Brown bear. The biggest bears in the world

The brown or common bear is predatory mammals from the bear family. This is one of the largest and dangerous species terrestrial predators. There are about twenty subspecies of brown bear, differing appearance and distribution area.

Description and appearance

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

Appearance

There is a high withers, as well as a fairly massive head with small ears and eyes. The length of the relatively short tail varies between 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

Average length the brown bear living in the European part is usually about one and a half to two meters with a body weight in the range of 135-250 kg. Individuals inhabiting middle lane our country, are somewhat smaller in size and can weigh approximately 100-120 kg. The Far Eastern bears and bears are considered the largest, their sizes often reaching three meters.

Skin color

The color of a brown bear is quite variable. Differences in the color of the skin depend on the habitat, and the color of the fur can vary from a light fawn shade to a bluish-black. The standard color is brown.

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

Lifespan

IN natural conditions average duration The lifespan of a brown bear is approximately twenty to thirty years. In captivity, this species can live fifty years, and sometimes more. Rare individuals survive in natural conditions to the age of fifteen years.

Subspecies of brown bear

The brown bear species 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, tail length of 5-15 cm, height at the withers of 90-110 cm and an average weight of 150-300 kg. A large subspecies with a powerful build and a pronounced hump at the withers. General coloration varies from light grayish-yellow to blackish-dark brown. The fur is thick and long enough;
Caucasian brown bear with an average body length of 185-215 cm and body weight of 120-240 kg. The coat is short, coarse, and paler in color than that of the Eurasian subspecies. Color ranges from a pale straw color to a uniform gray-brown color. There is a pronounced, large dark-colored spot in the withers area;
East Siberian brown bear with a body weight of up to 330-350 kg and a large skull size. The fur is long, soft and dense, with a pronounced shine. The wool has a light brown or blackish-brown or dark brown color. Some individuals are characterized by the presence of fairly clearly visible yellowish and black shades in color;
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. Distinctive feature is presence long hair on the ears.

One of the largest subspecies in our country is the Far Eastern or Kamchatka brown bear, average weight whose body often exceeds 450-500 kg. Large adults have a large, massive skull and a wide, raised front 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 last century. Previously, the subspecies were found in vast areas 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 predators are recorded only in the western part of Canada, as well as in Alaska and forest areas our country.

Bear lifestyle

The period of activity of the predator occurs at dusk, early morning and evening hours. The brown bear is a very sensitive animal, orienting itself in space mainly through hearing, as well as smell. Poor vision is characteristic. Despite its impressive size and large body weight, brown bears They are practically silent, fast and very easy to move predators.

This is interesting! The average running speed is 55-60 km/h. Bears swim quite well, but they can move through deep snow cover with great difficulty.

Brown bears belong to the category of sedentary animals, but young animals separated from the family are capable of wandering and actively looking for a partner. Bears mark and defend the boundaries of their territory. In the summer, bears rest directly on the ground, nestling among forbs and low shrubby plants. With the onset of autumn, the animal begins to prepare for itself a reliable winter shelter.

Nutrition and prey of the brown bear

Brown bears are omnivores, but the basis of their diet is vegetation, represented by berries, acorns, nuts, roots, tubers and the stem parts of plants. In a lean year, 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 boar and elk can become prey. An adult brown bear can break the back of its prey with one blow of its paw, after which it covers it with brushwood and guards it until the carcass is completely eaten. Near water areas, some subspecies of brown bears hunt seals, fish and seals.

Grizzly bears are capable of attacking baribal bears and taking prey from smaller predators.

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

The basis of the diet of the Far Eastern brown bear in summer and autumn period becomes salmon going to spawn. In lean years and poor 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 involves the development of the embryo only during the hibernation stage of the animal. The female carries the cubs for approximately six to eight months.. Blind and deaf, completely helpless and covered with sparse hair, the 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 and weighs 450-500 g.

This is interesting! In the den, the cubs feed on milk and grow to three months, after which they develop milk teeth and become able to independently feed on berries, vegetation and insects. However, on breastfeeding cubs stay for up to one and a half years or more.

Not only the female takes care of the offspring, but also the so-called nurse daughter, who appeared in the previous litter. The cubs live next to the female until they are about three or four years old, until they reach puberty. The female usually produces offspring once every three years.

