The bear is an omnivore. Types of bears Is a bear a mammal or not?

The bear is a predatory animal, which is the largest in the world. The length of its body reaches approximately three meters, and its mass is approximately 800. The bear has a huge body, strong paws with claws, a short tail, and a large head.

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is the first Russian writer of various poems, fairy tales, and riddles. Pushkin's poems became the main point to which the entire Russian people listened. Pushkin’s work contains many works of various genres, but he paid great attention to lyric poetry.

The Bears brown look They live in the taiga, in mountain forests and near fertile meadows near water. The fur of brown bears can be of various colors, ranging from brown to dark brown. By old age, bears turn gray and become grey. Species such as the Malayan bear, white-breasted bear, sloth bear, black bear and polar bear are very common. All these types of bears are mostly found alone, but sometimes in groups. They are active at night, but polar bears are active only during the day. Bears rest mainly in caves and pits.

Almost all bears are omnivores. But species such as the polar bear eat only the meat of mammals. Brown bears have a varied diet, which changes due to the changing seasons. After the bear wakes up, its diet includes ants, young shoots and dead animals. The bear's diet also includes various ripe berries and even nuts. Bears eat a lot; in order to feed them, they need a lot of food, which is converted into fat necessary for winter living. When the year is not productive, bears eat crops of oats, corn, and also eat domestic animals.

Many bears lead a quiet life throughout the year. Brown bears and white-breasted bears hibernate during the winter. Among polar bears, only female bears that bear cubs hibernate. The bears' den is very clean and emits a pleasant smell.

Updated: 02/24/2015

To the question: Are bears herbivores or predators asked by the author? Elena Yakshigulova the best answer is Bears are omnivores. They eat grass, berries, mushrooms, they will not refuse fish, especially meat, they put on fat - they eat everything until they are completely stupefied.
But pandas only eat bamboo, and polar bears prefer the fat of seals and seals.

Answer from Anastasia[newbie]
Predators))

Answer from CupalCA[guru]
predators, of course

Answer from Artyom Kirillov[master]
omnivores!!

Answer from Anyushka Selivanova[active]
predators, but when they are hungry they can pick raspberries and chew grass =)

Answer from Anton Schaefer[newbie]
The bear is an omnivore like humans

Answer from Nastyusha Ropcea[master]
omnivores

Answer from Natasha[guru]
Bears (lat. Ursidae) are a family of mammals from the order Carnivora. They differ from other representatives of canids in having a stockier physique. Bears are omnivores, climb and swim well, run fast, and can stand and walk short distances on their hind legs. They have a short tail, long and thick fur, and excellent sense of smell and hearing. They hunt in the evening or at dawn. They are usually afraid of humans, but can be dangerous in areas where they are accustomed to people, especially polar bears and grizzly bears. Immune to bee stings. In nature natural enemies almost none.

Answer from Marina Mirutenko[guru]

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

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

Answer from Iodionov Sergey[guru]
the bear is omnivorous. he eats almost everything he can eat. V summer period Vegetable food predominates; most of the animal protein in the bear’s diet comes from small animals. rodents. insects. The bear rarely engages in direct hunting, especially hunting large animals, only in the absence of more accessible and less “dangerous” food

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

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

Answer from Alesya Benitsevich[newbie]
omnivorous

Answer from Marat Timirgalin[active]
omnivorous

Answer from Jena Slučić[newbie]
Differently

Answer from Gulnara Abulkhanova[newbie]
Anatomically they are predators. Teeth, this and that. And he cannot live on plant foods all the time. But in last years In many regions, bears are increasingly using plant foods. In this regard, its numbers are growing; in some places there are significantly more of them than wolves. That is, he seems to be falling off the top of the food pyramid.

Omnivory is a way of obtaining energy and nutrients by consuming animal food and plant origin. Animals with this diet are considered “omnivores.” Most people, with the exception of vegans, who completely exclude animal products, are also omnivores.

