzzle remains on the surface, and, jumping out onto the ice floe in one jump, tries to cut off the escape route for the victim.

Quite often, the bear watches over the seal at the exits from the water, lying motionless for hours at the edge of the hole or the air in the ice floe. If the hole is small, the animal expands it with claws and teeth before starting the entry. As soon as the head of a seal appears, the bear's paw hits 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 snow shelters - “huts” where the young are hiding. The bear knows how to find them by smell and, bringing down the snow dome with its paws or with all its weight, tries to get to the victim covered with lumps of snow as quickly as possible. If a predator encounters breeding harp seals, it can cause great devastation among the helpless and openly lying on ice floes, continuing to kill them after it is full. According to eyewitnesses, the bear plays with the seal cubs like a cat with a mouse.

Adult walruses, even solitary ones, are simply afraid of the water and does not touch the polar bear. And on land, the predator tries to bypass these giants. Nevertheless, he sometimes approaches their rookeries hoping to profit from carrion, since the screening out of walruses in the first days and weeks of their life is large enough. Sometimes the bear itself "puts its paw" on this, with its appearance disturbing the rookery and prompting the heavy carcasses to move from place to place, crushing one or two multi-pound adolescents.

On the seaside, bears sometimes visit bird colonies, picking up the fallen inhabitants there or trying to get close to the eggs. They are also interested in the colonies of geese, catching molting birds on them. Some “specialists” are contrived to hunt seabirds, such as eiders, guillemots, gulls, who are resting on the surface in the water, swimming up to them under water and grabbing them from below.

The food supply for polar bears depends on the season. In spring and summer, predators living in ice do not lack food. The most hungry time for bears is winter: seals keep under the thin ice of the rims of large ice fields, and bearded seals drift away to areas of open water. It is this circumstance that prompts the remaining awake bears to long journeys: sometimes from one harvested seal to another, the animal is forced to overcome more than one hundred kilometers, remaining without food for a week or a half.

An adult bear eats up to 20 kilograms of food at a time. Most often, the predator is limited to the most high-calorie part of the seal carcass - the subcutaneous layer of fat, which it eats together with the skin, pulling it off the killed victim in a “stocking”. Only a very hungry animal also eats meat, leaving large bones intact.

The mating season for 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 the female and the males who found her make joint walks. After the clarification of the relationship between the males, which is accompanied by roaring and fights, the female remains with the winner for another month, and then the pair 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 one gives birth to 1-2 cubs. 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, cubs begin to crawl over the curled up mother. By the end of the second month, milk teeth erupt in them, fluffy fur grows back. 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 her cubs keeps near her, hiding in the shelter at the first danger. Then they take short walks in the vicinity of the "maternity hospital", and the female hardly leaves 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. During the hunt, she leaves the babies in a safe place - away from adult males, which pose a serious danger to the cubs. The young begin to feed on the fat of the seals harvested by the mother at 3-4 months. Feeding with very fatty milk, like that of seals and whales, milk 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 the hunt for them is unsuccessful, lactation lasts even longer: the female, lying in a den with second-year cubs, who did not have time to collect the required amount of subcutaneous fat for winter, feeds them with milk until next spring.

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

The old 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, praising its strength, skill, endurance. For hundreds of years, specially protected cult altars - sedyanga - were formed from the skulls of the hunted bears. They tried to appease the "spirit" of the killed beast by arranging a holiday in honor of a successful hunt; Among the Russian Pomors, this animal, which they took with great difficulty and risk, also aroused respect. It is noteworthy that they called themselves “ushkuiniks”, i.e. “Bearbears”: the pomors called the polar bear with the ear.

The polar bear has always been of great practical importance for local residents. Meat and fat were used for food and feed for sled dogs, shoes and clothes were made from skins, and bile was used as a medicine. It is possible that the virtuoso ability to hunt seals, the art of building an igloo that retains heat in severe frosts, was borrowed from this polar predator by the northern peoples. Intensive ubiquitous polar bear hunting began in the 17th-18th centuries, when hunters, whalers, fur traders, and later polar expeditions rushed to the north. Although their goals were different, they all viewed polar bears 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 to make carpets. In places of Arctic fox hunting, this predator, during the winter hungry migrations, “checking” the traps and warehouses of hunters, was shot as an allegedly “dangerous pest”. They beat the beast without counting and without pity, sometimes up to 1,500-2,000 animals a year, even females with cubs in maternity hospitals. The result was not slow to show itself: by the end of the 19th century, there were clear signs of a decline in the number of polar bears. However, even in the 1930s, when it became clear that the breeding of bears could no longer compensate for the losses from predatory hunting, the volume of the annual harvest fell only slightly.

