The bear is one of the animals that you hardly want to meet one on one. Its dimensions inspire genuine fear. Surprisingly, at birth, some bears weigh less than 200 grams, and here the question of how much an adult bear weighs involuntarily arises. It all depends on its type and individual characteristics. The most famous are bears: brown, black, white. Since the brown bear lives in our country, we will dwell on it in more detail.

Distribution area

Previously, the brown bear was found almost throughout Europe, including Ireland and England. The southern boundary of the range was the African Atlas Mountains, and in the east, bears were found even in the territory modern Japan. It most likely came to the territory of North America after about 40 thousand years ago. Then he settled in the territories from Alaska to the northern borders of Mexico. To date, the brown bear is widely distributed in Finland (in this country it was even declared a national animal) and Scandinavia, it is less common in the center of Europe and the Carpathians. In addition, it also lives in the Iranian and Iraqi forests, northern China, Palestine, the Korean Peninsula and Japanese island Hokkaido. IN North America the brown bear is called "grizzly", more common in the western part of Canada, in Alaska. In Russia, the brown bear lives in almost all the forests of the country, except for the southern regions.

Appearance

The animal is strong, with a distinct withers on the back. The body cover is thick. Coat color is uniform. As a rule, bears molt in spring, and the fur coat is updated in autumn. the ears are small, the eyes are set deep. The tail is practically invisible under the coat and is only 2 cm long. The paws are quite strong, with curved claws (their length can reach 10 cm).

Weight of a brown bear and its dimensions

The average body length of a brown bear is 1-2 meters. recorded in Kamchatka, the Far East and Alaska. These are real giants: their height in a standing position reaches three meters. In addition to height, many are interested in how much a bear weighs. Body weight depends on the sex and age of the animal. As a rule, the male is larger than the female. The weight of an adult bear (male) is 140-400 kg. But among them there are giant individuals weighing up to 600 kg. The female weighs on average 90-210 kg. A bear with a record body weight was found on Kodiak Island. His weight was 1134 kg, and his height was about 4 meters. Many people wonder how much a person living in Russia weighs? In our country, there are smaller individuals, their average body weight is 100 kg. And how much does a grizzly weigh - a bear living in America? The grizzly is a subspecies of the brown bear, its body weight can reach 500 kg. Individual individuals can weigh 700 kg.

Lifespan

How much does a bear weigh and how long does it live - these are probably the most frequently asked questions. Note that the animal directly depends on its habitat. IN wild nature he can live 20-35 years. If an animal is kept in a zoo or reserve, then it lives twice as long - about 50 years, or even more. Puberty occurs at 6-11 years of age.

Behavior

The brown bear has a highly developed sense of smell. He smells meat well even at a great distance. The bear has excellent hearing. It often stands on its hind legs to catch the direction of scent flows or to listen to the sound that interests it. Behaves in the forest real owner: walks around his domain in the early morning or after dusk. In bad weather, it can wander through the forests for hours in search of food.

Lifestyle and nutritional habits

The brown bear is considered a forest animal. In Russia, his favorite places are dense forests with overgrowth of shrubs and deciduous trees. It can enter the territory of the tundra and alpine forests. In Europe, it lives more often in the mountains, and in North America, its favorite habitats are alpine meadows, tundra and coast. The male usually lives alone, and the female with cubs. Each individual takes certain territory from 70 to 400 km, while the male requires 7 times more area than the female. Of course, this does not depend on how much the bear weighs. It's just that the female often lives with cubs, and it is more difficult for her to travel long distances than a single male. Bears mark the boundaries of their territory with urine and scratches on trees.

Animals are omnivores. The diet for 75% consists of plant foods - these are berries, tubers, grass stems, nuts, roots and acorns. In lean years, they can feed on corn and oat fields. The diet of a clubfoot can consist of ants, worms, small rodents (mice, chipmunks, ground squirrels). Although the bear is not a 100% predator, it can overwhelm an elk or a roe deer. There are frequent cases when a grizzly attacked wolves, and in the territory Far East bears sometimes prey on tigers. The favorite delicacy of this animal is honey (that's why it was called that). The fish is a seasonal object of hunting. At the beginning of spawning, when there are still few fish, the bear eats the entire carcass, but when there is a lot of it, it eats only parts rich in fat (head, milt and caviar). In famine years, the bear can hunt domestic animals and often visit apiaries, ruining them.

