How much does a grizzly bear weigh? The biggest bears. Where do they live and what do they eat?

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brown bear, grizzly bear, North American brown bear. IN North America

known as the “grizzly” (previously, the brown North American bear was identified as a separate species). Area
: The brown bear was once common throughout Europe, including England and Ireland, in the south its range reached northwest Africa (the Atlas Mountains), and in the east through Siberia and China it reached Japan. It probably came to North America about 40,000 years ago from Asia, through the Bering Isthmus, and spread widely in the western part of the continent from Alaska to northern Mexico. Now the brown bear has been exterminated in a large part of its former range, and is scarce in other areas. IN Western Europe its scattered populations survive in the Pyrenees, Cantabrian Mountains, Alps and Apennines. The brown bear is quite common in Scandinavia and Finland, sometimes found in forests Central Europe

and in the Carpathians. In Asia, it is distributed from Western Asia, Palestine, northern Iraq and Iran to northern China and the Korean Peninsula. In Japan it is found on the island of Hokkaido. Description: The appearance of this beast is well known. His body is powerful with high withers (hump). This hump is actually a mass of muscles that allow brown bears to dig easily and use their paws as impact force . The head is massive with small ears and eyes. The tail is short - 65-210 mm, barely standing out from the fur. There is a clearly visible depression between the forehead and the bridge of the nose in profile. In a standing animal, the withers are noticeably higher than the croup. Paws are strong, five-fingered, plantigrade. Feet brown bear
very wide, the fingers are armed with long, powerful, laterally compressed and crescent-shaped non-retractable claws 8-10 cm long, which are much longer on the forelimbs than on the hind limbs.
The coat is long, thick and coarse, often felted and usually evenly colored. Brown bears molt twice - in autumn and spring. Spring molting lasts a long time and is most intense during the rutting period. Autumn molting proceeds slowly and imperceptibly, ending with the period of lying in the den.

The brown bear has 40 teeth. Color : The color of the brown bear is very variable, and not only in range, but also within the same area. The color of the fur varies from light fawn to bluish and almost black. The most common is the brown form. In Rocky Mountain grizzlies, the hair on the back may be white at the ends, giving the appearance of a gray or grizzled coat. A completely grayish-white color is found in brown bears in the Himalayas, and a pale reddish-brown color is found in Syria. Bear cubs have light markings on their necks and chests, which disappear with age. The bear's paws are black or brownish in color, with wrinkled skin on the pad.

Size: The length of the European brown bear is usually 1.2-2 m with a height at the withers of about 1 m and a weight of 135 to 250 kg. Bears living in middle lane Russia, smaller and weigh only 80-120 kg. Largest sizes bears from the Far East, Kamchatka and especially from Alaska and Kodiak Island, where they are called grizzlies, differ - some giants, standing on their hind legs, reach a height of 2.8-3 m.

Weight: The weight of an adult brown bear ranges from 80-600 kg and, despite intensive hunting, bears weighing up to 750 kg are still found. The most large individuals are found in Alaska and Kamchatka - they weigh 300 kg or more, and there have been giants weighing 600-700 kg. The largest bear caught on the island. Kodiak for the Berlin Zoo, weighed 1134 kg. Average weight: males: 135-390 kg, females: 95-205 kg. In autumn, a bear's weight can increase by about 20%.

Lifespan: In nature they live for 20-30 years, in captivity they live for more than 50 years.

Habitat: The brown bear is a forest animal. Regular places his habitats in Russia are continuous forested areas with windbreaks and burnt areas with dense growth of deciduous trees, shrubs and grasses, interspersed with swamps, lawns, and ponds; can enter both the tundra and alpine forests. In Europe it prefers mountain forests; in North America it is more common on open places- in the tundra, on alpine meadows and on the coast.
The habitat of the brown bear in our country occupies almost the entire forest zone, with the exception of its southern regions. The bear finds shelter under the forest canopy, and open areas serve as feeding grounds. Berry trees, tall grasses, hazel trees - this is what attracts bears, regardless of where they grow - in a dark coniferous forest, in a clearing of a light forest, in a stream valley or in the chars of the Siberian mountains.