The turning point came in the 1950s, when polar bear hunting was prohibited 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). Small numbers of cubs are also allowed to be caught annually for zoos and circuses. To protect the "maternity hospitals" of polar bears, 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 successfully reproduces in zoos, we can assume that the threat of direct destruction of the species is now averted.

Nevertheless, the ban on fishing for polar bears remains, and 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

The youngest

The youngest of the modern species of the bear family is the polar bear, or oshkuy, which descended from the coastal Siberian brown bear 100 - 250 thousand years ago. Today it is the largest carnivore among land mammals.

Bears' claws do not retract

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

Flat feet

All bears have flat feet: the sole and heel of the foot equally touch the ground. On each paw they have five long curved claws, with which the bear digs the ground (or ice) equally well and copes with prey. A polar bear has long fur between its toes, which makes it easier for the animal to move on ice and warms its paws. The very wide front legs serve as skis when moving on land and help with swimming. In the water, polar bears are kept 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

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

The sight and hearing of bears

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

Orientation and Smell

Polar bears have a well-developed sense of orientation and a keen sense of smell: a polar bear smells a dead seal from a distance of 200 miles. He smells prey under the ice too: he identifies 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 about getting food. All polar bears Ursus (Thalarctos) maritimus are left-handed.

Withstand temperatures down to -80C

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) and seals can 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, which absorbs it. In summer, the bear receives up to a quarter of the energy it needs in the form of solar heat.

Polar bear ears are smaller than those of congeners

This helps him retain body heat.

Polar bear fur

... corresponds to the name of a mammal, but in summer it sometimes turns straw yellow, oxidizing in the sun. The individual outer hairs, called protective hairs, are transparent and hollow. By absorbing ultraviolet light, they conduct it into the skin of a bear, black, like nose and lips. Wool retains heat so excellently that it cannot be detected by infrared photography, only ultraviolet. When the air temperature is below zero, the bear can swim up to 80 km in the icy Arctic water without rest.

Polar bears turn green in the tropics

The white and yellow fur of polar bears living in 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 was cleaned off 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. The last time a similar case of "greening" polar bears was observed at the San Diego Zoo in 1979. Three bears were cleaned with brine.

Fur indicates allergies

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

42 teeth

Bears have 42 teeth

Wandering bear

The polar bear is widespread throughout the Arctic. In Yakutia - in the basins of the Laptev and East Siberian seas. But it's not for nothing that they call him a tramp. In search of food, he makes long migrations, sometimes getting on drifting ice floes to Iceland and southern Greenland. From there, along the western shores 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 also closely related to changes in ice conditions. As the ice melts and breaks down, polar bears move to the north, towards the border of the Arctic basin. With the onset of stable ice formation, bears begin their reverse migration to the south.

Swimmer bears

A 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 are also good at diving - it's common for them to dive under floating ice floes. The polar bear swims at a speed of up to 6.5 km per hour and can stay under water for up to 5 minutes. This allows him to move long distances from the coast, there are cases of meeting with an animal 100 km from the edge of the ice.

Hunting near the Great Siberian Polynya

Most often, our polar bear hunts near the Great Siberian Polynya. This is a water surface open all year round on the Laptev Sea area adjacent to the Lena Delta. It attracts all arctic animals and birds, especially in winter. The main diet of a bear is made up of bearded seals and seals, if you are lucky - seals. The polar predator can endure long hunger strikes, but on occasion 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. He eats at least 45 kg of seal meat at a time. Half of the calories are spent on maintaining body heat. Polar bears feed on seals, reindeer, walruses, and white whales. They are supplemented by berries, mushrooms and lichens and rare tundra vegetation. In general, bears are omnivorous, like foxes, badgers and mongooses. The polar bear prefers to stay among floating ice or on fast ice near their edge, near wormwoods and openings. Here seals are the most numerous all year round, serving 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 she-bear is inseparable from the babies, the grown-up cubs play, imitating the fight.

Not particularly lucky hunters

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

Aggressive polar bear

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

Polar bear vs whale

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

Why bears have to be big

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

Lone bears

Unlike other species, polar bears live alone.

Families and loners in the world of bears

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

Short family life

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

Polar bears have delayed conception

Pregnancy lasts 190-260 days, this 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. The sperm is stored in her body until conditions are favorable for breeding.

Only females hibernate

Unlike other bears living in cold climates, polar bears usually do not hibernate for long. They rarely hibernate, with the exception of pregnant females, which hibernate every 2-5 years. The she-bear makes a den in the snow. Typically, 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 spend the winter for 7 months. The metabolic process at this time is slowed down, waste products are not excreted from the body. If we compare hibernating bears to 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 (at the usual time 45). In the warm winter months, wintering bears leave their den for a while, then return to sleep.

