The bear is a representative of the order of predators. to his appearance the beast vaguely resembles a dog, while having a more developed body. And bears are capable of walking on both four and two legs. Another difference is the ability to climb trees, swim quickly, and make transitions over significant distances. It is also interesting that in natural world the bear has no enemies superior to it overall dimensions and strength. Almost all types of bears are omnivores; there are representatives who prefer plant foods, while others prefer animal foods. Most species lead a year-round nomadic lifestyle. And black, brown and Himalayan bears for the winter season they hibernate, placing themselves in a pre-prepared den for this purpose. Let's figure out why a bear hibernates in winter and why it sucks its paw.
Reasons for sleep deprivation in winter
There are no special secrets in this. The first reason for sleep is considered to be the fact that in the winter season bears begin to experience difficulties with food, because vegetable world at this time of year it is extremely scarce. Switching to food only of animal origin is fraught - a bear cannot live long on such food.
The second reason is the size of the animal. The fact is that on average an adult bear weighs about half a ton. And you can imagine how much food he will need so as not to starve even in winter. We have already talked about vegetation, but catching a fox or a hare in winter will be quite difficult for a bear. And energy costs will increase.
Why does a bear suck its paw in a dream?
Popular rumor claims that during hibernation the bear sucks its paw. As if it lets him wait it out harsh winter, sleeping in the den. Is it true? Moreover, there is no visual evidence of this fact.
But there is a simple explanation for everything. Scientists have proven that the surfaces of the clubfoot's paws are covered with a fairly thick layer of skin, which allows the animal to easily move across rocky terrain without feeling pain. But during hibernation, a new layer of skin begins to grow under the old cover. And so that the shedding of old skin occurs more quickly, the bear in a dream brings its paw closer to its muzzle and begins to bite the old skin. It is believed that the shedding process itself causes inconvenience, as the soles of the paws begin to itch.
There is another version, no less interesting. It applies only to small bear cubs in captivity. The secret is that during the winter season, the babies feed on the milk of the mother bear. It is important to know here that her nipples are not located along the abdomen, like in most animals, but in the groin and armpits. A bear cub, born in a den in winter, is forced to feed on milk for several months, constantly holding the nipple in its mouth. Apparently, due to lack of contact with their mother, the cubs begin to suck their own paws. But such facts are very rare.
Features of bear sleep
The sleepy period can last up to six months. Therefore, the bear must have sufficient energy reserves. Where can I get it from? The fact is that such a reserve accumulates under the skin of the animal, in the fat layer, which the animal fattens during the warm season. It is also important that at the moment of transition to sleep, the animal’s body is completely rebuilt. The heart rate drops significantly and the breathing rate decreases. These features allow you to save oxygen reserves in the den, valuable substances found in subcutaneous fat, which are enough for such a long period.
People have long been interested in the question of why a bear sucks its paw. This statement arose in ancient times. Over time, the expression “paw sucking” came to mean living from hand to mouth and became firmly entrenched in our vocabulary. Today this phrase can be heard everywhere. Why did people have such an association with it? And all because bears don’t eat in winter. And earlier, people, constantly watching them, were sure that it was out of hunger that animals sucked their paws when they fell into hibernation.
Why does a bear suck its paw while sleeping?
Bears living in temperate to temperate areas arctic climate, they fall asleep in winter. This is the distinctive ability of these animals. This happens because snow hides a lot of food from bears. And animals feed not only on meat. Their main food is roots, berries and generally anything that can be used for food.
As you know, bears do not eat during hibernation. And in order not to die of hunger, they suck their paw, since it contains a lot of fat. This is the most common version among people. Bears actually fall asleep with their front paws covering their faces. Often they end up in the mouth. And in the spring, when bears come out of their dens, their paws are all covered in rags of old skin. Apparently, this is why people have this opinion.
Bear hibernation
Scientists have long figured out how a bear sleeps in a den and why a bear sucks its paw. As it turns out, it doesn’t do the latter. The bears fall asleep because they cannot feed themselves in the winter. The weight of an adult animal is from 150 to 700 kilograms. Before winter, bears have time to gain a lot of fat. It is spent in winter in sleep.
