How does the bear prepare for winter? Bear in the wild

Bear is, perhaps, one of the most famous representatives of predatory animals all over the world. And all thanks to its size! Barrel-shaped body on massive paws with large claws, huge head with a wide forehead and small eyes, large mobile lips, coarse and furry hair ... Here it is - the image of a mighty club-footed! In this article we will learn how the bear prepares for the winter, what it feeds and how it constructs a lair for itself.

Shaggy and heavy

Bears without exaggeration can be called shaggy heavyweights among land mammals covered with wool. For example, an adult Alaskan brown bear (photo below) reaches a height of 3 m with a weight of 700 kg! But this is not the limit. The largest polar bear in the world is the white polar. This animal exceeds 3 m in length, reaching a weight of 1 ton. Just think! That is how much old males weigh, middle-aged bears do not exceed usually 400-500 kg.

These predators are famous not only for their size, but also for strong physical data. Bear in nature has iron muscles, a thick layer of fat and warm hair. All this helps the predator to survive the winter with its protracted frosts, for example, in the remote Siberian taiga. If we talk about polar bears, then these hairy giants without much effort are able to swim in the icy water about a dozen kilometers, because they are wonderful divers. It is curious that during a throw into the water a polar bear squeezes the nostrils and ears, but leaves its small and blind eyes open. But back to the brown clubfoot.

What do bears eat?

The visiting card of many bears is their behavior in the winter season, or rather the absence of this behavior. Yes, many of these predators in winter do not show any activity, since they fall into the so-called winter sleep. You probably wonder how the bear prepares for the winter and what it eats at the same time. This will be discussed a little later. Now we should dwell on the main menu of the owner of the Russian taiga. Despite the fact that all bears are representatives of predatory animals, they eat with great pleasure vegetative food.

For example, brown bears like to eat various cereals, nutritious rhizomes of plants, nuts and berries. Probably, every sane person knows that honey is the favorite food of the brown beast. And indeed it is! Wild bears are ready for hours to endure the bites of furious bees, only to get to the treasured and delicious honey. These are the conditions of living of these animals in the wild. However, even this does not allow to call these predators vegetarians.

The fact is that the clumsy people like to catch fish from flowing forest rivulets. Zoologists describe this amazing sight: the bear stands on the shore for hours on end, peering into the surface of the water, and suddenly it instantly and lightning launches its front paw with powerful long claws, catching a big fish from the river. Moreover, one bear punch with a paw costs life to such animals as wolves and deer. These predators do not need to overwhelm even an adult moose!

How does the bear prepare for winter? Winter dream

Bears are mostly forest inhabitants. One of their abilities is the ability to climb trees perfectly. Especially these are the heavyweights of the South American tropics - spectacled and Malay bears. But if these kinds of club-footed only do what they climb, our master of the Russian taiga became famous throughout the world for his unusual behavior in the winter.

The fact is that brown bears basically do not show any activity in the cold season, as they fall into deep sleep. Of course, many animals (hedgehogs, badgers, moles) sleep during this time, but all of them are small mammals, and a large predator, falling into a dream for the whole winter, try and find another! This is the prerogative of only bears. So, let's find out how the bear is preparing for the winter.

The construction of the lair

In the northern regions of the globe, slanting heavyweights fall into hibernation only after they have built a special shelter - the den. Brown bears build their shelter from massive branches and twigs, and white bears dig holes in large snowdrifts. Often brown bears take an example from their northern relatives, digging out their earth holes in the precipitous sandy shores of forest rivulets.

Usually the bear's lair is located in some secluded place, hidden from prying eyes. For example, brown bears can lie under the logs or vyvorotnyami, under the roots of huge fir trees or cedars. If, before the onset of cold weather, the clumsy man has not found a secluded place, he simply digs a hole in the ground, reinforcing its walls with vertically sticking branches.

Bear in the lair is very carefully arranged. From inside, the animal ennobles, lining it with improvised materials, for example, coniferous branches, moss, bunches of hay or dry grass, dragged from the forest. By the way, an experienced hunter can easily detect a bear hut in the forest, paying attention to the surrounding trees with broken branches.

When the bears fall asleep?

In hibernation bears lie mainly from October to December. Accordingly, and the winter sleep for each clumsy lasts differently: from two months to six months. Zoologists who observed the behavior of these animals in nature, argue that in warm regions, provided a plentiful harvest of nuts, berries and other fruits, many heavyweights almost do not go into hibernation. Bear in autumn and winter in this case plunges into a shallow sleep only for several days and provided unfavorable weather prevents him from walking around the surrounding forests. But we are interested in those who are clumsy, who are forgotten for a long time by their winter sleep.

How do the bears sleep?

The bear in the lair lies, curled up in a pose of kalacha: its hind legs it presses tightly to the belly, and its fore paws covers the nose. It is from here that the belief begins that the clumsy ostensibly suck their paws when they sleep. This is not quite true. The fact is that the bear lick its front paws only in the most extreme cases, for example, when suddenly it feels in a dream that the reserves of its hypodermic fat are running low.

This is due to the fact that in the warm season, various berries, insects and other "food" stick to the clutches of these massive animals, which eventually wilt. This allows them to lick their own paw slowly and slowly in a dream, looking for the aforementioned food in wool. So you can not fully argue that the clubfoot only and do that they suck the paw in the den.

Does the bear leave his lair in winter?

Yes, but it does not always happen. The winter dream of a hairy predator can not be called strong, since at the onset of a thaw the beast can suddenly awaken. In this case, the bears come out of their lairs and knead their bones, walking through the forest. But as soon as it gets cold again, the clumsy hurry back to the shelter, trying to cover up the traces of his stay on the street.

In this period, you can find and so-called rods. These are bears, who for one reason or another, due to malnutrition since the fall itself, could not lie in the den. Without accumulating enough subcutaneous fat, the beast begins to stagger through the winter forest, seeking out food for itself. With such an animal it is better not to meet, because he is very hungry and angry. Otherwise, the connecting rod bear can attack a person.

Bear Towns

So, in this article, we tried to highlight the issue of how the bear is preparing for the winter. In conclusion, we note that adult animals often sleep alone. Only the bear can lie together with the cubs, the last year. In those regions of the globe where there are few places for such wintering, the same lairs are used repeatedly. Sometimes they can be located in close proximity to each other. This phenomenon scientists call bear towns.