The activity of the brown bear falls on the morning and evening hours. Lifestyle is seasonal. By cold weather, the bear builds up a subcutaneous layer of fat and lies in a den for hibernation. At the same time, the average weight of the bear increases by 20%. A den is a dry place under windbreaks or uprooted tree roots. Average winter dream lasts about 70-190 days and depends on the climate (October-March, November-April). It turns out that the clubfoot is in hibernation for about six months. She-bears are the longest in hibernation, and older males are the least. It is also interesting to know how much a brown bear weighs after winter sleep. During this time, they can lose about 80 kg of mass. If during the summer and autumn the bear did not have time to accumulate a sufficient amount of fat, in the winter he wakes up and begins to wander through the forest in search of food. Such bears are called connecting rods. Rods are dangerous and hungry, so they attack everyone, even humans. Most often, they rarely survive until the end of winter: they die from frost, severe hunger, or from a hunter's bullet.

Despite the fact that the weight of the brown bear is impressive, and he looks somewhat awkward, he runs quite fast, swims well and climbs trees well. The paw strike is so powerful that it can break the back of a large bison or bull.

reproduction

The female brings offspring once every 2-4 years. Heat is passed at the end of spring - the beginning of summer, the duration is only 2-4 weeks. Males during the breeding season often fight among themselves, sometimes with fatal. occurs with several males, the course of pregnancy is latent, while the development of the embryo will begin only in November. Pregnancy lasts from 6 to 8 months, the birth itself takes place at the place of hibernation - in the lair. In one offspring there are up to 5 cubs. I wonder how much a bear weighs at birth, if it later reaches such sizes? Bear cubs weigh 340-680 grams at birth, their length is 25 cm. They are born completely blind and deaf, hairline is almost absent. Hearing appears only 14 days after birth, and they become sighted in a month. By 3 months they have milk teeth and can eat berries. A mother bear feeds her cubs with milk for up to 30 months. As a rule, the father does not take part in the upbringing of the offspring, on the contrary, he can eat the bear cub, because he sees in him a potential rival. Bear cubs begin to live independently without a mother by about 3-4 years.

Security

The brown bear is listed in the Red Book. This animal is vulnerable due to the high mortality of young animals and slow reproduction. But in Lately the population is growing. According to some data, there are about 200 thousand individuals in the world, 120,000 of which live in Russia, 14,000 in Europe, 32,500 in the USA (most in Alaska), 21,500 in Canada. Bear hunting in many countries is limited or completely prohibited.

Prevalence

Appearance and anatomical features

body structure and appearance The grizzly is very similar to the common brown bear, but is generally larger, heavier, clumsier, and stronger than it. One of hallmarks grizzly is his magnitude: while common bear rarely reaches 2.5 m in length, the size of the grizzly is usually 2.2-2.8 m, weight - up to 500 kg, but there are individuals up to 4 meters. Has powerful jaws. Its tail is shorter than that of an ordinary brown bear, and its claws are more powerful - up to 15 cm. Its shoulders, neck and belly are covered with dark brown, lighter hair at the ends, which gives its fur a grayish tint; hence the name - grizzly means "grey".

Lifestyle and behavior

According to the lifestyle of a grizzly, a typical brown bear - hibernates and feeds mainly on plant foods. Only in early youth can a grizzly climb trees until its claws (growing the largest of all bears) interfere, but later it easily swims wide rivers. Skillfully catches fish. Grizzlies also love to destroy hives and eat honey.

Grizzlies are able to interbreed with polar bears and produce fertile (able to produce offspring) hybrids - polar grizzlies.

