Post by OldGreenVulture on Jun 27, 2019 11:13:27 GMT
Brown Bear - Ursus Arctos.
The Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) is a species of bear that can reach masses of 130–700 kg (290–1,550 pounds). Alongside the Polar Bear, the larger races of Brown Bear qualify as the largest extant land carnivores. The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), the Kodiak Bear and the Mexican Brown Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear. However, DNA analysis has recently revealed that the identified subspecies of brown bears, both Eurasian and North American, are genetically quite homogeneous, and that their genetic phylogeography does not correspond to their traditional taxonomy. It is sometimes referred to poetically as the bruin.
Appearance
Brown Bears have furry coats in shades of blonde, brown, black, or a combination of those colors; the long outer guard hairs are often tipped with white or silver, giving a "grizzled" appearance. Brown bears have a large hump of muscle over their shoulders which give strength to the forelimbs for digging. Their forearms end in massive paws tipped with extremely powerful claws that can be up to 15 cm (5.9 inches) in length. Unlike the claws of other large predatory animals, such as lions or tigers, the claws are not retractable. This gives the claws a dull edge when compared to other predators. Despite the relatively dull edges to their claws, the sheer force of a blow from a large specimen is devastating. However, these claws are mainly used for digging, not for hunting. It uses its sharp canine teeth for neck-biting its prey when hunting. Bears use the same technique as tigers when hunting: they ambush their prey. Their heads are large and round with a concave facial profile. In spite of their size, some have been clocked at speeds in excess of 56 km/h (35 mph) on foot. Along with their strength and deceptive speed, Brown Bears are legendary for their physical stamina. They are capable of running at full speed for miles at a time without stopping. The normal range of physical dimensions for a Brown Bear is a head-and-body length of 1.7 to 2.8 m (5.6 to 9.2 feet) and a shoulder height 90 to 150 cm (35 to 59 inches), although the abnormally large specimens exceed these measurements. The smallest subspecies is the European Brown Bear, with mature females weighing as little as 90 kg (200 lb). The largest subspecies of the Brown Bear are the Kodiak Bear and the bears from coastal Russia and Alaska. Some exceptionally large male Kodiak today may stand over 3 m (10 feet) in height while on their hind legs, and weigh about 680 kg (1,500 lb), while largest Kodiak bear, according to Great Bear almanac by Garry Brown, was 2500+ pounds in weight. Bears in the zoo are usually heavier than those in wild, because of regular feeding and less movement. In zoos bears might weigh up to 2000 pounds, like the well known Goliath from Space farms zoo.
Habitat
Once native to Asia, the Atlas Mountains in Africa, Europe and North America, brown bears are now extinct in some areas and have had their numbers greatly reduced in others. They prefer semi-open country, usually in mountainous areas.
The subspecies U. arctos horribilis (the Grizzly Bear) is the common brown bear of North America, found over the northwestern part of the continent.
The subspecies U. arctos isabellinus (the Himalayan Brown Bear) is found in the foothills of the Himalaya.
The subspecies U. arctos middendorffi (the Kodiak Bear) includes bears on the Alaskan islands of Kodiak Island, Afognak Island, Shuyak Island, Admiralty Island, Chichagof Island, Baranof Island, other islands in southeastern Alaska, and along the mainland coast of southeastern Alaska.
The subspecies U. arctos nelsoni is found in northern Mexico.
The subspecies U. arctos yesoensis (the Hokkaido Brown Bear) is found on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
In North America, the Brown Bear ranges from Alaska east through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, south through British Columbia and through the western half of Alberta. Isolated populations exist in northwestern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana, and northwestern Wyoming. Ursus arctos has existed in North America since at least the most recent Ice Age, though it is thought that the Brown Bear was not the dominant carnivore at the time. That role belonged to the far larger, taller, and stronger Giant Short-Faced Bear, also known as the Bulldog Bear, which was almost certainly dominant when the two animals met. The Giant Short-Faced Bear was adapted for fast running and meat from rather large animals was the main part of its diet; in contrast, the Grizzly or Brown Bear has teeth adapted to an omnivorous diet. The Giant Short-Faced Bear, on average, weighed twice as much as the Grizzly, despite some exceptional Grizzly Bears in the later Old West that were recorded to have grown to around 800 kilograms.