Meaning of the term

The word "omnivorous" comes from Latin words omnis"everything" and vora, which means "to devour or swallow" - so omnivory means "devouring everything." It's pretty precise definition, since omnivores have different sources food, including algae, plants, mushrooms and other animals. Some animals can be omnivores throughout their lives, while others at certain stages (for example, some sea turtles).

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of omnivory is the ability to find food in a wide variety of places and environmental conditions. For example, if it is not possible to eat a certain food, an omnivore can quite easily change its diet. Some omnivores are also scavengers, meaning they feed on dead animals or plants, which further increases their feeding capabilities.

Omnivores have to find 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, predators have sharp teeth for tearing and capturing prey, while herbivores have flatter teeth adapted for crushing vegetation. Omnivores can have a mixture of both types of teeth (for example, our molars and incisors).

The disadvantages of omnivory can be clearly seen in the example of some species. marine organisms, which are likely to invade non-native habitats. This has cascading effects on native species, which may be persecuted or displaced by invasive omnivores. An example is the Asian shore crab, native to northwestern countries Pacific Ocean. It was introduced to Europe and the USA, but the food and habitat do not correspond to 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 this type is popular among people - it is contained as pet or raised for meat.
Bear: These animals are one of the most opportunistic creatures, as they adapt perfectly to different conditions. If there is a lot of fruit in the area where they live, then bears will eat them. If instead there is a river with big amount fish, the bear will catch it all day. The panda, a member of the bear family, is also considered an omnivore, as it can supplement its bamboo diet with rodents or small birds.
The only exception is the carnivorous polar bear, perhaps due to the lack of plant food in its natural Arctic habitat.
Hedgehog: Many people think that the hedgehog eats insects and small animals, but these little creatures like to eat fruits and vegetables occasionally.
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 other food sources are unavailable.
Chickens: They're the exact opposite small child, because they absorb everything. Whatever you give her, the chicken will swallow it without a second's hesitation.
Ostriches: Although their main diet includes vegetables and plants, these animals are lovers of all kinds of insects.
Magpies: These birds will also eat almost anything, although they tend to become food for dogs and parrots.

Marine organisms

Many types of crabs (including blue crabs, ghost crabs and Asian shore crabs);
Horseshoe crabs;
Lobsters (for example, American lobster, real lobster);
Some sea turtles - the olive turtle and the Australian green turtle - are omnivores. Green turtles are herbivores as adults, but the hatchlings are omnivores. Loggerhead turtles become carnivores as adults, but they are omnivores when still young.
Common Littorines - These small snails feed primarily on algae, but may also eat small animals (such as barnacle larvae).
Some types of zooplankton;
Sharks are generally carnivores, although whale sharks and giant sharks can be considered omnivores, since they are filter feeders and feed on plankton. As they swim through the water with their 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

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

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

IN the food chain There are trophic levels, which are the nutritional 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 there are omnivorous and carnivorous organisms.

Answer from Anastasia[newbie]
Predators))

Answer from CupalCA[guru]
predators, of course

Answer from Artyom Kirillov[master]
omnivores!!

Answer from Anyushka Selivanova[active]
predators, but when they are hungry they can pick raspberries and chew grass =)

Answer from Anton Schaefer[newbie]
The bear is an omnivore like humans

Answer from Nastyusha Ropcea[master]
omnivores

Answer from Marina Mirutenko[guru]

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

Answer from Iodionov Sergey[guru]
the bear is omnivorous. he eats almost everything he can eat. In the summer, plant foods predominate; most of the animal protein in a bear’s diet comes from small animals. rodents. insects. The bear engages in direct hunting, especially hunting large animals, only in the absence of more accessible and less “dangerous” food

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

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

Answer from Alesya Benitsevich[newbie]
omnivorous

Answer from Marat Timirgalin[active]
omnivorous

Answer from Jena Slučić[newbie]
Differently

Answer from Gulnara Abulkhanova[newbie]
Anatomically they are predators. Teeth, this and that. And he cannot live on plant foods all the time. But in recent years, in many regions, bears are increasingly using plant foods. In this regard, its numbers are growing; in some places there are significantly more of them than wolves. That is, he seems to be falling off the top of the food pyramid.