Significance for a person

The grizzly is one of the largest and most ferocious North American predators. The scientific name of this subspecies, horribilis, translates as "terrible, terrible." In the old days, grizzlies liked to be described as a fearsome and ferocious animal; they said that he was not afraid of a person, - on the contrary, he went straight at him, whether he was on horseback or on foot, armed or unarmed. The grizzly population was greatly reduced in the late 19th and early centuries, when farmers began to shoot them en masse in order to protect livestock from attacks.

To date, grizzlies are under protection and live mainly in US national parks: Yellowstone, Mount McKinley and Glacier Park, from where grizzlies are resettled in other US states. In some places, grizzlies have multiplied so much that seasonal hunting was allowed for them.

There are known cases of grizzly attacks on humans, sometimes with a fatal outcome. Their victims are mainly tourists feeding bears. Grizzlies are often attracted to food waste dumps that accumulate near tourist campsites and tents. When disturbed while eating, a grizzly may become angry and attack.

Illustrations

see also

  • Grizzlies - novel by James Curwood
  • Grizzly Man - Documentary by Werner Herzog
  • Buk-M1-2 (ZRK), anti-aircraft missile system, in the NATO classification listed as SA-17 Grizzly

Notes

Links

  • Read more about the grizzly in the article Grizzly: Giant of the Rocky Mountains.

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Reading fiction often come across stories about grizzly bears. The grizzly is vividly described in the books of Fenimore Cooper, Seton-Thompson and Jack London, familiar and beloved in childhood. There he is represented by the owner of the forest.

Grizzly and indeed the largest predatory beast on the American continent. Its weight reaches 450 kilograms, and its length is 2.5 meters. Claws reach 15 centimeters. Because of their long claws, grizzlies cannot climb trees.

The main habitat of the grizzly is the remote places of Alaska and northern Canada. The grizzly bear is sometimes referred to as a gray bear because of its coloration.
He is credited with bloodthirstiness, although in reality this is not so. For the most part, this bear eats plant foods, but does not shy away from meat and fish.

He attacks a person very rarely and generally tries to stay away from people. Although a wounded and enraged beast is extremely dangerous. Grizzly attacks a person when he is defending his hunting grounds or the female protects the cubs.

Sometimes the Spaniards pitted the bear and the bull. The bear, on the other hand, was limited in its freedom of movement, and then it almost always came out victorious in a fight.

The picture shows a grizzly brown bear for comparison.

Brown bear- the hero of many fairy tales and legends. This is the most common type of bear. Its weight is from 80 to 400 kilograms, body length is 250 cm, height at the withers is from 75 to 160 cm.

Females are smaller than males. Average duration life in the wild for 20-30 years. Females produce offspring every 2-4 years. And the kids live with their mother until they are 3 years old. They live on all continents of Eurasia in forest zones. They are able to climb trees.

For the most part, they eat plant foods and are very fond of honey, but they do not mind eating both fish and roe deer.
In winter, having accumulated fat over the summer, the bears hibernate.

In spring, bears often attack animals, as there is little plant food in the forest in spring. Both wild boar and elk can become its prey. Especially aggressive are bears that have not accumulated fat reserves in summer and therefore do not sleep in winter and walk through the forest for prey. People call them rods.

Very often bears perform in the circus. Bears are one of the most intelligent animals.

The main differences between a grizzly bear and a brown bear are:
Various habitats.
Grizzlies are larger than brown bears.
The color of the coat is different.
The grizzly can't climb trees, but the brown bear is good at climbing.

P.S. Despite some differences, the brown bear and the grizzly are the closest relatives and belong to the same bear family. (lat. Ursidae)

Grizzly (from the English. Grizzly bear - gray bear) - the name of one or more American subspecies of the brown bear.

Translated from Latin the name of this bear, Horribilis, means "terrible" or "ferocious".

Grizzly bear habitat

Usually, gray grizzly chooses harsh, hard-to-reach places for living, where the neighborhood of a person does not interfere with it. Alaska and northern Canada are the main habitat for 98% of these mammals.