Food: The brown bear is omnivorous, but its diet is 3/4 plant-based: berries, acorns, nuts, roots, tubers and grass stems. In years when there is no berry harvest, northern regions bears visit oat crops, and in the south - corn crops; on Far East in autumn they feed in cedar forests.
Its diet also includes insects (ants), worms, lizards, frogs, rodents (mice, marmots, gophers, chipmunks). In summer, insects and their larvae sometimes make up up to 1/3 of a bear’s diet. Large males attack young ungulates - roe deer, fallow deer, deer (caribou, Noble deer, pampas deer), ibex, wild boar and elk. Some animals, most often males from the northern part of their range, hunt ungulates, hiding them or attacking from ambush. An adult bear is capable of breaking the spine of an elk or horse with one blow of its paw. When hunting ungulates, such bears display amazing strength, agility and tirelessness in pursuing victims.
The bear covers the prey or found carrion with brushwood and stays nearby until it has completely eaten the carcass. If the animal is not very hungry, it often waits several days until the meat becomes softer.
On occasion, brown bears hunt sea otters and seals on coastal haulouts and even go out onto the ice in pursuit of seals. Grizzlies sometimes attack baribal bears.
The brown bear sometimes takes prey from tigers, wolves and pumas. In summer and autumn, Far Eastern bears catch salmon going to spawn. On spawning rivers you can sometimes see 10-30 animals at once.
In years when food is poor, bears sometimes attack livestock and destroy apiaries. In some years, due to the failure of the pine nut harvest in large areas of the Siberian taiga, bears do not have time to fatten up properly in the fall, and in winter they become homeless connecting rods, very dangerous for people who find themselves in their path.

Behavior: 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 bears in the mountains of Siberia. The seasonal cyclicality of life is clearly expressed.
Bears are very sensitive; they navigate the terrain mainly with the help of hearing and smell; their eyesight is weak. Brown bears can smell rotting meat more than 2.5 km away.
Although the bear's body weight is large and it seems clumsy, in fact it is a silent, fast and easy-to-move animal. The bear runs extremely fast - with the agility of a good racer - at a speed of over 55 km/h. He is a good swimmer, can swim 6 km or even more, and willingly swims, especially in hot weather. In his youth, a brown bear climbs trees well, but in old age he does this reluctantly, although it cannot be said that he completely loses this ability. However, it moves in deep snow with difficulty.
When encountering a dangerous opponent, the bear emits a loud roar, stands on its hind legs and tries to knock down the enemy with blows of its front paws or grab him.
In the winter, looking for a den, bears can go far from their summer area.
The brown bear is a sedentary animal and only the young, having separated from the family, wander until they create their own family. Individual hunting ranges are large and males have more than females. The bear marks and defends the boundaries of the areas. In the summer, male bears mark the boundaries of their territory by standing on their hind legs and tearing bark from trees with their claws. Such “border trees” have been used by various animals for decades. In treeless mountains, the bear tears up any suitable objects - clay slopes or tourist tents (usually in the absence of the owners). To secure your tent, the easiest way to mark the boundary of your site is to urinate in several places at a distance of 10-20 meters around the camp. Boundaries are not respected only during the ripening period of oats and in the run-up to hibernation.
In the summer, the bear settles down to rest, lying directly on the ground among grass, bushes or in moss, as long as the place is sufficiently secluded and safe.
In autumn, the animal has to take care of a reliable shelter for the winter until mid-spring.
Depending on climatic and other conditions, bears stay in dens from October-November to March-April and later, i.e. approximately 5-6 months. Bears with cubs live the longest in dens, old males live the least. In different areas, winter sleep lasts from 75 to 195 days a year.
For a den, the bear chooses the most reliable, remote and dry corners, somewhere on an island of forest in the middle of a vast moss swamp. The animal sometimes comes here from several tens of kilometers away and, approaching the target, confuses its tracks in every possible way. Sometimes bears have favorite wintering places, and they gather here from the whole neighborhood. So, once in Russia, 12 dens were discovered on an area of ​​about 20 hectares.
Very often, dens are located in holes protected by windbreaks or roots of fallen trees. In some areas, animals dig deep dens in the ground, and in the mountains they occupy caves and rock crevices. Often, bears limit themselves to open lying in dense young spruce trees, near a tree or even in an open clearing, having dragged there a bunch of moss and spruce branches in the form of a large nest. Sometimes a bear makes a den right in a dug-up anthill of red forest ants. Pregnant female bears make deeper, more spacious and warmer dens than males do. The bear lines the finished den with moss, dry grass, pine branches, leaves and hay. Over time, the den is covered with snow from above, so that only a small hole for ventilation remains (the forehead), the edges of which become covered with frost in severe frosts.