Brown bear hibernation

The sleep of a brown bear is completely different from the period of hibernation characteristic of other species of mammals. During hibernation, the brown bear's body temperature, breathing rate, and pulse remain virtually unchanged. The bear does not fall into a state of complete stupor, and in the first days only dozes.

At this time, the predator listens sensitively and reacts to the slightest danger by leaving the den. In warm and little snowy winters, if available large quantity food, some males do not hibernate. Sleep occurs only with the onset of severe frosts and can last less than a month. During sleep, the reserves of subcutaneous fat that were accumulated in the summer and autumn are wasted.

Getting ready for bed

Winter shelters are established by adults in reliable, 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 rock crevices. Pregnant brown bears try to create a deeper, more spacious, warm den for themselves and their offspring, which is then lined with moss on the inside, spruce branches and fallen leaves.

This is interesting! Baby bear cubs always spend winter period together with his mother. Such a company can be joined by bear cubs in their second year of life.

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

Duration of hibernation

Depending on weather conditions and some other factors, brown bears are able to stay in a den for up to six months. The period when a bear lies in a den, as well as the duration of hibernation itself, may depend on the conditions imposed by weather conditions, the yield of the fattening food base, gender, age parameters and even the physiological state of the animal.

This is interesting! Old and fat wild beast goes to hibernate much earlier, even before significant snow cover falls, and young and insufficiently fed individuals lie down in the den in November-December.

The period of occurrence lasts for a couple of weeks or several months. Pregnant females are the first to settle in for the winter. Lastly, old males occupy dens. The same place for hibernation in winter can be used by a brown bear for several years.

Bears-rods

Shatun is a brown bear that has not had time to accumulate a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat and, for this reason, is not able to hibernate. In the process of searching for any food, such a predator is capable of wandering around the surrounding area all winter. As a rule, such a brown bear moves uncertainly and has a shabby and relatively exhausted appearance.

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

Hunger forces the beast to often appear in close proximity to human habitation. The connecting rod bear is typical for northern regions, characterized harsh winters, including the territory of the Far East and Siberia. A massive invasion of connecting rod bears can occur during lean seasons, approximately once every ten years. Hunting connecting rod bears is not a commercial activity, but a necessary measure.

Large and clumsy people are often compared to bears. And these animals really weigh a lot. Although they were unfairly accused of clumsiness - the bear is capable of moving at a speed that can be compared to the gallop of a horse at the races. He easily climbs a tree, a rock up to thirty meters high. But the bear’s dimensions are certainly impressive. So how much does an adult bear weigh in kg?

How much does a bear weigh

Average weight a bear weighs from 150 kilograms to a ton. This indicator depends on several factors, in particular:

on the age of the animal;
from his gender;
from variety.

A bear cub is born weighing from 500 to 500 grams. But then he develops quite quickly and within a year reaches half his weight.

How much an adult bear weighs also depends on its gender. For example, female brown bears are much lighter than males - from 120 to 150 kilograms. Against this background, the figure of how much a brown bear weighs is impressive - from 200 to 300 kilograms, and there are larger males - up to almost half a ton. True, brown bears are far from record holders.

Polar bears are much more impressive in size. How much a polar bear weighs also depends on its gender. The weight of the female is the same as that of the brown male (two hundred to three hundred kilograms), the male is up to 450 kilograms. But this is not the limit.

The record holder is a grizzly bear. There is documentary evidence that a specimen of this species weighing 730 kilograms was once shot. This is how much the most weighs big bear. Many people once considered grizzlies to be cannibals because of their menacing temperament and sharp claws (they can reach a length of up to 13 centimeters).

This example clearly demonstrates how much a grizzly bear weighs: you can put three brown bears on the second pan of the scale. If a grizzly suddenly decides to come visit you, he can easily look through the window on the second floor. And if this bear stands on its hind legs, it will reach a height of three meters or more.

Polar bear cubs gain weight the fastest. The reason is that the milk of this bear breed is the fattest. Already in a month, a polar bear cub weighs 10 kilograms, and after a year - eighty!

The “lightest” bear is black (from 70 to 113 kilograms). And its cubs are born the smallest - up to 280 grams. The reason, scientists explain, is that these animals feed mainly on vegetation; in rare cases, carrion, eggs and poultry are on the menu.