Small populations live in the northern United States. The Rocky and Cascade Mountains also sometimes become their haven.

By the beginning of the last century, the number of this species of bears was about 100 thousand individuals. The reason for the sharp decrease in the population was excessive aggressiveness.

Appearance of a grizzly bear

The fur of the grizzly is slightly lighter than that of the other representatives of the brown bears. hallmark can be called significant big sizes. The body length of an adult grizzly reaches from 220 to 280 centimeters, and the weight is about 500 kilograms. According to scientists, there were grizzlies that had a body up to four meters long!

The grizzly has very strong and strong jaws and powerful claws, which makes it a very dangerous predator.

The coat has a special color: the hairs on the neck, abdominal part and shoulders are dark brown, and at the ends are painted in a light tone. From a distance it seems that the bear is gray-haired.

Grizzly bear lifestyle

A characteristic feature of the character of a gray bear is its fearlessness. The combination of this trait with huge force practically deprives his enemies of the chance to win.

The victim in a matter of minutes will be torn apart by strong teeth and powerful claws. An animal can easily cope with a wild bison, and livestock is simply panic fear in front of him.

Before a man, a bear does not feel a sense of fear and can kill him with one blow. The ferocious animal also attacks armed people, especially if it is wounded.

Attacks on a person are quite rare, but it is almost impossible to escape. The animal can reach speeds of up to 60 km per hour and is an excellent swimmer. Sometimes an animal prefers to hide as soon as it senses a person.

Grizzly prefers loneliness and tries not to contact with his relatives. The most frequent conflicts between representatives of these animals are observed during the mating season.

Hibernation is common for grizzlies. For lying, a hill is selected, small in size. After being covered with snow, it is turned into a lair. The animal is not immersed in deep dream rather, this state is a light nap.

In the event of a thaw, the animal leaves the home and looks for food. With the resumption of frost, it returns back and falls asleep again before the onset of warm times. It has been estimated that bears sleep half of their lives.

Grizzly bear food

After the end of hibernation, the bear begins to intensively look for food. These representatives of the order of predators are omnivores. Grizzlies prefer plant foods.

Their main food: young shoots, nuts, berries, tree fruits, algae and roots. Bird eggs, insects and their larvae, as well as reptiles are used as a delicacy. In just one day, a grizzly is able to absorb up to 40 thousand butterflies.

Carrion is also grizzly food. The beast smells her at a distance of 30 km. A deer killed by a bear provides him with food for a week. However, the animal prefers to prey on sick, weak or young animals.

Fish is a grizzly delicacy. During the salmon spawning period, bears gather in groups on the shore and distribute fishing areas among themselves. They catch fish with their mouths or with the help of wide paws. Some bears manage to grab it on the fly when it jumps out of the water.

Bear cubs mainly indulge in honey, because in young age can climb a tree. Before hibernation, the bear begins polygaffia - a feeling of constant hunger. This is understandable, since before going to bed you need to dial as much as possible. large quantity fat.

Grizzly bear breeding

The mating season for grizzlies is usually in June. It was at this time that males are able to smell females even at a very large distance, estimated at several kilometers. Grizzlies stay in a pair for no more than ten days, after which they return to the solitary lifestyle already familiar to this species.

Unfortunately, not all cubs manage to survive and grow up. Sometimes babies become very easy prey for hungry adult grizzly males and other predators.

Carrying offspring by the female takes about 250 days, after which two or three cubs are born in January-February. The average weight of a newborn bear cub, as a rule, does not exceed 410-710 g. Grizzly cubs are born not only naked, but also blind, and also completely toothless, therefore nutrition in the first months is represented exclusively by mother's milk.

For the first time, the cubs go out into the fresh air from the den only in late spring, around the end of April or the beginning of May. It is from this moment that the female begins to gradually accustom her offspring to independently obtaining food.

With the approach of cold snap, the she-bear and cubs begin to search for a new, more spacious den. Bear cubs become independent only in the second year of life, when they are already able to get enough food for themselves. Females reach sexual maturity only at three years, and males - about a year later.