Bears or bears (lat. Ursidae) are a family that includes mammals from the order of predatory animals. The difference between all bears and other canine-like animals is their stockier and well-developed physique.

Description of the bear

All mammals from the order Carnivores originate from a group of marten-like primitive predators known as miacidae, which lived in the Paleocene and Eocene. All bears belong to the fairly numerous suborder Caniformia. It is assumed that all well-known representatives of this suborder descended from one dog-like ancestor, common to all species of such animals.

Relative to other families from the order of predatory animals, bears are animals with the greatest uniformity in appearance, size, and are also similar in many features in internal structure. All bears are among the largest representatives of modern terrestrial predatory animals. The body length of an adult polar bear reaches three meters with a weight ranging from 720-890 kg, and the Malayan bear is one of the smallest representatives of the family, and its length does not exceed one and a half meters with a body weight of 27-65 kg.

Appearance, colors

Male bears are approximately 10-20% larger than females, and in a polar bear such figures can be even 150% or more. The animal's fur has a developed and fairly coarse undercoat. The tall, sometimes shaggy type of hair in most species has a pronounced density, and the fur of the Malayan bear is low and quite sparse.

The fur color is uniform, from coal-black to whitish. The exception is, which has a characteristic contrasting black and white color. There may be light markings in the chest area or around the eyes. Some species are characterized by individual and so-called geographical variability of fur color. Bears exhibit marked seasonal dimorphism, expressed by changes in height and density of fur.

All representatives of the Bear family are distinguished by their stocky and powerful bodies, often with fairly high and pronounced withers. Also characteristic are strong and well-developed, five-fingered paws with large, non-retractable claws. The claws are controlled by powerful muscles, thanks to which animals climb trees, dig the ground, and easily tear apart prey. The length of grizzly claws reaches 13-15 cm. Gait beast of prey plantigrade type, characteristically shuffling. The giant panda has a sixth additional “finger” on its front paws, which is an outgrowth of the sesamoid radius bone.

The tail part is very short, almost invisible under the fur covering. The exception is big panda, having a fairly long and clearly visible tail. Any bear has relatively small eyes, a large head located on a thick and, as a rule, short neck. The skull is large, most often with an elongated facial part and highly developed ridges.

This is interesting! Bears have a highly developed sense of smell, and in some species it is quite comparable to a dog’s sense of smell, but such numerous and large predators an order of magnitude weaker.

The zygomatic arches are most often slightly spaced different sides, and the jaws are powerful, providing very high bite force. All representatives of the Bear family are characterized by the presence of large fangs and incisors, and the remaining teeth may be partially reduced, but their appearance and structure most often depend on the type of food. Total teeth can vary between 32-42 pieces. The presence of individual or age-related variability in the dental system is often observed.

Character and lifestyle

Bears are typical predators leading a solitary lifestyle, so such animals prefer to meet each other solely for the purpose of mating. Males tend to behave aggressively and are capable of killing cubs that are in for a long time near the female. Representatives of the Bear family are distinguished by their good adaptability to a variety of living conditions, therefore they are able to inhabit high mountain areas, forest zones, arctic ice and steppe, and the main differences lie in the way of nutrition and lifestyle.

A significant portion of bear species live in lowland and mountain areas. forest areas temperate or tropical latitudes. The predator is somewhat less common in high mountain areas without dense vegetation. Some species are characterized by a clear connection to aquatic environment, including mountain or forest streams, rivers and sea coasts. The Arctic, as well as vast expanses

This is interesting! Arctic Ocean – habitat habitat of polar bears, and the lifestyle of an ordinary brown bear is associated with subtropical forests, taiga, steppes and tundra, desert areas.