A brown bear suffers from myopia and will not see a person at a distance of more than fifty meters. But this does not mean that when you meet you, you will easily be able to escape from him - just move, and the bear will notice you, since he has extremely acute hearing.

Distribution area

Previously, the brown bear was found throughout almost all of Europe, including Ireland and England. The southern border of the range was the African Atlas Mountains, and in the east, bears were found even in the territory of modern Japan. It most likely entered North America through the Bering Strait approximately 40 thousand years ago.

then settled in territories from Alaska to northern borders Mexico. Today, the brown bear is widespread in Finland (in this country it was even declared the national animal) and Scandinavia, and is less common in the center of Europe and the Carpathians. In addition, it also lives in Iranian and Iraqi forests, northern China, Palestine, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese island of Hokkaido. IN North America The brown bear is called the “grizzly” and is more often found in western Canada and Alaska. In Russia, the brown bear lives in almost all forests of the country, except for the southern regions.

Appearance

The animal is strong, with distinct withers on the back. The body cover is thick. The coat color is uniform. As a rule, bears shed their coats in the spring, and their coats are renewed in the fall. The head is large, the ears are small, the eyes are set deep. The tail is practically invisible under the fur 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. The largest bears recorded in Kamchatka, Far East and Alaska. These are real giants: their height in a standing position reaches three meters.

Besides its height, many people 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 discovered on Kodiak Island. His weight was 1134 kg and his height was about 4 meters. Many people are interested in how much the brown bear that lives in Russia weighs? In our country there are smaller individuals, their body weight on average is 100 kg. How much does a grizzly bear weigh that lives in America? The grizzly bear 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 life expectancy of an animal directly depends on its habitat. IN wildlife he can live 20-35 years. If an animal is kept in a zoo or nature 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 developed sense of smell. He can smell meat well even from a great distance. The bear has perfectly developed hearing. He often stands on his hind legs to catch the direction of the flow of smell or listen to a sound that interests him. In the forest he behaves like a real owner: he walks around his property 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 it favorite places are dense forests with overgrown shrubs and deciduous trees. Can enter the territory of the tundra and alpine forests. In Europe it often lives 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 occupies certain territory from 70 to 400 km, while the male needs 7 times large area than the female. Of course, this does not depend on how much the bear weighs. It’s just that a female more often lives with cubs, and it is more difficult for her to travel long distances than for a single male. Bears mark the boundaries of their territory with urine and scratches on trees.

Animals are omnivores. The diet consists of 75% plant foods - these are berries, tubers, grass stems, nuts, roots and acorns. In lean years they can feed on corn and oat fields. The clubfoot's diet may consist of ants, worms, and small rodents (mice, chipmunks, gophers).

Although a bear is not a 100% predator, it can kill an elk or a roe deer. It is not uncommon for grizzlies to attack wolves, and in the Far East, bears sometimes hunt Himalayan bears and tigers. Honey is considered the favorite delicacy of this animal (that’s why it was called that). 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 the fat-rich parts (head, milt and caviar). In hungry years, a bear can hunt domestic animals and often visits apiaries, ruining them.

Brown bear activity occurs in the morning and evening hours. Lifestyle is seasonal. When it gets cold, the bear builds up a subcutaneous layer of fat and lies down in a den to hibernate. At the same time, the average weight of a bear increases by 20%. A den is a dry place under windbreaks or uprooted tree rhizomes. On average, winter sleep lasts about 70-190 days and depends on the climate (October-March, November-April). It turns out that the clubfoot hibernates for about six months. Female bears spend the longest time in hibernation, while older males spend the longest hibernation. 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 weight. If a bear has not managed to accumulate a sufficient amount of fat over the summer and autumn, in winter it awakens and begins to wander through the forest in search of food. Such bears are usually called connecting rods. The connecting 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 brown bear's weight is impressive and it looks somewhat clumsy, it 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 bears offspring once every 2-4 years. Estrus occurs at the end of spring - beginning of summer, lasting only 2-4 weeks. During the breeding season, males often fight among themselves, sometimes with fatal. Mating of a female bear occurs with several males, the pregnancy is latent, and the development of the embryo will begin only in November. Pregnancy lasts from 6 to 8 months, the birth itself occurs at the place of hibernation - in the den. There are up to 5 cubs in one litter. I wonder how much a bear weighs at birth if it later reaches that size? Cubs weigh 340-680 grams at birth and are 25 cm long.