In this state, the bear's body switches to an economical mode of existence - suspended animation. The animal's breathing and heart rate slow down greatly. And often from the outside it may seem that he is not breathing at all. But this is only an appearance. The state of suspended animation helps bears use oxygen wisely, which saves subcutaneous fat. Namely, it is he who feeds the sleeping animal in winter.
Does a bear actually suck its paw?
Bears actually suck their paws. But only those that grow in captivity. And mostly bear cubs. But such a habit can remain in an adult animal. The reason is that cubs, once born, feed on their mother’s milk for a very long time. And if their birth coincided with the mother’s winter hibernation, then for several months the babies practically do not remove their nipples from their mouths. Moreover, the latter are located in the groin and armpits of the bear.
The cubs sleep on the soft mother's skin and do nothing but feed. Bear milk is very nutritious and fatty. Therefore, the cubs have enough of it for several months. Occasionally, the mother's nipples fall out of her mouth. There are sensitive receptors throughout the body of cubs that signal loss. Therefore, the kids do not remain hungry.
The cubs automatically poke at the mother's body until they find the nipple again. In captivity, cubs lack such maternal warmth, and they make up for it by sucking their own paws. Apparently, they associate this with the mother’s nipple, surrounded by hair. Moreover, the cubs spend several months in the arms of their mother. And in zoos they are not given 24/7 attention. And often they have to feel their loneliness.
Why are bears' paws covered in tatters of skin after winter?
Why does a bear suck its paw in winter? To be more precise, the animal gnaws it. On bear paws incredibly durable leather. And this is understandable, since their weight is on average 350 kilograms. During spring, summer and autumn, the skin has time to become very rough. This allows bears to move quickly on any surface without injuring their paws. But when animals hibernate in winter, their skin begins to renew.
The formation of a new layer causes severe itching. And the bears automatically begin to gnaw their paws, tearing off the old skin and releasing new ones. If the animals did not do this, they could feel such severe discomfort that they could wake up. And since food cannot be obtained in the required quantity, the bears, when awakened, become angry and dangerous. Therefore, nibbling paws is inherent in them by nature for a restful sleep.
How many bears?
Since ancient times, people have been wondering, Why does he suck his paw at this time? Bear sleep is very sensitive. If there is noise near his den, even wolf howl, then the animal may wake up. Bears do not suck their paws, but since they sleep lightly, they feel the itching and discomfort that occurs during the molting period.
This affects the paws most of all. And then the bears, half asleep, bite off the old skin, releasing a new one. But at the same time they do not wake up. And at the moment of gnawing, the limb is partially in the animal’s mouth. Therefore, people have a question about why a bear sucks its paw.
Do all bears sleep in dens?
Not all bears sleep in cozy dens, sheltered from the snow. You can find animals lying right on the ground. Hunters, if they manage to take a photo, post photographs on the Internet in which the bear’s body is partially outside the den or completely on flat snow. But even in this state, their paws often end up in their mouths.
Perhaps these moments also make people wonder why a bear sucks its paw. But whether in a den or outside, molting and natural reflexes are firmly ingrained in animals. Therefore, even during the deepest sleep, bears gnaw old skin from their paws to avoid itching and discomfort.
It’s good for those who have wings - they flew away and that’s it. well and brown bear through the thickets and wild forest can’t get to places where the climate is warmer.
And he finds a rather practical solution. In the summer, the bear eats its food and then goes into hibernation until spring. But not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. Imagine what you would be like if you didn’t drink or eat for six months. Let's get acquainted with some amazing processes that occur in the body of a bear during hibernation.
Busy summer
To prepare for the six-month “fast,” the she-bear needs to make energy reserves.” So she doesn't worry about her figure. Its main goal is to accumulate more subcutaneous fat (in some places its thickness reaches eight centimeters). Although she likes sweet berries best, she is not picky about food. She eats everything: roots, small mammals, fish and ants. By autumn, she can gain weight up to 130-160 kilograms, a third of which is fat. (The male can weigh up to 300 kilograms.) Before plunging into the world of dreams, she stops eating and emptys her intestines. For the next six months she does not eat anything, does not urinate or defecate.