A Kodiak Bear living in EuropeUrsus arctos also shared the land with the American lion and Smilodon, both apparently also dependent on large animals for food. But the Grizzly could eat plant food, insects, carrion, small animals of all kinds, and large mammals if needed, in contrast to the far more restricted food menu available to the giant cats and the Giant Short-Faced Bear. This made the other big carnivores very vulnerable to starvation if the supply of available large mammals gave out, which eventually happened, possibly due to hunting by humans.
For whatever reason the Ice Age herbivorous megafauna became extinct; the Sabertooth, American Lion, and Giant Short-Faced Bear could no longer find enough suitable food, and faded into extinction, leaving the Brown Bear alone as top North American predator, with the Gray and Dire wolves, the jaguar in the south, the American black bear, and puma also competing for large prey. It is not known precisely how long humans have lived in America, but the biggest human emigration there was about the time of the last Ice Age period, when the Paleo-Indians showed up. These people brought with them the Clovis point and advanced hunting techniques. If these people were responsible for wiping out the Ice Age herbivore megafauna, it can be argued that Ursus arctos benefited in numbers and range by the extinction of the competing predators.
In Europe, the Brown Bear outlasted the larger and closely related Cave Bear but the reasons why the Cave Bear became extinct are not clear. The Cave Bear was hunted by the Neanderthals who may have had a religion relating to this bear, the so-called Cave Bear Cult, but Neanderthal populations were not large enough to cause extinction. The Cave Bear also outlasted the Neanderthals by about 18,000 years, going extinct about 10,000 years ago. It thus held its own in Europe against modern humans for 180 centuries. Its diet was similar to the Brown Bear, which probably lived in the same area at concurrent times, so why it died out is a mystery.
The population of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range between France and Spain is so low (estimated at fourteen to eighteen, with a shortage of females), that releases of mostly female bears from Slovenia are in progress in the spring of 2006 to alleviate the imbalance, despite protests from French farmers.
Population
There are estimated to be about 200,000 Brown Bears in the world. The largest populations are in Russia, with 120,000, United States, with 32,500, and Canada with 21,750. Ninety-five percent of the population in the United States is in Alaska, though in the West the bears seem to be repopulating slowly but steadily along the Rockies and plains. In Europe, there are 14,000 brown bears in ten separate fragmented populations, from Spain to Russia and north into Scandinavia. They are extinct in the British Isles, extremely threatened or extinct in France and in trouble over most of Central Europe. The Brown Bear is Finland's national animal. The Carpathian Brown Bear population is the largest one in Europe outside Russia, estimated at 4,500 to 5,000 bears.
In Arctic areas, the potential habitat of the Brown Bear has actually been increasing. The warming of that region has allowed the species to move farther and farther north into what was once exclusively the domain of the Polar Bear. Although in non-Arctic areas, habitat loss is blamed as the leading cause of endangerment, followed by hunting.
Brown bears prefer semi - open country, usually in moutainous areas.
Behavior
The Brown Bear is primarily nocturnal and, in the summer, puts on up to 180 kg (400 pounds) of fat, on which it relies to make it through winter, when it becomes very lethargic. Although they are not true hibernators and can be woken easily, they like to den in a protected spot such as a cave, crevice, or hollow log during the winter months.