They are expected to be completely blind and deaf, with almost no hair. Hearing appears only 14 days after birth, and they become sighted after a month. By 3 months they have baby teeth and can eat berries. The mother bear feeds the cubs with milk for up to 30 months. As a rule, the father does not take part in raising the offspring; on the contrary, he may eat the bear cub because he sees it as a potential rival. Cubs begin to live independently without their mother at about 3-4 years of age.

Security

The brown bear is listed in the Red Book. This animal is vulnerable due to the high mortality rate 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 of them in Alaska), 21,500 in Canada. Bear hunting in many countries is limited or completely prohibited.

The most common types of bears

white;
brown;
black.

They are big and scary, and the question “how much does a bear weigh?” is probably interesting. It's hard to imagine that when he is born, the bear weighs 200 grams. As for the adult, the situation is completely different.

The brown bear is the national animal of Finland. It is most common there. Often found in Scandinavia. Earlier the situation was different. This species lived throughout almost all of Europe, in England, Ireland, in the African mountains and even in Japan, and lived in Alaska and Mexico. Brown lives in almost all forest belts Russian Federation, except for the southern ones.

A brown bear has thick withers on its back

The bear looks aggressive and incredibly strong. He has thick fur and has withers on his back. Evenly colored. Molting occurs only in the spring, and in the fall they already appear with renewed fur. They have:

The hidden tail is difficult to see with the naked eye. His dina is only 2 centimeters. The paws are powerful with hooked claws. They grow up to 10 centimeters. In general, it is not surprising why these animals inspire fear.

The largest species recorded in Kamchatka

The height of a brown bear reaches two meters. The largest species live in Kamchatka, the Far East and Alaska. Standing, their height is about three meters. How much does a brown bear weigh? It depends on some factors:

from the floor;
from age;
from the habitat.

As a rule, the largest individuals are males. Females are slightly smaller than them. They can weigh from 90 kg to 210 kg. The weight of an adult brown bear, a male, ranges from 140 kg to 400 kg. There are exceptions. For example, some individuals can reach 600 kg. A real giant was found on one island; you can hardly guess how much it weighed. One has only to marvel at its greatness; it reached a mass of 1,134 kg and was about 4 meters in height.

In Russia, such large animals are not found. The dimensions of these animals are slightly smaller. For example, the brown grizzly bear subspecies weighs about 500 kg; as an exception, it can reach 700 kg. Average individuals weigh about 100 kg.

White Northerner

You can’t immediately determine how much a polar bear weighs. In appearance, it looks smaller than its brown and black relatives. Mostly white animals live in snowy northern latitudes of our Planet. This species is widespread in the Arctic. Females reach a body weight of 300 kg, but males are almost twice as large. Their weight ranges from 350 kg to 450 kg. So white relatives are no less than their heat-loving brothers. There are also white individuals that can weigh half a ton. Therefore, polar bears, no matter how much they weigh, are not less, but even more than brown ones. Features of white animals:

have a length of up to 3 meters;
covering coat is off-white;
the paw span is more than 3 meters.

A person having tall, just over the shoulder will be a polar bear. When he stands on his hind legs, he becomes very dangerous. Despite the fact that these northern inhabitants look white skin has a black color. Their white fur is transparent to the sun.

The color of the white inhabitants allows them to camouflage well in the snow. This beast, with its weight, height and paw span, is a serious fighter with whom it is better not to joke.

Life routine of bears

But how long this animal will live depends on many factors. If he lives in his usual conditions until he is 35 years old. If he lives in a zoo or nature reserve for about 50 years, and sometimes longer. At 6 or 11 years of age it is already mature.

As for brown forest inhabitants, they have an excellent sense of smell and hearing. They can smell meat from a considerable distance. They are excellent hunters. To hear and smell the victim, they rise on their hind legs and listen carefully. In general, for bears their habitat is the kingdom, and in it they feel like kings. Early in the morning and in the evening they inspect their place of residence. When bad weather, they love to hunt.