Bears choose a place for a den in a cave, an abandoned anthill or a depression under the roots of trees. The main thing is that it is quiet there and no one disturbs sweet Dreams. Bears collect spruce branches, moss, peat and other materials to make a warm and cozy bed. The den is not much larger than the massive body of the bear. When winter comes, snow will cover the den and only an attentive observer will be able to see the hole through which air enters there.
Hibernation
Some small mammals, for example hedgehogs, the bats and sleepyheads fall into the present hibernation, that is, they carry out most winters in a state similar to death. Their body temperature approaches the temperature environment. But a bear's body temperature only drops by 5 degrees Celsius, so its sleep is not that deep. “You can’t say that a bear ‘sleeps without its hind legs.’ The bear raises its head and turns from side to side almost every day,” says Raimo Hissa, a professor at the University of Oulu in Finland, who has spent many years studying bear hibernation. Yet the bear rarely comes out. from her den in the middle of winter. During hibernation, the animal’s body works “in economy mode.” The heart rate drops to 10 per minute, and the metabolic process slows down. When the bear sleeps sweetly, fats begin to be burned in her body. Fatty tissues are broken down by enzymes and supply the animal's body with the necessary calories and water. Although the processes that support life in the body slow down, a certain amount of waste is generated as a result of metabolism. How can a mother bear get rid of it and at the same time keep her den clean? Instead of removing waste , the body processes them!
Professor Hissa explains: “Urea from the kidneys and Bladder reabsorbed into the blood and transported circulatory system into the intestines, where it is hydrolyzed by bacteria into ammonia.” Even more surprising is that this ammonia goes back to the liver, where it participates in the formation of new amino acids that form the basis of proteins. Converting waste products into Construction Materials, the bear's body feeds itself during a long period of hibernation!
In the old days, people hunted bears sleeping in dens. Sleepy Toptygin became easy prey. First, hunters on skis found a den, then surrounded it. After this, the bear was woken up and killed. Today, winter bear hunting is considered a cruel activity, and it is banned almost throughout Europe.
Studying bear hibernation
At the Department of Zoology of the University of Oulu, research has been carried out for several years on the physiological processes by which animals adapt to cold. Brown bears began to be studied in 1988, and a total of 20 individuals were observed over these years. A special den was created for them in the zoological garden of the university. To measure body temperature, study metabolism, vital activity, as well as changes that occur during hibernation in the blood and hormones, scientists used computers, video cameras, and did laboratory tests. Biologists collaborated with specialists from other universities, even Japanese ones. They hope that the research results will be useful for solving problems related to human psychology.
New life
The bear sleeps all winter, turning over from side to side, but what happens in the life of the bear is an important event. Bears mate in early summer, but the fertilized cells inside the expectant mother's body do not develop until the mother hibernates. The embryos then attach to the wall of the uterus and begin to grow. After just two months (in December or January), the expectant mother's body temperature rises slightly and she gives birth to two or three cubs. After this, her body temperature drops again, although it does not become as low as before childbirth. Papa Bear does not see his children being born. But the sight of newborns would probably disappoint him. It would be difficult for a huge dad to recognize these tiny creatures weighing less than 350 grams as his offspring.
Mother bear feeding cubs nutritious milk, this exhausts her already weakened vitality. The cubs grow quickly, by spring they become fluffy and already weigh about five kilograms. This means that the bear’s small “apartment” is full of excitement.
Spring
March. Cold winter has passed, the snow is melting, the birds are returning from the south. At the end of the month, male bears emerge from their dens. But the mother bears remain in their shelter for several more weeks, perhaps because the babies take a lot of their energy.
After a long hibernation, all that remains of a well-fed bear is skin and bones. The snow melted, and with it her fat melted. With all this, the bear is surprisingly mobile - no bedsores, seizures or osteoporosis. Some time after leaving the den, she cleanses the intestines. Typically, bears begin to eat only two or three weeks after waking up, since the body does not immediately get used to the new conditions. But then they develop a remarkable appetite. But since nature itself has recently awakened from winter sleep, at first there is not much food in the forest. Bears chew larvae and beetles, eat old carcasses, and sometimes even hunt reindeer.