They are omnivores and feed on a variety of plant parts, including berries, roots, and sprouts; fungi; and fish, insects, and small mammals, especially ground squirrels. Contrary to popular mythology, Brown Bears are not particularly carnivorous; they derive up to 90% of their dietary food energy from vegetable matter. Their jaws structure has been adapted to this diet habit, it is longer and lacks strong, sharp canine teeths of true predators. Interestingly, bears eat an enormous number of moths during the summer (sometimes as many as 20,000 to 40,000 in a day) and may derive up to a third of their food energy from these insects. Locally, in areas of Russia and Alaska, Brown Bears feed mostly on spawning salmon, and the nutrition and abundance of this food accounts for the enormous size of the bears from these areas. Brown Bears also occasionally prey on deer (Odocoeilus spp.; Dama spp., Capreolus spp.), Red Deer (Cervus elaphus or American elk), moose (Alces alces) and American Bison (Bison bison). When brown bear attacks these animals, it tends to carefully chooses young calves or aged, sick adults as they are slow and weak, thus will not be able to outrun the bear or put up resistance, which could prove fatal to the hunter. Brown Bears have been known to retrace their own tracks and walk only on rocks while being hunted, apparently to avoid being traced. Brown Bears have also been found stealing the kills of tigers, wolves, and pumas; although these other predators may cause the bear to retreat if enough aggressive assertion is displayed.
Like all bears, the brown bear is plantigrade, which means that it walks with its entire foot like a human, rather than in its toes like cats and dogs, which are digitigrade. They can also stand up in their hind legs for extended periods of time, which makes them look rather human. Bears also tend to sit down on their rear with their upper body off the ground, like a person, too. They have a very short, stubby tail, just like all bears.
Normally a solitary animal, the Brown Bear congregates alongside streams and rivers during the salmon spawn in the fall. Every other year females produce one to four young, which weigh only about 1 to 2 kg (2 to 5 lb) at birth. Raised entirely by their mother, the cubs are taught to climb trees at the sign of danger.
Habituation to human areas
A fed bear is a dead bear - bears are relocated when possible, but repeat offenders may be killed when they have associated humans with food sources.With the encroachment of humans into bear habitat, bears may become attracted to human-related food sources such as garbage dumps, litter bins, dumpsters, and so on, and may even venture into human dwellings or barns in search of food. In the U.S., it is not unheard of for a bear to kill and eat farm animals. Once a bear comes to associate human activity with a "food reward", a bear is likely to continue to become emboldened in its quest for food and human/bear encounters become more likely. There is a saying, "a fed bear is a dead bear", which has come into use to popularize the idea that allowing bears to scavenge human garbage, pet food, or other food sources that draw the bear into contact with humans can result in disaster for the bear.
Relocation has been used as a public appeasement strategy, and does not address the problem bear's newly learned "humans as food source" behavior. Nor does it address the environmental situations which created the human habituated bear. "Placing a bear in habitat used by other bears may lead to competition and social conflict, and result in the injury or death of the less dominant bear."
Though bears have been relocated to areas distant from human populations, some bears become "hooked" on a given food source and will return to the same location. Bears that have repeatedly returned to a given area, and thus have become perceived as dangerous, are sometimes killed to prevent human injuries or death.
Yellowstone National Park, an enormous reserve located in the Western United States, contains prime habitat for the Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), but due to the enormous number of visitors, human-bear encounters are not rare. The scenic beauty of the area has led to an influx of people moving into the area. In addition, because there are so many bear relocations to the same remote areas of Yellowstone, and because male bears tend to dominate the center of the relocation zone, female bears tend to be pushed to the boundaries of the region and beyond. The result is that a large proportion of repeat offender bears, bears that are destroyed for the public safety, are females. This creates a further depressive effect on an already endangered species (the Grizzly Bear is officially described as threatened in the U.S). Though the problem is most significant with regard to Grizzlies, these issues affect the other types of Brown Bear as well.
In Europe, part of the problem lies with shepherds; over the past two centuries, many sheep and goat herders have gradually abandoned the more traditional practice of using dogs to guard flocks (which have concurrently grown larger). Typically they allow the herds to graze freely over sizeable tracts of land. As bears reclaim parts of their range, they may take livestock as a means of survival. The shepherd is forced to shoot the bear to protect his livelihood.