The brown bear once lived almost all over the world - from Europe to northwest Africa, from Mexico to China. However, on this moment this animal has been exterminated almost throughout the entire territory of its former range. The most extensive zone of its habitat is in Russia - it lives in all wooded areas.

There are several subspecies of brown bears. The largest representatives of the species live in Alaska and Kamchatka. The weight of these individuals is 500 kilograms or more. European browns are a little more modest - 300-400 kg.

Despite the fact that in general an ordinary brown bear is smaller than a white one, its individual, a male caught on Kodiak Island, weighed 1334 kg, i.e., was much larger than a large white individual.

Polar bear

White and brown seem very different, but they have more in common than you might imagine. For a long time it was believed that as a species it separated from the brown one. However, more modern data suggests that the brown and white animals had common ancestor, and about 600 thousand years ago both species separated from it. A little later, a hybrid of these two species appeared, which, in general, is the modern polar bear.

Interestingly, polar bears have completely black skin. His White wool It is almost transparent hairs that transmit ultraviolet radiation and warm the body. The color of a bear can range from pure white to yellowish.

The polar bear is larger and, accordingly, heavier than the brown bear. This is due to the territory of his residence. To survive in such harsh conditions, bears have to... huge quantities stock up nutrients. Polar bears are one of the largest predators on earth. Males usually weigh from 400 to 450 kg, and their body length is from 200 to 250 cm. Females are almost half the size - 200-300 kg. By the way, about 12,000 years ago the short-beaked bear became extinct. It was the largest bear that ever lived on our planet - its weight and height were 2 times higher than polar bear.

In subtropical and tropical forests India, Indonesia, Thailand and Burma are home to the smallest bear on earth - the Malayan biruang. The height of his body at the withers is no more than 70 cm.

The heaviest polar bear weighed was a male weighing 1003 kg. The span of his paws was 3 m 38 cm.

In addition to weight and size, the polar bear differs from the brown bear in structure. He has a long neck and a flat head.

Few people know that gray grizzly bear, which is enormous in size, as well as foxes, dogs and raccoons, descended from one ancestor who lived about 30 million years ago in the territory of modern , but was not large in size more dog average size and knew how to climb trees.

During evolutionary development New species of bears appeared, but today some of them have become extinct, for example the largest cave bear. Gradually from small animal bears have become the largest predator on the planet. People are afraid of this animal, but this animal prefers plant foods, and will never attack first unless necessary.

Features and habitat of the grizzly bear

As a rule, the gray grizzly chooses harsh, hard to reach places, where he is not disturbed by the proximity of a person. Alaska and northern Canada are the primary habitat for 98% of these mammals.

Small populations live in the northern United States (Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and even Washington). The Rocky and Cascade Mountains also sometimes become their refuge. They are also found in Alaska and a little in Canada.

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

The predator began to destroy livestock and even attack humans. The result is mass shooting. Total number grizzly bears have decreased by almost 30 times. Currently, the grizzly bear is listed as an international red species.

To preserve their numbers, special National Parks (USA) have been created. Currently there are approximately 50 thousand individuals. Due to the increase in population, the country's authorities allow seasonal hunting of grizzly bears.

Animal attacks on humans that lead to death are recorded repeatedly. According to scientists, the cause of aggression is the thoughtless actions of people when a predator eats or defends its territory. The gray bear is one of the ten animals on the planet that are distinguished by their ferocity and aggressiveness.

The muscular body of one of the largest animals is covered with thick brown fur. The back and shoulder blades of a grizzly bear are silver-gray, so from the outside, the shade of an animal takes on grey colour. This is where its name comes from - the gray bear.

Grizzly Bear Dimensions quite impressive. If he stands on his hind legs, his height will be about three meters. Male grizzly bear weight is approximately 500 kg, females – 350 kg.

Population the largest grizzly bear lives on Kodiak Island, which is located near Alaska. The weight of its individual individuals is about 800 kg.

On the massive head of the bear there are small ears and small eyes. The animal has poor eyesight, however, its hearing and sense of smell are well developed. The animal has short but very strong legs, with the front legs being shorter than the hind legs.

Siberian brown bear and grizzly bear very similar to each other, however, the second one is much stronger and stronger. Only grizzly bear cubs are able to climb trees; adults are prevented from doing this by 13-centimeter curved claws, which grow as the animal grows.

Character and lifestyle of the grizzly bear

Characteristic feature The character of the gray bear is its fearlessness. The combination of this trait with enormous strength makes it almost impossible for his enemies to win.