Bears are forest dwellers. They especially like dense thickets, rich deciduous trees. Males prefer to live alone, and females prefer to live with their cubs. Males need an area almost seven times larger than females. Bears mark the beginning and end of their territory with urine and scratches on trees.

They eat everything. They mainly love vegetation - nuts, acorns, berries. When the harvest is bad they can eat corn and oats. Bears also eat insects and rodents - mice, gophers. Easily kill an elk. It happened that bears attacked wolves, Himalayan bears and even tigers. And despite all this, they are not natural predators. Most of all, bears love honey and fish. During the spawning period, it eats the entire carcass, and when the reservoir is teeming with aquatic inhabitants, it eats heads, milk and caviar. If the bear is hungry, it may attack apiaries in search of honey. Features of bears:

active in the morning and evening;
By winter it gets fat and goes into hibernation;
sleeps for almost 190 days in winter.

Clubfoots spend almost half the year in hibernation. The location of the den is the rhizome of trees. Certainly, after hibernation bears will weigh less. They lose almost 80 kilograms of their own weight. But, after waking up, they begin to look for food for themselves.

Such individuals are called connecting rods. They are hungry, and therefore are considered quite dangerous, even when they weigh less. Therefore, if you meet a clubfoot during this period, you cannot escape him.

It is impossible for connecting rods to survive until spring. They die from frost, starvation or from hunters.

Bears look clumsy, however, this is deceiving. After all they are great runners swimmers and move well through trees. With one blow, their paws can break a large artiodactyl.

The offspring of clubfoot

The clumsy forest dwellers produce offspring every few years. Estrus occurs approximately at the very beginning summer period. Lasts about four weeks. When bears reproduce, males start fighting with each other, sometimes they beat their own kind to death. Females usually mate with several partners. Pregnancy lasts up to 8 months. Mother bears give birth in dens. During one birth, about 5 babies are born. They are only 25 centimeters long. Cubs at birth:

Bear cubs begin to hear only 14 days after their birth. And vision erupts in newborns after 30 days. When they are three months old, the first incisors emerge, which babies use to eat berries. They feed on their mother's milk more than three years. Unfortunately, males can even eat the cub.

Video

So the bears do not take part in raising their young, unlike the female. When kids turn 4 years old, they are ready for an independent forest life.

“The clumsy bear walks through the forest, collects cones, sings a song...” The brown bear is often mentioned in fairy tales, sayings, and children's songs. In folklore, he appears in the image of a kind, awkward dismissal, strong and simple-minded.

It appears in a different light in heraldry: the image adorns many coats of arms and national flags. Here he is a symbol of strength, ferocity and power. “Master of the taiga”—that’s what the Siberians call him. And in this they are right, brown bear– one of the largest land predators, an intelligent and merciless hunter.

Features and habitat of the brown bear

Brown bear ( Ursus arctos) belongs to the bear family and is second in size only to its Arctic counterpart. Description of a brown bear we must start with its unprecedented growth.

The largest brown bears live in the Alaska region and are called Kodiaks. Their length reaches 2.8 m, height at the withers – up to 1.6 m, the mass of clubfooted giants can exceed 750 kg. Most big brown bear, captured for the Berlin Zoological Park, weighed 1134 kg.

Our Kamchatka bears are practically no different in size. The average length of a brown bear ranges from 1.3-2.5 m, weight - 200-450 kg. As a rule, males are 1.5 times more powerful and heavier than females.

The body of the forest hero is covered with thick dense hair, which protects it from annoying summer heat, and from the cold in the autumn-spring period.

The coat consists of short fluffy fibers to retain heat and longer ones to protect from moisture. Hair grows in such a way that rainy weather drops roll off the wool, almost without wetting it.

Color – all shades of brown. Different bears climatic zones vary: some have golden-fawn coats, while others have close to black coats.

Bears are often observed near rivers during the salmon run. They swim well and skillfully catch fish going to spawn. Carrion is another source of food.

And although hunting is not a food strategy for brown bears, they can attack, and even. They are especially active at twilight - before dawn or late evening, although they can wander through the forest during broad daylight.