Polar bear cubs

... weigh less than 700 grams at birth. Polar 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 nourish during the entire pregnancy. As a consequence, the fetus receives nutrients from the mother's body, and not from the food she absorbed. Compensation for the lack of nutrients is especially fatty bear milk, which in polar bears is superior in calories to all other relatives in the family. Usually, a female gives birth to two cubs, however, cases have been recorded and five cubs in one litter, only none of them survived. The bear cub is in the den until it gains 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.

Is not afraid of man

The polar bear is the only large land mammal that is not afraid of humans. He continues to pursue the hunters and, after being badly wounded, is 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.

Lifespan of bears

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

Metabolic rate in polar bears

The metabolic rate of the polar bear is obviously higher than that of the brown bear. The white also showed extraordinary resistance to low temperatures, not only due to its perfect thermoregulation, but also due to the low "critical temperature". Even at -50 ° C, he does not observe a noticeable increase in the level of gas exchange, that is, there is still no need to use the physiological mechanism of thermoregulation ("chemical") associated with a large expenditure of energy

Polar bear respiration rate
The polar bear's respiration rate increases markedly when the air temperature rises; at - 10 ... - 20 ° С it is 5.3, and at 20 ... 25 ° С - 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 bear); no diurnal temperature changes were noted. The surface temperature of the skin, measured in calm weather, reaches 30-36 ° С, and in the wind it drops to 27 ° С. The difference between temperatures under the skin and on its surface increases to 10-14 ° C when the animal is in 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 one it can reach 130 per minute, during sleep it drops to 50 and during artificial hibernation - up to 27 per minute (in American brown and black bears in the latter case were reduced to eight)

Polar bear milk

Bear's 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). In chemical composition, it is close to the milk of cetaceans and pinnipeds. The fat of milk contains 13.9% bituric, 22.6% palmetic and 33.4% oleic acids.

The hemoglobin content in the blood of polar bears ranges from 66 to 84%, erythrocytes - from 3.5 to 4.9 million, and leukocytes - from 5800 to 8300 in 1 mm3. Of the total number of leukocytes, 5% are neutrophils, 1.2 are eosinophils, 4 are basophils, 2-3 monocytes, 34-40% are lymphocytes. In adult female bears, the leukocyte formula is different: stab neutrophils - 10 and segmented neutrophils - 17%, eosinophils - 1, bezophiles - 2, monocytes - 4 and lymphocytes - 60%
In terms of 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 family 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, representatives of all modern genera of bears, including the genus Thalassarctos Gray, and a number of others, which have now become extinct, apparently existed.
The scarcity of paleontological materials is the reason for the divergence of opinions among researchers about the antiquity of the divergence of the polar bear from the trunk of the brown bears proper (the latter is beyond doubt). Most authors attribute the time of separation of the polar bear to the Early or Middle Pleistocene (1.5 million years ago), or to the transitional period between the Pleistocene and Pliocene, and the species Ursus etruscus Fale is considered the direct ancestor of brown and polar bears. generalized bearish 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 bears the names:
sira bogto, uloddade boggo, serwork,
Java - in the Nenets (north of the European part of the USSR and Western Siberia);
uryungege and huryung-ege - in Yakut;
nebaty mamachan - in Evenk;
poinene-haha - in Yukaghir language;
umka and uumky - in Chukchi;
nanuk, nyonnok and nanok - in Eskimo (northeastern Siberia, northern North America, Greenland).
Human acquaintance with a polar bear has as long a history as the very human settlement of the coasts and islands of the northern seas; in northern Europe, it possibly dates back to the Holocene, and in northern Asia to the Paleolithic. The first written sources containing mention of the polar bear also date back to very distant times. He became known to the Romans, apparently, in the 50s. ad. In Japanese manuscripts, live polar bears and their skins were first mentioned in 650, and the first information about these animals from Northern Europe (Scandinavia) dates back to 880 AD. Later, living animals, their skins, began quite often to get to the European rulers.

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 are warning relatives of the impending danger. With the same sound, the bear drives others away from its prey. Begging for food from a more successful 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 love to play, one is bored to play, therefore, inviting to fun, they swing their heads from side to side.

Polar bear day

In winter, in some countries of the world, the Day of the White - Polar Bear is celebrated on February 27. Based on data from the World Wildlife Fund (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 decline by two-thirds. The polar bear is the largest representative of the order of carnivorous 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 much smaller (200-300 kg). The smallest bears are found in Svalbard, the largest in the Bering Sea.