From Carnivora.
The Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) is a species of bear that can reach masses of 130–700 kg (290–1,550 pounds). Alongside the Polar Bear, the larger races of Brown Bear qualify as the largest extant land carnivores. The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), the Kodiak Bear and the Mexican Brown Bear are North American subspecies of the Brown Bear. However, DNA analysis has recently revealed that the identified subspecies of brown bears, both Eurasian and North American, are genetically quite homogeneous, and that their genetic phylogeography does not correspond to their traditional taxonomy. It is sometimes referred to poetically as the bruin.
Appearance
Brown Bears have furry coats in shades of blonde, brown, black, or a combination of those colors; the long outer guard hairs are often tipped with white or silver, giving a "grizzled" appearance. Brown bears have a large hump of muscle over their shoulders which give strength to the forelimbs for digging. Their forearms end in massive paws tipped with extremely powerful claws that can be up to 15 cm (5.9 inches) in length. Unlike the claws of other large predatory animals, such as lions or tigers, the claws are not retractable. This gives the claws a dull edge when compared to other predators. Despite the relatively dull edges to their claws, the sheer force of a blow from a large specimen is devastating. However, these claws are mainly used for digging, not for hunting. It uses its sharp canine teeth for neck-biting its prey when hunting. Bears use the same technique as tigers when hunting: they ambush their prey. Their heads are large and round with a concave facial profile. In spite of their size, some have been clocked at speeds in excess of 56 km/h (35 mph) on foot. Along with their strength and deceptive speed, Brown Bears are legendary for their physical stamina. They are capable of running at full speed for miles at a time without stopping. The normal range of physical dimensions for a Brown Bear is a head-and-body length of 1.7 to 2.8 m (5.6 to 9.2 feet) and a shoulder height 90 to 150 cm (35 to 59 inches), although the abnormally large specimens exceed these measurements. The smallest subspecies is the European Brown Bear, with mature females weighing as little as 90 kg (200 lb). The largest subspecies of the Brown Bear are the Kodiak Bear and the bears from coastal Russia and Alaska. Some exceptionally large male Kodiak today may stand over 3 m (10 feet) in height while on their hind legs, and weigh about 680 kg (1,500 lb), while largest Kodiak bear, according to Great Bear almanac by Garry Brown, was 2500+ pounds in weight. Bears in the zoo are usually heavier than those in wild, because of regular feeding and less movement. In zoos bears might weigh up to 2000 pounds, like the well known Goliath from Space farms zoo.
Habitat
Once native to Asia, the Atlas Mountains in Africa, Europe and North America, brown bears are now extinct in some areas and have had their numbers greatly reduced in others. They prefer semi-open country, usually in mountainous areas.
The subspecies U. arctos horribilis (the Grizzly Bear) is the common brown bear of North America, found over the northwestern part of the continent.
The subspecies U. arctos isabellinus (the Himalayan Brown Bear) is found in the foothills of the Himalaya.
The subspecies U. arctos middendorffi (the Kodiak Bear) includes bears on the Alaskan islands of Kodiak Island, Afognak Island, Shuyak Island, Admiralty Island, Chichagof Island, Baranof Island, other islands in southeastern Alaska, and along the mainland coast of southeastern Alaska.
The subspecies U. arctos nelsoni is found in northern Mexico.
The subspecies U. arctos yesoensis (the Hokkaido Brown Bear) is found on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
In North America, the Brown Bear ranges from Alaska east through the Yukon and Northwest Territories, south through British Columbia and through the western half of Alberta. Isolated populations exist in northwestern Washington, northern Idaho, western Montana, and northwestern Wyoming. Ursus arctos has existed in North America since at least the most recent Ice Age, though it is thought that the Brown Bear was not the dominant carnivore at the time. That role belonged to the far larger, taller, and stronger Giant Short-Faced Bear, also known as the Bulldog Bear, which was almost certainly dominant when the two animals met. The Giant Short-Faced Bear was adapted for fast running and meat from rather large animals was the main part of its diet; in contrast, the Grizzly or Brown Bear has teeth adapted to an omnivorous diet. The Giant Short-Faced Bear, on average, weighed twice as much as the Grizzly, despite some exceptional Grizzly Bears in the later Old West that were recorded to have grown to around 800 kilograms.