Reproduction and life expectancy of a brown bear

Female bears give birth to offspring at intervals of 2-4 years. Estrus begins in May and can last from 10 days to a month. Male bears during this period are characterized by a loud and booming roar and aggressive behavior. Fights between rivals are a frequent occurrence and often end in the death of one of the bears.

The female bear remains pregnant for about 200 days. The development of embryos occurs only when she goes into hibernation. Cubs (usually 2-3) are born in a den in the middle of winter, deaf, blind and poorly furred. Only after 2 weeks they begin to hear, after a month - to see. The weight of a newborn is about 0.5 kg, length - 20-23 cm.

It's amazing how different maternal instinct is while in the den and after leaving it. If the bear is awakened, she will leave her lair and her foolish, defenseless babies and will never return to this place.

The mother feeds the cubs for about 120 days, then they switch to plant foods. The nutritional value of bear's milk is 4 times higher than that of cow's milk. Often cubs from previous litters take care of their own younger brothers, look after them and try to protect them. About the brown bear We can definitely say: he’s not much of a father.

By the age of 3, young bears are capable of sexual activity and finally say goodbye to their mother. They will grow for another 7-8 years. Life expectancy in the forest is about 30 years, in captivity – up to 50.

Brown bear in the Red Book listed as a “threatened species.” About 200 thousand individuals live on the planet, among impassable forests, 120 thousand of them are on the territory of the Russian Federation.

In his brown bears class- one of the most majestic and powerful animals, but like other representatives of the world fauna, they are completely defenseless against humans. Being the subject of hunting for the purpose of obtaining skins, meat and bile, they are mercilessly exterminated even today.

Greetings, dear readers of the site “I and the World”! Today you will learn about the largest bears in the world: their habits and habitat, which specimens are very dangerous and which are quite harmless. But, in any case, it is undesirable to meet with them; the outcome of this meeting is unlikely to be in your favor.

From Russian fairy tales we know about bears as clumsy and stupid animals. Because of their weight, they really seem slow, but this is not so, they can reach such speed that it is difficult to escape from them even on a bicycle. You should get to know them better in order to know what to expect from them if you meet them by chance while traveling around the world, as well as: what they look like, how much they weigh, where they live, etc.

And our rating opens with “Black Bear” or Baribal

His black coat glistens in the sun of the USA and Canada. Less common in northern Mexico. It is in these countries that this animal lives and weighs from 300 to 360 kg.

The largest male is 363 kg. It was killed in Canada - this is the largest Baribal ever caught by man. The animals are quite harmless. They do not attack people or domestic animals and live quietly and peacefully, eating plant foods and fish.

Very rarely, when there is not enough food, Baribal can drag off livestock. With a height of up to two meters, Baribal cubs are born so small that their weight ranges from 200 to 400 grams.

In captivity: in zoos and circuses they can live up to 30 years, but in nature only 10. Now there are about 600,000 individuals.

In 4th place - American Grizzly

Among brown bears, he is the strongest, but not so big. The grizzly bear is very resilient and if there is a fight with another large animal, the animal has an instant grip, which leads to victory. It is considered friendly, but if there is not enough food or feels aggression, the kind nature disappears. The Grizzly's rather strong sense of smell allows it to sense prey at a great distance. It feeds on plant foods, loves fish, and like any predator, does not refuse animal food.

It lives in Alaska and western Canada and reaches 450 kg.

Grizzly in translation means “terrible”, but it does not try to attack people just like that, but only when it is hungry or very angry. In such rare cases, Grizzly was said to be a cannibal. During the rest of the time when it is rich in prey, it is not dangerous.

Brown Siberian bear takes third place

The dimensions of the Russian Siberian reach: weight up to 800 kg, and height up to 2.5 meters. This is a big fish lover, living near the Anadyr, Kolyma and Yenisei rivers. Sometimes found in Chinese provinces.

Although the warm season in these places is short, there is a lot of plant and animal food and allows you to gain heavy weight.

Siberians are loners and hibernate during the winter. They fish very interestingly: when salmon jump out of the water, the bears try to catch them in the air.

2nd place – one of the brown specimens – Kodiak

They live on the shores of Alaska on Kodiak Island. The brown beast got its name from this island. The largest bear in the world among the brown species. Muscular animal with long paws The Kodiak easily obtains abundant food.

They grow 2.6 meters long and gain up to 1000 kg. The height of an adult predator can be up to 2.8 meters.