The victim will be torn apart in a matter of minutes by strong teeth and powerful claws. An animal can easily cope with a wild one, but livestock simply experiences panic fear of it.

If we theoretically imagine the possibility fight between grizzly bears and a lion, It is impossible to name a winner for sure. The bear has incredible strength, but the lion has many other advantages: resourcefulness, reaction and jumping range.

A bear does not feel any fear in front of a person and can kill him with one blow. The ferocious animal also attacks armed people, especially if it is wounded.

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

Indians compete with grizzlies and it counts heroic deed. If a person wins, he gets a reward. The gray bear prefers loneliness and tries not to contact its relatives. The most frequent conflicts between representatives of these animals are observed in mating season.

Hibernation is for grizzlies business as usual. A small hill is selected for lying down. Once covered with snow, it is turned into a den. The animal does not fall into deep sleep; rather, this state is a light drowsiness.

When a thaw occurs, the animal leaves its home and looks for food. When frost returns, it comes back and falls asleep again before the onset of warmer times. It has been estimated that bears sleep for half of their lives.

Nutrition

After the end of hibernation, the bear begins to intensively search for food. These representatives of the order of predators are omnivores. Gray bears 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 delicacies. In just one day, a grizzly bear can absorb up to 40 thousand butterflies.

Carrion is also grizzly bear food. The animal can smell its scent at a distance of 30 km. A deer killed by a bear provides it with food for a week. However, the animal prefers to hunt sick, weak or young animals.

It is a delicacy for grizzlies. During the spawning season, salmon gather in groups on the shore and distribute fishing zones 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.

Honey bears, who have a sweet tooth, are mostly indulged in honey, because at a young age can climb a tree. Before hibernation, the bear begins to experience polygapia - the feeling constant hunger. This is understandable, since before going to bed you need to dial as much as possible large quantity fat

To do this, the animal must eat 20 thousand calories daily. After a good meal the animal rests. It secludes itself in gorges or temporary housing, which is lined with grass.

Reproduction and lifespan of a grizzly bear

The grizzly bear mating season lasts from late spring to early summer. Using scent and marks on plants, males begin to look for females who are ready to mate. The animals spend several days together and then part.

The egg may not be fertilized immediately, but after certain time, depending on the occurrence of favorable conditions for the birth of offspring. Before this, the sperm is in the uterine cavity.

2-3 cubs are born in the middle of winter. Newborns are born completely helpless, without hair, without teeth, blind, weighing up to 800 g. When you see the babies, you will never think that in a couple of years they will become big grizzly bears.

Therefore, at first the mother does not leave them. A bear's milk is much more nutritious than breast milk women. It is formed due to fat reserves accumulated in summer period. On breastfeeding the children stay for six months.

At the end of April - beginning of May, the cubs leave the house for the first time. They are always near their mother, who begins to teach them about life. Spring time is fraught with danger for children.

During the mating season, a female with cubs does not allow a male to mate with her and can even fight with overly persistent ones. Males behave very aggressively towards cubs, and can even kill them in order to copulate with their mother.

Little bear cubs are very cheerful and playful, quickly tamed, play with people and protect them. Before the onset of cold weather, the bear finds a larger den than the previous one for herself and her grown-up offspring. After two years, the cubs grow up and leave their mother. The lifespan of a gray bear is about 30 years; in captivity, this period may increase.

Polar bear and grizzly bear - species of bears that are very different from each other in a number of ways. However, in rare cases, mating is possible between them, which ultimately produces offspring.

Arctic grizzlies were first discovered by American hunters, and since 1974, they have been born in zoos. These bears are a fertile hybrid, meaning they can have offspring. They easily interbreed with each other, as well as with representatives of the parent species.

About grizzly bears There are a lot of speculations and rumors. Human fear exaggerates the aggressiveness and viciousness of these animals. If you are attentive to the world around you and do not harm it, you can perfectly coexist with all the inhabitants of the planet.

Various types of bears can be found not only in the forests of Russia, but in other parts of the world. Most of species leads sedentary image life. Meeting him one-on-one in the forest poses a huge threat to a person’s life, but there are also quite peaceful specimens. Bears are the largest predators in the world, and what are the most big bears in the world we will learn from this article.

Before you is a Kodiak - a subspecies of brown bears, which are considered the most... big predators on the planet.