The care of raising cubs falls on the shoulders of the mother bear, and she protects her cubs like the apple of her eye. An ancient proverb says: “It is better for a man to meet a mother bear without children than a fool with his foolishness” (Proverbs 17:12). In other words, it is better not to date either one or the other. “Mama bear has a lot on her plate. If a male bear approaches, she immediately forces the cubs to climb a tree. The point is that the male can harm them, even if he is their father,” explains Hissa.
The cubs spend another winter in the den with their mother. Well, next year they have to look for their own den, since the bear will have new tiny cubs.
We already know a lot about the complex and unusual phenomenon of bear hibernation, but much still remains a mystery. For example, why does a bear become sleepy in the fall and why does it lose its appetite? Why doesn't he have osteoporosis? Uncovering a bear's secrets is not easy, and that's understandable. Everyone has their own secrets!
V. NIKOLAENKO.
“Photographing bears is a very dangerous activity. I’ve been photographing them for 30 years. Over time, my courage has diminished significantly, and experience has gained. But no experience guarantees safety.” These are the words of Vitaly Aleksandrovich Nikolaenko, a remarkable nature researcher who devoted himself to photographing and studying Kamchatka bears all of my life. It so happened that his article "Hello, bear! How are you?" (“Science and Life” No. 12, 2003) became the last lifetime publication. At the end of December 2003, Vitaly Aleksandrovich monitored a bear that was not in its den. Leaving his backpack and skis behind, he followed the animal's tracks, apparently hoping to take a few pictures. But it is impossible to predict the behavior of even a familiar bear - Nikolaenko himself spoke about this. And he had already had encounters with bears that were fraught with serious danger. The last meeting with a stranger ended tragically... In memory of Vitaly Aleksandrovich Nikolaenko, we publish notes that were not included in the previous article.
Science and life // Illustrations
Vitaly Alexandrovich Nikolaenko.
While fishing, the bear quenches its thirst by plunging its muzzle deep into the water.
The bear comes to the river not only for fish, but also to take a bath.
The bear makes beds in the snow, insulating them with branches or birch dust.
After leaving the den, the cubs like to roll around in the snow.
Family of yearlings.
LERLOGS
A den is an animal’s winter refuge, which provides optimal microclimatic conditions that allow it to survive a long period unfavorable feed and weather conditions With minimal costs energy resources. It also serves as a maternity hospital for females, and as a nursery for newborns.
The forty dens that I was able to find and describe were unpaved. Hunters from the south of the Kamchatka Peninsula talk about dens that are located in rocky caves, but there is no reliable data about this. I myself discovered only one unexcavated den among volcanic blocks, on the shore of Kuril Lake. Through a narrow, triangular-shaped hole, the animal penetrated into the den chamber formed by the flat sides of the blocks. The length of the den reached 2.5 m, and its bottom was covered with volcanic slag. At the far end is a shallow bed. Two dark spots on the back wall indicated that bears had been using this den for decades.
The first to hibernate are females with underyearlings (first-years) and young individuals. Mass migration to dens occurs from mid-October. The animals spend two to three weeks in their dens and lie down in them in early and mid-November. For some time they can still leave the dens, lie nearby during the day, and hide inside at night. Bears do not dig dens in advance. Stories that a bear, going to a den, confuses its tracks and meanders, are the fantasies of hunters. Observations have shown that bears actually meander through alder forests during this period, avoid open areas and actively mark trees in resting areas. But meandering is nothing more than a reaction to an unconscious, uncomfortable mental state that prompts the bear to seek safe shelter. The bear knows the habitat well and, leaving the spawning area for a den, finds two or three old dens, sometimes already occupied by other bears. I have never observed a bear challenging the right to an occupied den.