There was a time when animals could completely disappear, and therefore they were prohibited from being shot. Now their number is increasing, but so far only 3000.

They do not attack people, and therefore do not pose a danger to tourists. But for the animals themselves, these encounters are quite unpleasant. Animals, frightened by strangers, stop eating normally and gain too little fat before hibernation. And an animal caught for the sake of keeping it in a zoo may simply not survive in captivity.

And finally, first place - Polar Bear

Wikipedia believes that the white bear is the world's largest bear, living in the Arctic and reaching a mass of 1 ton or even more. This predatory animal reaches 3 meters in length - how huge!

This is a real record in weight among all species. Can you imagine such a huge beast, like a white steamer, slowly moving among the snow. There is also fur on the paws, so they move easily on the ice and do not freeze in the most severe frosts.

On the island of Spitsbergen there are even more polar bears than people living there. Long neck with a flat head allows you to stretch out and see far.

It is clear that living among the snow on drifting ice, it feeds on animal food: sea hare, fish, walruses, arctic foxes. Just like brown ones, they live alone and until about 30 years old. Only females hibernate when they are pregnant, in order to gain strength to raise the next generation.

There are 28,000 polar bears all over the world, and about 6,000 in Russia alone. And although hunting them is strictly prohibited, poachers kill up to 200 bears every year.

In the photo you saw the largest bears on earth. They are all listed in the Red Book, but poachers do not think about this, destroying animals for the sake of a beautiful skin. Over the entire history of mankind, so many of these animals have been destroyed that many populations are difficult to increase again.

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Bears are the largest among predatory animals. For example, an adult lion can weigh about 230 kilograms, a tiger - 270 kilograms, but the weight of a large polar bear and a grizzly bear reaches 450 kilograms. And yet the largest bear in the world is rightfully called the Alaskan brown bear. The weight of some males of this species was more than 680 kilograms with a height of about three meters. I wouldn't want to meet such a giant somewhere on the trail. But these are average figures, but in real life There are specimens of bears whose parameters are much higher than those above. There is still a debate among people about which bears are the biggest, this is expressed in hunting stories and legends.

The Guinness Book of Records calls the most big bear on the planet of the white polar bear. The average weight of these predators is in the range of 400-600 kg, length - 240-260 cm, height 1.6 m. The largest polar bear that was measured weighed, according to one version, 1002 kg, according to another - 900 kg. The length of this polar bear was 3.5 m. The polar bear's menu includes mainly walruses and seals. Full physical fitness A male polar bear gains weight at the age of 9-10 years.

Among Alaskan brown bears there is an interesting subspecies, which scientists call Kodiak. So, among these Kodiaks, the heaviest bear measured was a giant, whose weight was 1134 kg. If he stood on his hind legs, then his height would be 4 m. Kodiaks are distinguished by long strong limbs, a muscular body and a massive head. These bears live alone and sleep in the winter, just like brown bears. The Kodiak diet includes fish and a variety of plant foods in the form of nuts, roots, berries and grass. Kodiaks very rarely hunt other species of animals. The Kodiak is not afraid of water, so it usually settles along the river bank. These bears live on the southern coast of Alaska. There is even an island called Kodiak.

The closest relatives of Kodiak bears are grizzly bears, which also reach enormous sizes. Currently, the Kodiak population is constantly increasing. Most of them live in Kodiak National Nature Reserve which is protected by law.

Among fossil animals, bears were also large predators. According to scientists, the largest of them is called the prehistoric South American short-nosed bear. His height was 3.4 m, weight - 1.6 tons. The bones of this giant were found in 1935 in Argentina at the La Plata construction site. According to scientists, this bear was the most large predator on the planet about 2 million years ago. The weight of individual representatives of this species, according to scientists, could reach up to 2 tons.

Recently, a giant man-eating bear was shot and killed by a US Forest Service employee in Alaska. A special commission, after measuring the parameters of the killed bear, found that the prey turned out to be the largest grizzly bear in the world. Such a bear could stand on its hind legs and look at the second floor window. His weight was 726 kg, and his height on his hind legs was 4.3 m.

That's how they are big bears in the world, cute and menacing, cute and scary, in a word, bright representatives of the animal world.