A Kodiak Bear living in EuropeUrsus arctos also shared the land with the American lion and Smilodon, both apparently also dependent on large animals for food. But the Grizzly could eat plant food, insects, carrion, small animals of all kinds, and large mammals if needed, in contrast to the far more restricted food menu available to the giant cats and the Giant Short-Faced Bear. This made the other big carnivores very vulnerable to starvation if the supply of available large mammals gave out, which eventually happened, possibly due to hunting by humans.
For whatever reason the Ice Age herbivorous megafauna became extinct; the Sabertooth, American Lion, and Giant Short-Faced Bear could no longer find enough suitable food, and faded into extinction, leaving the Brown Bear alone as top North American predator, with the Gray and Dire wolves, the jaguar in the south, the American black bear, and puma also competing for large prey. It is not known precisely how long humans have lived in America, but the biggest human emigration there was about the time of the last Ice Age period, when the Paleo-Indians showed up. These people brought with them the Clovis point and advanced hunting techniques. If these people were responsible for wiping out the Ice Age herbivore megafauna, it can be argued that Ursus arctos benefited in numbers and range by the extinction of the competing predators.
In Europe, the Brown Bear outlasted the larger and closely related Cave Bear but the reasons why the Cave Bear became extinct are not clear. The Cave Bear was hunted by the Neanderthals who may have had a religion relating to this bear, the so-called Cave Bear Cult, but Neanderthal populations were not large enough to cause extinction. The Cave Bear also outlasted the Neanderthals by about 18,000 years, going extinct about 10,000 years ago. It thus held its own in Europe against modern humans for 180 centuries. Its diet was similar to the Brown Bear, which probably lived in the same area at concurrent times, so why it died out is a mystery.
The population of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range between France and Spain is so low (estimated at fourteen to eighteen, with a shortage of females), that releases of mostly female bears from Slovenia are in progress in the spring of 2006 to alleviate the imbalance, despite protests from French farmers.
Population
There are estimated to be about 200,000 Brown Bears in the world. The largest populations are in Russia, with 120,000, United States, with 32,500, and Canada with 21,750. Ninety-five percent of the population in the United States is in Alaska, though in the West the bears seem to be repopulating slowly but steadily along the Rockies and plains. In Europe, there are 14,000 brown bears in ten separate fragmented populations, from Spain to Russia and north into Scandinavia. They are extinct in the British Isles, extremely threatened or extinct in France and in trouble over most of Central Europe. The Brown Bear is Finland's national animal. The Carpathian Brown Bear population is the largest one in Europe outside Russia, estimated at 4,500 to 5,000 bears.
In Arctic areas, the potential habitat of the Brown Bear has actually been increasing. The warming of that region has allowed the species to move farther and farther north into what was once exclusively the domain of the Polar Bear. Although in non-Arctic areas, habitat loss is blamed as the leading cause of endangerment, followed by hunting.
Brown bears prefer semi - open country, usually in moutainous areas.
Behavior
The Brown Bear is primarily nocturnal and, in the summer, puts on up to 180 kg (400 pounds) of fat, on which it relies to make it through winter, when it becomes very lethargic. Although they are not true hibernators and can be woken easily, they like to den in a protected spot such as a cave, crevice, or hollow log during the winter months.