Most dens are located in thickets of dwarf alder, on the slopes of ridges and ravines, along dry stream beds. Based on their shape, they can be divided into three groups. The first ones are pear-shaped, with a well-defined elongated hole between the forehead (the opening of the den) and the den chamber, with a resting position at the rear wall. The second ones are spherical or ovoid in shape, without an oblong hole; their height, width and length do not differ much in size, and the deepening of the bed is a continuation of the walls of the den. Still others are tortoise-shaped, with a flat oval bottom; their length is 1.5-2 times the width, the top is hemispherical, stretched on the sides, the height reaches 100-130 cm, and the width in the center is almost 2 times the height. The bed is located at the back wall of the den and is its continuation. All dens have flatter back walls than the sides.
The most durable dens are located under the rhizomes of birch trees. Their roof is supported by wide-growing roots. As a rule, such dens are used for decades by both family groups and dominant males.
If the bear does not find a ready-made den, he builds a new one. The bear digs a den with both front paws. A slight shift of the den chamber to the left or right side depends on which paw the animal works more with - the left or the right. The soil is thrown out of the den between the hind legs or to the side. How he manages to shovel up to ten cubic meters of earth through a narrow hole remains a mystery. He climbs into the den on his bellies, on his elbows, with his hind legs stretched out, and gets out of it in the same way, crawling. The beast proportions the volume of the den to the size of its body. Its length and width should be no less than the length of the body, and its height should be slightly greater than the height of the body at the withers, so that when sitting in a prone position, the animal does not rest its head on the ceiling. Digging a den takes two to three days. Thick rhizomes that interfere with passage are chewed out by the bear and thrown out. Several fragments of rhizomes may remain in the den.
WINTER SLEEP AND AWAKENING
The life of a bear in a den is supported by feeding on fat reserves accumulated in the fall. The processes occurring in a sleeping bear are similar to the processes occurring in the body of a starving person, but in a bear they are much more rational. Despite the long immobility in the den, the strength of the bones does not decrease. During winter sleep, a bear's brain cells are in oxygen starvation mode for five months, but do not die, although 90% less blood enters the brain than usual.
Scientists suggest that a special hormone, which comes from the hypothalamus every autumn, controls the processes of obesity and moderate weight loss in bears. After hibernation, the bear completely retains its muscles and does not feel hungry for another two weeks. This explains his playful mood after leaving the den and his aimless wandering around the habitat.
In Kamchatka, bears leave their dens from the third ten days of March to the end of the first ten days of June. As a rule, large mature and middle-aged males are the first to leave dens. Then it begins mass output, and together with the males, single females and young females of the first mating spring, family groups of four-year-olds (three-year-olds), third-year-olds (two-year-olds) and second-year-olds (one-year-olds) rise up. The last of the family groups to leave the dens are females with young of the year.
Bears come out of their dens into the snow, and spring is in the air - daytime temperatures reach +4°C, and at night frosts reach _6°C. The snow is slowly moistened, compacted, and structured. Having left the den, the animal remains next to it, if no one bothers it, for several more days, and at night it can return to the den. The first beds, as a rule, are located two to three meters from the brow, then the animal begins to move away 50-100 m. During the day, in the sun, it lies down in the open snow, and at night it does not return to the den, but settles down on the snow beds. He makes a bedding, crushing the tops of alder or cedar branches that have melted from the snow, or strips the bark from a tree under which he lies down to rest, or smashes a dry stump into chips and sleeps on its rotten fragments.
After three to five days, the bear leaves the den. Studying the tracks suggests that in the first two or three days the animal lacks purposeful movements. It's like walking freely for the pleasure of moving. Contrary to the general idea that movement should be directed towards food locations, animals roam rather randomly. Their traces are found in the middle mountains, and on the slopes of hills, up to 1000 m and higher above sea level, and in the coastal forest zone, and along the ocean coast. In the birch forest area, a bear, moving idly, destroys three or four dry trees along a two or three kilometer path, but not to insulate the bed, but for playful fun, from excess strength and the desire to move. The need for play in the post-berth period is higher than in other periods. Free roaming is normalized by the end of May, and animals gradually concentrate on the first thawed patches with grass seedlings, on the sunny slopes of ravines, on the banks of ice-free rivers and streams, and those who have reached the sea coast - at coastline ocean.