Grizzly bear population status and conservation

Currently, grizzlies are under protection, so their main habitat is represented by national parks on the territory of America.

The total grizzly population today is approximately fifty thousand individuals.

Domain: eukaryotes

Kingdom: Animals

Type: chordates

Class: mammals

Squad: Predatory

Family: bearish

Genus: The Bears

View: Brown bear

Subspecies: Grizzly

Habitat

Grizzly bear, common in the Americas:

  • Alaska;
  • Canada;
  • Montana (Yellowstone);
  • Northwest Washington;

They migrated from Asia to North America, according to some sources, fifty thousand years ago, according to others, a hundred thousand years ago. The bear population has drastically declined over the past century.

According to official data, in 2000 there were about 250 of them, and by 2005, 600 individuals. The gray grizzly bear lives in the dense forests of North America. Leads a secretive lifestyle, under the cover of night can visit nearby farms. Each predatory individual marks its territory, scratches tree trunks with huge non-retractable claws and leaves noticeable marks on them.

Grizzly's appearance

In size and appearance, the Grizzly is very similar to the Siberian brown bear. He is also very strong, massive and fearsome. Grizzly is distinguished by long claws, which help him to be an excellent hunter. Despite this, the beast is not able to climb trees.

The growth of the Grizzly can reach from 2.5 to 4 meters. It's scary to even imagine such a huge beast. How much does a grizzly bear weigh? The average body weight is about 500 kilograms. A very large individual can weigh up to 1 ton. Female gray bears usually weigh less.

The Grizzly has a very well developed musculature, the body is strong and densely covered with fur. The color is mostly brown, the back and shoulder blades may be gray shade. If you look at the beast from afar, it may seem that it is completely gray. Therefore, it bears such a name, since in translation from English "Grizzly" means "Gray".

The head of the beast is powerful, with small round ears. The muzzle is elongated, the nose is black, the eyes are small. The jaws are well developed, the teeth are strong.

Behavior and lifestyle

The brown bear is active more often at dusk, in the mornings and evenings, but on rainy days it wanders throughout the day. Daytime vigil is typical for a bear in the mountains of Siberia. The seasonal cycle of life is pronounced.

Bears are very sensitive, they navigate the terrain mainly with the help of hearing and smell, their eyesight is poor. Brown bears can smell rotting meat from more than 2.5 km away.

Although the bear's body mass is large and it seems clumsy, in fact it is a silent, fast and easy-to-move beast. The bear runs extremely fast - with the agility of a good horse - at speeds of over 55 km/h. He swims well, can swim 6 km and even more, and bathes willingly, especially in hot weather. In his youth, the brown bear climbs trees well, but in old age he does it reluctantly, although it cannot be said that he loses this ability completely. In deep snow, however, it is difficult to move.

When meeting with a dangerous opponent, the bear lets out a loud roar, stands on its hind legs and tries to knock down the enemy with blows from its front paws or grab it.
For the winter, looking for a den, bears can go far from their summer site.

The brown bear is a sedentary animal and only the young, having separated from the family, roam until they create their own family. Individual hunting areas are large and larger for males than for females. The bear marks and defends the boundaries of the plots. In summer, male bears mark the boundaries of the territory, standing on their hind legs and tearing off the bark from trees with their claws. Such "boundary trees" have been used by various animals for decades. In the treeless mountains, the bear tears up any suitable objects - clay slopes or tourist tents (usually in the absence of the owners). To secure the tent, the easiest way to mark the border of your site is by urinating in several places at a distance of 10-20 meters around the camp. The boundaries are not respected only during the ripening of oats and on the eve of hibernation.

In summer, the bear settles down for a rest, lying down directly on the ground among grass, bushes or in moss, if only the place is secluded and safe enough.
In autumn, the animal has to take care of a reliable shelter for the winter period until mid-spring.

