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 African Atlas Mountains were the southern border of the range, and in the east, bears were found even on the territory of modern Japan. It most likely entered the territory of North America through the Bering Strait approximately 40 thousand years ago. Then he settled in the territories from Alaska to the northern borders of Mexico. To date, the brown bear has spread widely in Finland (in this countryit was even declared a national animal) and Scandinavia, 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 the Japanese island of Hokkaido. In North America, the brown bear is called "grizzly", more common in western 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 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 head is large, the ears are small, the eyes are set deep. The tail is almost 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 and size of a brown bear
The average body length of a brown bear is 1-2 meters. The largest bears have been 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 brown bear weighs, which lives inRussia? 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. Individuals can weigh up to 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 the wild, 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
A brown bear has a 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. In the forest, he behaves like a real master: he walks around his possessions in the early morning or after dusk. In bad weather, he can wander through the forests for hours in search of food.
Lifestyle and eating 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 the coast. The male usually lives inalone, and the female with cubs. Each individual occupies a 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. It is not uncommon for grizzlies to attack wolves, and in the Far East, bears sometimes hunt Himalayan bears and 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, milk 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 increasesby 20%. A den is a dry place under windbreaks or uprooted tree roots. On average, winter sleep 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 hibernate the longest, 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 it 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. A paw strike so powerful that it can break the back of a large bison or bull.
Reproduction
Female bears 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 a fatal outcome. The she-bear mate 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 5cubs. 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 lately the population has been growing. According to some reports, 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 is restricted or banned in many countries.