The early spring feeding period begins, meager in the amount of food, “hungry”, in our opinion, but in fact - completely normal for the animal. The secret is in the so-called endogenous nutrition - the use of fat reserves accumulated since the fall, when the volume of fattening feed consumed exceeded daily norm 3-4 times. The beast was forced to gorge itself on foodless winter and spring days and even in the summer, since the nutritional value of herbaceous vegetation is low. By the end summer season bears completely lose their fat reserves, and those who did not have enough of them begin to lose muscle mass.
BEDS
During the active period of the annual cycle, the bear uses resting places at night or during the day - depressions in the ground (in the spring, after leaving the den, lying areas are made in the snow). In summer, the bear digs nests in the ground or uses someone else's. In the fall, at the first frost, the ground beds are insulated with a bedding of dry grass stems. Such beds are called nesting beds. As the night temperature drops, the amount of litter in the bed increases and the beds themselves look like huge nests on the ground. To collect bedding, the animal scrapes with its claws, then with one or the other paw alternately, raking up small piles of dry grassy stems in one place. Then he moves one or two steps forward and again makes piles. So the animal walks 5-10 m, then moves back, raking the prepared piles of stems under itself with a roller. The roller rolls into the bed and again begins to rake up piles, moving forward. The stems of some herbs, such as reed grass, are very strong, and the bear does not always manage to scratch the desired bunch. Then he helps himself with his mouth: he tilts the stems to the side, bites them with his teeth, rakes them into a bunch and moves on. Rolling out 20-30 rollers, he fills the ground bed with a huge heap of dry grass, then climbs on top of it and rake out a hole in the center with a diameter of about a meter and a depth of up to 50 cm. Such a bed forms sides 1-1.5 m wide, sometimes up to 2-2.5 m. The bear clearly does not need sides of such width. Apparently, when collecting building materials, he does not measure its volume with his own body. This bed is used for several days - before rain or wet snowfalls; the bear leaves it as soon as the bedding freezes. Only one large male makes such huge nests on Lake Lesnoye. The thickness of the litter at the bottom of the ground bed is compressed to 10-20 cm. In nesting beds built in the fall, the litter can be different: from reed grass, sholomainik, fallen leaves, destroyed dry stumps. When the grasses go under the snow, the bear uses ground beds in the alder thickets. He clears them of snow and lays them on a thin layer of peat humus.
In the spring, after leaving the den, the bear makes bedding from the branches of alder or dwarf cedar, but more often it uses dry birch trunks, breaking them into chips and scraping out the dust from them with its claws. In the Valley of Geysers, bears have adapted to warm themselves in early spring, during night frosts, in beds dug in warm soil. in summer and early autumn bears have opposite requirements for their beds - they should not retain heat, but take away its excess, that is, be cool and damp. To do this, animals make them deeper and wider - up to 1.5 m wide and up to 0.5 m deep. Animals dig such beds in damp places, not far from water, in dense tall grass, shaded by trees, or in clumps of alder trees, in damp soil.
Normal freshly dug soil beds have an average size of 80-80-20 cm, rarely up to a meter in width. Over time, other bears expand and deepen them. The average width of such beds is from 100 to 120 cm, and the depth is 20-30 cm. The question arises, how can an animal up to two meters long, with a huge body volume, fit in such a small bed? He uses it only as a “chair” in which he places his butt and part of his belly. And the upper half rests on the side of the bed.
WATER
The bear is inseparable from water. In summer, water, snowfields and damp soil are essential components comfortable conditions. They perform a thermoregulatory function. In its habitat, the animal knows all its baths. “Our own” is incorrectly said. Bathing places in the form of small lakes, pits filled with water, streams and rivers are common to all bears. In summer or autumn, after a long time of grazing under the sun, the animal goes to a watering place and immediately plunges its body into the water up to its ears. He can take a bath for 10-15 minutes, and then gets into dense thickets olshin and rests in deep, damp beds.
All the bears that graze in the summer in the grate meadows along the surf strip constantly swim in the ocean. They lie down on the surf line, with their heads towards the shore, and lie for 10-20 minutes, washed by the oncoming waves. Then, moving 15-20 m away, the animal digs a deep damp bed in the sand and lies down in it to rest.