The polar bear is the largest representative of carnivores


 Just think of what tests Mother Nature sometimes puts her creatures to. Getting acquainted with the lifestyle of some animals, you involuntarily ask yourself the question: "How do they survive?" After all, they live where, it would seem, life is impossible, they are subjected to all possible hardships. Well, those who turned out to be unable to anchor themselves on the “edge of life” are eliminated by natural selection. Others, the most viable, live and prosper.
One of these winners is the polar bear, an eternal wanderer among the vast polar expanses. In splendid isolation he reigns here, there is no equal to him. This bear does not at all resemble its brothers living in southern countries - neither in appearance, nor in habits, nor in living conditions. But there is one sad similarity in which the bear is innocent. This inhabitant of the polar ice, like some clubfoot inhabitants of the forests, has become rare in nature due to the fault of man. It is included in the Red Book of the USSR, where it has III category of protection, and IUCN.
The polar bear is the largest representative of the order of carnivorous mammals, the largest land predator. His body length reaches 3 m. Can you imagine if he stands on his hind legs? An impressive sight! The weight of large males sometimes reaches 800 kg. The polar bear's physique 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. Legs are rather high, thick and powerful. The feet of the forepaws are wide; their surface is additionally increased by overgrown thick hair. The fur is very thick and long, especially on the belly. The color is white, with a yellowish-golden tint along

  • Class: Mammalia Linnaeus, 1758 = Mammals
  • Infraclass: Eutheria, Placentalia Gill, 1872 = Placentals, Higher Beasts
  • Detachment:
  • Family: Carnivora Bowdich, 1821 = Carnivores
  • Family: Ursidae Gray, 1825 = Bears, bears
  • Genus: Ursus Linnaeus, 1758 = Bears

Is the bear a predator?

Basically, bears are content with plant food, but in case of a lack of it and once having tasted animal meat, it becomes a predator in the full sense of the word, especially scary for domestic animals. He is quite considered the worst enemy of horses, cows, etc.

Having tasted meat, the bear loses its good-natured disposition and becomes very bloodthirsty. Many hunters say that the bear also feeds on carrion. At least in Siberia, it often happens that during the death of livestock, peasants bury their dead animals, and bears dig them out to satisfy their hunger. Having worked up their body and fat during the summer and autumn, with the approach of winter, the bears prepare a den for themselves in some cave, or in the hollows of trees, or in a forest thicket.

Before lying down in a den, the bear confuses its tracks like a hare, winds through the windbreak, mossy swamps, on the water, jumps sideways from the track through the deadwood, in a word, it will walk back and forth more than once. Only then will he lie down, reassured that the trail is well entangled.

If the summer was low in food, then some, especially thin, bears do not lie in a den at all, hungry wandering all winter. These rods, as they are called, are "death row", they will die before spring. Cranks are dangerous to man, cattle and any animal - even to a bear sleeping in a den. There was a case: a small bear-connecting rod dug out the den of a bear, which was, healthier than him, bitten and ate the sleepy Toptygin. Some bears, in places where it is not very cold, lie down to winter right among young spruce trees, only their tops are bent over themselves - it will turn out to be something like a hut, and they sleep in it. But where the winter is cold, they dig a hole for a den somewhere near the water, in a swamp, under the root of a fallen tree. Others cover the pit with brushwood, branches, moss. Such a den, as they say, has a "sky", that is, a roof. A hole in a den, an outlet, is called a "brow".

They talk about a bear as if it sucks its paw in winter. Maybe some people suck because they think that the sole on the soles sheds and itches. But, says A. Cherkasov, he did not hear something about bears being hunted in dens with sucked paws: they all have dry, dirty ones since autumn, covered in dust and with dried mud.

The more east the bears live, the larger they are. In the Old World, the largest bears are Kamchatka. In Alaska and some islands close to it, even larger specimens are found. This brown bear kadlyak is a heavyweight champion among all predators on Earth (up to 751 kg in weight). When this animal stands leaning on all four legs, then at the withers its height is up to 130 cm (for a European bear, on average, 1 m).

The she-bear retires to the den at the beginning of November, while the bears roam in December, despite the snow and frost. And some old animals lead a wandering life all winter. Even the bears that have retired to the den do not always fall into deep hibernation, only the heavily eaten, fat bears sleep motionless, the rest lie very sensitively and stick their heads out of the den, or "greet" - as the hunters say - at each approach of a person; and the she-bears sometimes rush directly at the troublemaker. Smelling the smell of spring, they get out of the den into the light.

Hungry for the winter, he goes to get food. But first he takes a laxative - in the form of cranberries and moss, of which he eats a huge amount. Having cleared his stomach, he hastens to strengthen his body, weakened by hibernation. In this rather hungry time, he can pounce on livestock.