Depending on climatic and other conditions, bears are in dens from October-November to March-April and later, that is, approximately 5-6 months. She-bears with cubs live the longest in dens, and old males live least of all. In different areas, winter sleep lasts from 75 to 195 days a year.

For a lair, a bear chooses the most reliable, deaf and dry corners, somewhere on an island of forest in the middle of a vast moss swamp. The animal sometimes comes here for several tens of kilometers and, approaching the target, in every possible way confuses the tracks. Sometimes bears have favorite wintering places, and they gather here from the whole district. So, once in Russia, 12 lairs were discovered on a plot of about 20 hectares.

Very often dens are located in pits under the protection of windbreak or roots. fallen trees. In some areas, animals dig deep lairs in the ground, and in the mountains they occupy caves and rock crevices. Often, bears limit themselves to open lying in dense spruce young growth, near a tree or even in an open meadow, dragging a bunch of moss and spruce branches into it in the form of a large nest. Sometimes a bear arranges a lair right in an open anthill of red forest ants. Pregnant female bears arrange deeper, spacious and warmer dens than males do. The bear lines the finished den with moss, dry grass, pine needles, leaves and hay. Over time, the lair is covered with snow from above, so that only a small ventilation hole (brow) remains, the edges of which are covered with frost in severe frosts.

Grizzly bear food and prey

The grizzly hunts, as a rule, on large or medium-sized mammals. Moose, as well as deer and sheep, often become the prey of a predatory bear.

A significant part of the diet is represented by fish, including salmon and trout. Among other things, bears eat wild birds different types and their eggs, as well as various rodents.

As a plant food, the grizzly prefers to use pine nuts, various tuber and berry crops. An important part of the grizzly's diet is represented by meat, so the predator can prey on such animals as marmots, ground squirrels, lemmings and voles. most big booty grizzlies are considered bison and elk, as well as whale carcasses thrown onto the coastal zone, sea ​​lions and seals.

To feast on the honey of wild bees, the grizzly easily overturns an adult tree, after which it completely destroys the nest of insects.

Approximately three-quarters of the diet consists of plant foods in the form of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and cranberries. After the glaciers melt, bears raid fields with various legumes. In very hungry years, the animal gets close to the dwelling of a person, where livestock can become its prey. Attract wild beast can also landfills with food waste located near tourist campsites and tent camps.

reproduction

These bears lead a solitary lifestyle. Only in coastal areas do they gather in groups near streams, lakes and rivers during salmon spawning. Females produce offspring once a year. In the litter most often there are 2 bear cubs. They weigh about 500 g. Grizzly bears have extremely low reproduction. Sexual maturity occurs at the age of 5 years. Females become pregnant in the summer and delay the implantation of the embryo until hibernation. If the female did not eat well in the summer, then a miscarriage may result.

The cubs are near the mother for 2 years, and all this time she does not mate. The period between births can be 3 years or more. It all depends on the conditions environment. The gestation period for these bears is 180-250 days. Bear cubs are always born in the winter in a den when the mother is in a sleeping state. Newborns feed on mother's milk until summer, and in warm time years, in addition to milk, they begin to consume solid food.

In the wild, a grizzly bear lives 22-26 years. Females live longer than males by an average of 4 years. This is explained by the fact that males take part in mating duels, which sometimes end in the death of one of the rivals. In captivity, these bears live up to 40 and even up to 44 years. In the wild, the oldest recorded clubfoot carnivore lived to be 39 years old.

grizzly and man

In terms of lifestyle, this bear is very similar to our bear and is also prone to hibernation. Grizzly lives in the mountain valleys and forests of Canada, British Columbia and Yukon, but today their population is very small. And all due to the fact that in the last century there was an increased extermination of these animals.

Firstly, there were cases of attacks by injured animals on people in their own homes. And secondly, people were afraid for their pets, although the grizzly never attacked livestock. At one time, a premium was relied on for the head of each killed grizzly. There were more and more bear hunters, and less and less grizzlies themselves.