They are omnivores and feed on a variety of plant parts, including berries, roots, and sprouts; fungi; and fish, insects, and small mammals, especially ground squirrels. Contrary to popular mythology, Brown Bears are not particularly carnivorous; they derive up to 90% of their dietary food energy from vegetable matter. Their jaws structure has been adapted to this diet habit, it is longer and lacks strong, sharp canine teeths of true predators. Interestingly, bears eat an enormous number of moths during the summer (sometimes as many as 20,000 to 40,000 in a day) and may derive up to a third of their food energy from these insects. Locally, in areas of Russia and Alaska, Brown Bears feed mostly on spawning salmon, and the nutrition and abundance of this food accounts for the enormous size of the bears from these areas. Brown Bears also occasionally prey on deer (Odocoeilus spp.; Dama spp., Capreolus spp.), Red Deer (Cervus elaphus or American elk), moose (Alces alces) and American Bison (Bison bison). When brown bear attacks these animals, it tends to carefully chooses young calves or aged, sick adults as they are slow and weak, thus will not be able to outrun the bear or put up resistance, which could prove fatal to the hunter. Brown Bears have been known to retrace their own tracks and walk only on rocks while being hunted, apparently to avoid being traced. Brown Bears have also been found stealing the kills of tigers, wolves, and pumas; although these other predators may cause the bear to retreat if enough aggressive assertion is displayed.
Like all bears, the brown bear is plantigrade, which means that it walks with its entire foot like a human, rather than in its toes like cats and dogs, which are digitigrade. They can also stand up in their hind legs for extended periods of time, which makes them look rather human. Bears also tend to sit down on their rear with their upper body off the ground, like a person, too. They have a very short, stubby tail, just like all bears.
Normally a solitary animal, the Brown Bear congregates alongside streams and rivers during the salmon spawn in the fall. Every other year females produce one to four young, which weigh only about 1 to 2 kg (2 to 5 lb) at birth. Raised entirely by their mother, the cubs are taught to climb trees at the sign of danger.
Habituation to human areas
A fed bear is a dead bear - bears are relocated when possible, but repeat offenders may be killed when they have associated humans with food sources.With the encroachment of humans into bear habitat, bears may become attracted to human-related food sources such as garbage dumps, litter bins, dumpsters, and so on, and may even venture into human dwellings or barns in search of food. In the U.S., it is not unheard of for a bear to kill and eat farm animals. Once a bear comes to associate human activity with a "food reward", a bear is likely to continue to become emboldened in its quest for food and human/bear encounters become more likely. There is a saying, "a fed bear is a dead bear", which has come into use to popularize the idea that allowing bears to scavenge human garbage, pet food, or other food sources that draw the bear into contact with humans can result in disaster for the bear.
Relocation has been used as a public appeasement strategy, and does not address the problem bear's newly learned "humans as food source" behavior. Nor does it address the environmental situations which created the human habituated bear. "Placing a bear in habitat used by other bears may lead to competition and social conflict, and result in the injury or death of the less dominant bear."
Though bears have been relocated to areas distant from human populations, some bears become "hooked" on a given food source and will return to the same location. Bears that have repeatedly returned to a given area, and thus have become perceived as dangerous, are sometimes killed to prevent human injuries or death.
Yellowstone National Park, an enormous reserve located in the Western United States, contains prime habitat for the Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), but due to the enormous number of visitors, human-bear encounters are not rare. The scenic beauty of the area has led to an influx of people moving into the area. In addition, because there are so many bear relocations to the same remote areas of Yellowstone, and because male bears tend to dominate the center of the relocation zone, female bears tend to be pushed to the boundaries of the region and beyond. The result is that a large proportion of repeat offender bears, bears that are destroyed for the public safety, are females. This creates a further depressive effect on an already endangered species (the Grizzly Bear is officially described as threatened in the U.S). Though the problem is most significant with regard to Grizzlies, these issues affect the other types of Brown Bear as well.
In Europe, part of the problem lies with shepherds; over the past two centuries, many sheep and goat herders have gradually abandoned the more traditional practice of using dogs to guard flocks (which have concurrently grown larger). Typically they allow the herds to graze freely over sizeable tracts of land. As bears reclaim parts of their range, they may take livestock as a means of survival. The shepherd is forced to shoot the bear to protect his livelihood.
From Carnivora.