At the end of May, at temperatures from +5 to +10°C, bears lie in snowy beds for 5-6 hours, waddling from side to side. In the mountains in June-July, bears use both snowfields and streams for cooling. Warm mineral springs they do not visit: warm water Doesn't attract bears.
The bear does not drink sea water, although it can catch fish in it, opposite the mouth of spawning rivers, and some of the salt water ends up in its mouth. But when capelin spawn, the bear prefers to collect it, washed up by the waves, on the shore.
If a bear stops in the river while fishing and, plunging his muzzle into the water up to his eyes, draws in water for 5-10 seconds, making five to seven intervals of 10-15 seconds, it means he has finished fishing and will now go out to rest. After resting on the shore for about an hour, the bear begins to feel thirsty again. Even if the river is closer than a swampy puddle, he prefers to drink from the puddle. And if, after relaxing on the shore in late autumn and winter, he goes to the river to drink, then he tries not to go into the water, but to drink, kneeling down, barely reaching the water with his muzzle. When he is lazy to go to the river, he eats snow. Having drunk, he returns to his bed or can lie down right there, on the shore, and watch the river, looking for fish with his eyes.
SNOW AND BEAR
The bear is born under the snow, comes out of the den into the snow, in some cases uses it in the summer and lies down in the den under the snow new winter. In autumn, snow covers the berry tundra, cranberry bogs and dwarf cedar forests, completely depriving the bear of plant food.
Deep winter snow cover the den, insulate the ceiling and seal the forehead. In the dwarf alder forest, the brow of the den is most often blocked by branches bent under the weight of snow. Rumors that a bear plugs the entrance hole from the inside with moss or dry grass for the winter are another common myth. There must be a hole in the thickness of the snow from the forehead to the surface of the snow - it serves as a ventilation pipe for thermoregulation and gas exchange in the den.
Coming out of the den, the bear finds himself on the snow, but not on the fluffy and loose snow that accompanied him to the den, but on a dense snow crust. The morning crust at the end of April - beginning of May looks like white asphalt. The crust of welded firn grains can reach a thickness of 5-10 cm. Both humans and bears can walk freely on this crust. 2-3 hours after sunrise, the ice adhesions are destroyed. The animal begins to fall 10-30 cm, and sometimes up to its belly. To save energy, he prefers to move along the holes of his own or someone else's tracks.
PAWS SUCKING
The sucking reflex in cubs separated from their mother in the third or fourth month of life and growing up in one family group, persists until the age of three. The cubs suck each other's fur on their backs and sides with the same rumbling sound with which they suck their mother's breast. Since they do not receive food reinforcement, the process itself is important to them. Perhaps wool sucking is a factor in closer communication with each other and explains family attachment before family breakdown. The bear cub, left alone, prompted by the sucking instinct, diligently sucks the clawed fingers of its front paw. This continues until the age of three. This is where, apparently, there is an opinion that a bear in a den sucks its paw.
TABLECLOTH-SELF-ASSEMBLED
A bear “table” in the fall is like a self-assembled tablecloth. The bear feast begins in August and ends in October. During this period, crowberry and blueberry ripen on the berry tundra, as well as honeysuckle, lingonberry, princeberry, and juniper. On the tundra of the Tikhaya River, up to 25 bears gather at one time at one “table” with an area of 6 km2. At the end of August, rowan berries ripen in the forest. In October you can pick cranberries in the swamps. Fish enter the rivers. Bears meet her on the rifts, on the shallows, gorge themselves in the first two weeks, and then eat only delicacies - caviar and brain cartilage. Having eaten enough fish, they go “for the berries”; after eating enough berries, they go after the fish. From the abundance of energy-intensive food they quickly become fat.
At the end of October, the self-assembled tablecloth “fades”, the bears lose interest in it and, tired after six months of continuous “work,” migrate to rest. Ahead - again sleep in a den.
Bears in the Moscow Zoo, following the jerboas, have gone into hibernation. This year they went to the side earlier than usual - as a rule, this happens in early December. According to experts, the reason for falling asleep early is the early onset of cold weather. MOSLENTA decided to understand such subtle bear questions: why animals are used to sleeping, how they prepare for long sleep, and how this happens in the zoo.