Dimensions and weight

Kodiaks are huge - their body length reaches 4 m, and their height at the withers is up to 1.5 m. The weight is also amazing - the average weight of males is about 450 kg, and females - 250 kg. However, occasionally there are specimens that weigh more than a ton! They live on Kodiak Island, as well as on other islands of the Kodiak archipelago near south coast Alaska. Their true habitat is where there is a short winter and plenty of different food. It cannot be said that outwardly this species is somehow different from other bears, because it is not. Except for the size, of course.

Where do they live and what do they eat?

They live alone and hibernate during the cold months. They feed not only on other animals, but also on berries, roots, herbs and even carrion. They do not disdain fish, especially during salmon spawning. Mating of a male with a female usually occurs in the summer, but the fertilized cell develops only in the fall. Cubs appear during hibernation in January or February - from one to three. Young individuals remain with their mother until the age of three.

Unfortunately, Kodiaks are on the verge of extinction - today their number is no more than 3,000 individuals. However, it is allowed to shoot 160 specimens of these huge animals per year.

In second place in terms of size is the grizzly bear. It belongs to the brown bear subspecies and lives mainly in Canada and Alaska, although some time ago it could be found even in Mexico. One of the main differences between grizzlies and other bears is the presence of huge claws, the length of which can reach 15 cm. This is why, by the way, the animal cannot climb trees.

If speak about external features grizzly, then in its entire appearance it very much resembles the most ordinary brown bear, but is noticeably larger than the latter, heavier and stronger. The length of some individuals reaches 4 meters, and their weight is just under a ton! The color of the coat is dark brown, some parts of the body are covered with fur of a grayish tint, which from a distance makes the animal slightly grayish. By the way, grizzly is translated into Russian as “gray”.

What do they eat?

This type of bear usually feeds on plant foods, however, mainly at an early age, since only then can a grizzly bear easily climb trees and ruin hives in search of honey - huge claws grow much later. Having matured, he often feeds on animal food, including fish, which he can catch excellently.

Where do they live?

Today grizzlies live mainly in national parks on the territory of the USA. Despite the fact that the bear is under control, the American government allows seasonal shooting of bears, since their population is very significant.

For humans, this animal is very dangerous, since with one blow of its paw it is capable of inflicting a fatal blow. Fortunately, similar incidents in last years practically doesn't happen.

Interestingly, grizzlies can interbreed with polar bears, resulting in unusual hybrids - polar grizzlies.

We will also tell you about one interesting case which happened to a forest service employee in Alaska. He was hunting deer when he noticed a huge grizzly bear not far from him. The latter saw the hunter and rushed towards him. But the guy was not taken aback and immediately began shooting at the animal with his semi-automatic rifle. As a result, the bear fell literally a few centimeters from the forester.

When scientists arrived to examine the animal, they were amazed at its size - its weight was 726 kilograms and its length was just under 4 meters! Moreover, after they examined the contents of the bear's stomach, they found remains of human bodies in it. It was a man-eating grizzly bear, and in the last few days alone it had killed at least two people, the remains of one of which were later discovered in the same forest.

Third place is the polar bear, which is often called white, northern or sea, as well as oshkuy.

Dimensions and weight

This species originates from the brown bear. Scientists suggest that it appeared on Earth about 100 thousand years ago. The length of some specimens can reach 3 m and weight up to 800 kilograms. To be fair, it should be noted that such individuals are extremely rare in nature. Most often, researchers come across much smaller representatives of this species: average length The male's body is about 2-2.5 m, and his weight is up to half a ton. Females are about one and a half times smaller.

Despite all the similarities with its ancestor, the oshkuy has a flat head with small ears on an elongated neck. The color of its coat can be either bright white or yellow - it is often faded by the sun. At the same time, it is worth knowing that during ultraviolet photography, the animal’s fur coat appears dark - this is possible thanks to special structure wool. But the bear’s skin is completely black, although it is very difficult to notice.

Where does it live?

You can meet the beast in the northern hemisphere. Its main food is sea animals, among which we can recall seals, walruses, sea ​​hares and so on. Oshkuy catches them most often from behind cover, stunning them with a powerful blow to the head. However, it can hunt in other ways. Let's say one thing - finding prey at -60°C is very difficult, but the polar bear copes with this task brilliantly. True, not always.

In our country, this species of bear is listed in the Red Book, since it reproduces slowly, and young animals often die due to other predators. There are no more than seven thousand individuals on the territory of our country; about 200 animals are shot by poachers every year.

Polar bears are excellent swimmers. Scientists recorded a case where a female swam about 700 km in icy water. This record was officially registered, as there was evidence - a GPS tracker was attached to the animal's fur.