Most bears fall into the category of terrestrial carnivores, but polar bears are semi-aquatic members of the family. Malayan bears are typical adherents of a semi-arboreal lifestyle, therefore they are able to climb trees perfectly and create a shelter for themselves or the so-called “nest”. Some species of bears choose holes near the root system of trees and crevices of sufficient size as their habitat.

As a rule, representatives of the Bear family and the Predatory order lead night look life, so they rarely go hunting in the daytime. However, polar bears may be considered an exception to such general rules. Predatory mammals leading a solitary lifestyle unite during the “ mating games"and mating, as well as for raising their offspring. Among other things, groups of such animals are observed at common watering places and traditional feeding areas.

How long do bears live?

The average life expectancy of bears in nature can vary depending on the species characteristics of this carnivorous mammal:

Spectacled bears – two decades;
Apennine brown bears- up to twenty years of age;
Tien Shan brown bears - up to twenty years or a quarter of a century;
Polar polar bears - just over a quarter of a century;
Gubachi - just under twenty years old.

Captive average duration The life of a predatory mammal, as a rule, is noticeably longer. For example, brown bears can live in captivity for more than 40-45 years.

Types of bears

Area, distribution

Spectacled bears are the only representatives of the Bear family that inhabit South America, where the predator prefers the mountain forests of Venezuela and Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, as well as Bolivia and Panama. - inhabitant of the Lena, Kolyma and Anadyr river basins, most of Eastern Siberia and Stanovoy Range, Northern Mongolia, some regions of China and the border territory of Eastern Kazakhstan.

Grizzly bears are found primarily in western Canada and Alaska, and a small amount of individuals survive in continental America, including Montana and northwestern Washington. Tien Shan brown bears are found on the Tien Shan ridges, as well as in the Dzungarian Alatau, which has peripheral mountain ranges, and Mazalai are found in the desert mountains of Tsagan-Bogdo and Atas-Bogdo, where sparse bushes and drainage dry riverbeds are located.

Polar bears are distributed circumpolarly, and live in the circumpolar regions in the northern hemisphere of our planet. White-breasted Himalayan bears prefer hilly and mountain forests of Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Himalayas, all the way to Japan and Korea. Representatives of the species in the Himalayas in summer rise to a height of three and even four thousand meters, and with the onset of cold weather they descend to the mountain foot.

Sponge whales live mainly in the tropics and subtropical forests India and Pakistan, in Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as in Bangladesh and Bhutan. Biruangs are distributed from the northeastern part of India to Indonesia, including Sumatra and Kalimantan, and the subspecies Helarctos malayanus euryspilus inhabits the island of Borneo.

Bears in the planet's ecosystem

All representatives of the Bear family, due to their diet and impressive size, have a very noticeable impact on the fauna and flora in their habitats. The polar and brown bear species are involved in regulating the total number of ungulates and other animals.

All herbivorous bear species contribute to the active distribution of seeds of many plants. Polar bears are often accompanied by Arctic foxes, which eat their prey.

Bear diet

Spectacled bears are the most herbivorous in the family, and their main diet includes grassy shoots, fruits and rhizomes of plants, corn crops, and sometimes insects in the form of ants or termites. An important role in the diet of the Siberian bear is assigned to fish, and Kodiaks are omnivores, feeding on both herbaceous plants, berries and roots, and meat food, including fish and all kinds of carrion.

Pika-eating bears or Tibetan brown bears feed mainly on herbaceous plants, as well as pikas, which is how they got their name. The main prey of polar bears is represented by ringed seal, sea hare, walruses and many other marine animals. The predator does not disdain carrion, willingly feeds on dead fish, eggs and chicks, and can eat grass and all kinds of seaweed, and in inhabited areas it looks for food in numerous garbage dumps.

Diet of white-breasted or Himalayan bears 80-85% is represented by products of plant origin, but the predator is able to use ants and other insects, as well as highly nutritious mollusks and even frogs as food. Sloth bears, like , are adapted to eating primarily colonial insects, including termites and ants. All biruangs are omnivores, but primarily feed on insects, including bees and termites, as well as fruits and shoots, earthworms and plant rhizomes.