Stealing from the chipmunks
In nature, bears go into hibernation for a banal reason - at this time of year they simply do not have enough food. And hibernation (that’s what scientists call hibernation) for them the only way survival. The fact is that Brown bear, although considered a predator, is actually omnivorous, and specifically our brown fellow countryman prefers plant foods: berries, herbaceous plants, acorns and nuts. And fish. Unlike, for example, its Himalayan counterpart, it destroys anthills and termite mounds. Naturally, in winter, with the onset of cold weather and snowfall, the food supply is noticeably reduced. Yes, and it is difficult for a clubfoot to hunt in the snow - although in fact it is very mobile and fast: its speed reaches 50 km/h.
Browns' favorite delicacy is pine nuts - they are very nutritious and allow you to quickly gain the necessary fat. Behind them, clubfooted animals are ready to climb to the very top of the trees, although it is very thin and can easily break under the weight of the animal. But often the bear does not collect the nuts himself, but simply steals them, ruining, in particular, underground storerooms in chipmunk burrows. At the same time, the owners have no choice but to watch what is happening - or join the feast. Really, don't fight!
Having fattened up, wild bears settle into dens. Moreover, they are often located in places other than where they live and eat in the summer. As a rule, a den is a dump (a deep hole formed after a tree fell) or a cave. Sometimes a brown bear can dig a hole for itself, but this rarely happens. There the animals pull moss, dry leaves, branches, and cover them with spruce branches on top. When hibernating, the bear confuses its tracks around the den, and often enters it backwards. The fact is that the clubfoot always sleeps with his face towards the entrance, and not in every apartment he has the opportunity to turn around.
In this case, the position of the bear’s body can be any: on its back, on its side, curled up in a ball, and even sitting, with its head lowered between its paws. But males sleep alone, and females sleep with small cubs.
In captivity, bears have no problems with food - but their instincts are stronger. Therefore, in their rooms, closed from prying eyes, the clubfoots make a kind of den - they collect hay and burrow into it. Such a den is more like a nest, but sleeping in it, especially if you have thick fur through which even bees cannot reach your skin, is very comfortable.
Berlog mark
Hibernation of a bear differs significantly from the hibernation of other animals. His body temperature decreases relatively slightly (from 37 to 31 degrees Celsius), his heart rate decreases from approximately 55 to 7-10 beats per minute. Life processes slow down just as slightly, unlike other hibernating animals. But this does not prevent the animal from feeling quite comfortable in its sleep - and this sleep sometimes lasts more than six months.
Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr/AP
At the same time, in wildlife The clubfoot sleeps very lightly (again, unlike other mammals), and due to extraneous noise it can wake up - although even a tree that has fallen next to the den may not disturb it, but a dog barking nearby easily interrupts its sleep. Other animals walk around the wintering area in a large arc - an awakened bear is not distinguished by its gentle disposition. Snow partially plays the role of sound insulation - the entrance to the den is almost always visible. But warm steam from the muzzle turned towards the exit punches a small hole, which is clearly visible, as it has a specific pale yellow color. It is by this mark that the den can be easily identified.
In captivity, things happen a little differently. “During hibernation in the zoo, the bears’ body temperature does not drop, so they sleep lightly, and zoo employees try to be quieter around the bears,” the press service of the Moscow Zoo explained to MOSLENTE.
Why does a bear suck its paw?
It is generally accepted that during hibernation a bear sucks its paw. But in reality this is nothing more than a legend. Closer to spring, the animal undergoes a change in hard skin on the paw pads, the old skin bursts, causing unpleasant itching. Because of this, the animal, without waking up, begins to lick its paws.
It’s also interesting that even polar bears go into hibernation. More precisely, pregnant bears. Then when they appear external signs pregnancy, they sail to Wrangel Island or Franz Josef Land, where they dig dens in the snow and go to bed. They wake up in April, immediately before giving birth, but leave their dens only after 1.5-2 months. And mother bears live here until the children are one and a half years old - that is, until the end of next summer.
The North American grizzly bear also hibernates - but it makes dens for itself in the hollows of trees.
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