People said that he was not afraid of a person, on the contrary, he went straight at him, whether he was on horseback or on foot, armed or unarmed, whether he offended him or not. However, this is not at all the case. Every bear that smells a person or sees him from afar will try to run away from him in time. He also has a habit, when he wants to rest, to confuse his trail, making rounds back or to the side, and lie down so that he can see or smell the approach of his pursuer from afar.

But still, a person should beware of the grizzly. The danger of the grizzly is that he has poorly developed sense organs, especially vision. As already mentioned, people are not included in his diet, but he can easily attack a person, confusing him with some other animal. Grizzly, without hesitation, attacks if it seems that he is in danger.

Wounded animals attack more often, but here their aggression can be justified by the desire to desperately defend themselves. Females and males also aggressively attack when their cubs are in danger. In 1987, in the reserve of Canada, a grizzly killed 2 women who met a bear cub in the forest and decided to play with it.

  1. Most scientists and zoologists agree that people themselves are somehow to blame for all collisions with bears. In the wild, a bear will always bypass a person. Some tourists who try to feed the bears. Those get used to it and themselves begin to come to tourist tents and roads. Such an insolent bear quickly loses its fear of humans. If the treat seemed not enough to him or it was not to his taste, he can get angry and attack.
  2. When attacked, grizzlies are advised to play dead. To do this, you should curl up in a ball, pulling your knees to your stomach, arms clasping your neck.
  3. All bears are flat-footed: the sole and heel of the foot touch the ground equally. On each paw they have five long curved claws, with which the bear is equally good at digging the ground (or ice) and coping with prey.
  4. Even after receiving several bullets, the angry bear continued to attack, and the hunters were not always able to escape - except to have time to climb a tree or jump into a boat. Hard times fell for the grizzlies when farmers flooded the North American prairies. Grizzlies began to shoot intensively to protect livestock from them. Although they attacked livestock very rarely. There was a prize for the head of each bear.
  5. IN old times grizzlies were full masters of the American mountains and forests. They did not know any competitors and rivals, except for each other. Therefore, grizzlies were very self-confident and often even attacked people if they were disturbed or if they believed that they wanted to be disturbed. In all Indian tribes, defeating a grizzly was considered a feat.
  6. The size of newborns: the length of the body of a newborn bear cub is one tenth the length of the body of its mother.
  7. For comparison: the height of a newborn child is almost a third of the height of an adult.
  8. Grizzly, very controversial. Taiga fishermen, as well as hunters, claim that this beast is absolutely unpredictable. It is absolutely impossible to guess how he will behave at a meeting, what will scare him, and what, on the contrary, will make him angry.
  9. Archaeological excavations have shown that the first bears; appeared in Europe 13 million years ago.
  10. The paws of the bear are very wide with strong blunt claws. They serve for catching fish and self-protection. With one blow of the paw, the bear kills an animal of the same size as itself.
  11. "Grizzle" means "gray" in English.
  12. The most famous of these bears was a huge grizzly named Old Moses. For a full 35 years - from 1869 to 1904 - this bear terrorized a huge area in the state of Colorado. During this time he broke 800 heads of a large cattle, not counting calves and small animals, and killed at least five people who tried to shoot him. But he himself never attacked a person if he was not touched.
  13. Eyewitnesses said that Old Moses even had a peculiar sense of humor - he liked to chip off purely bearish jokes. More than once, for example, he arranged such a number: he sneaked up imperceptibly to the fires of travelers or gold diggers and suddenly burst into the camp with a roar, scattering everything in his path. But he never hurt anyone unless they tried to shoot at him. He was simply pleased to see how people, scared to death, screaming in fear, rushed to save themselves in the trees.
  14. After putting things in order and reminding who was the boss, Old Moses peacefully retired away.
  15. Although at first glance the grizzly seems clumsy, it can run 50-100 meters at the speed of a galloping horse, so the animals rarely manage to get away from it.
  16. According to the latest data, there are 5,000 grizzly bears in Canada and Alaska, less than 300 in the United States. For comparison: at the beginning of the last century, from eighty to one hundred thousand bears lived in North America.

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