Arctic polar bear. White bears in the Arctic. Where the bears live

The polar bear (Ursus Maritimus) refers to the class of mammals, the detachment of predatory, family of bearish. Very close to the dog, the bear glances appeared about 5 million years ago. Lonely Lord of the Arctic, polar bear reigns from the northern shores of Eurasia and America on floating ice. Here is his element! For all day, he cares, passing huge distances, with pleasure riding in the snow or sleeps.
To the "ground" - mammal of a white bear can only be attributed conditionally, because on land, these animals appear very rarely, only on the Arctic islands and sea coast. They spend the big part of the time, nomady on the ice of the Northern Ice Ocean. The polar bear is perfectly adapted to life in the polar seas. In the Arctic, snow storms often happen. Saved from them, the white bears dig into the loophodes of the groove, fall into them and go out only after the storm subsides.

This is a real amphibious beast!

Its body has a streamlined form: a pointed muzzle easily dissects water, very warm, thick fur and a layer of subcutaneous fat allow a good floating predator for a long time to be in cold water, overcoming the split long distances between the ice fields. Hind legs Served steering, and the front, thick coated wool, form solid rowing blades. Bed body weight close to the proportion of water. The fur in the water does not wet and keeps the air, supports the body of this giant in the water, allowing you to swim hours and even sleep without getting out on the ice. Bears can float 100 km from Sushi!
Eyes, ears and nose are located on its relatively small head significantly higher than on a more rounded head. brown bear, Therefore, all the main organs of the feelings of the White Bear are above the water. He and a good diver. Floating bear develops speed 5-6 km / h, diving, it can stay under water for about two minutes.
Polar Bear - the largest ground predator and the largest bear of all existing species. Adult males reach 3 m. Length and weigh 500 - 700 kg, but are known to the giggles, weighing 1000 kg! For comparison: the weight of even the largest lions and tigers does not exceed 400 kg. Height in the withers - up to 1.5 m. The length of the tail from 8 to 15 cm. Lives in nature for about 25 years, but in zoos, where conditions are much less severe, can live up to 40 years.
A bear on the surface of the ice feels confident.

Extremely clever, it jumps cracks with a width to 3.5 m. And when the ice is not smoking, because it evenly distributes its weight, spreading the paws wide.
He has a protective color, white with a yellowish tint of fur is noticeable on the background of ice and snow. The hollow hairs of bear fur work like filaments along which the weak radiation of the North Sun reaches the skin of the bear and warms it. Acute curved claws help to easily climb on slippery glacial lips. White bears, even on the pillows, the wool grows, which allows them not to slide on ice and warms the paws.
The polar bear is an unsurpassed hunter on marine animals. It has sharp vision, magnificent hearing and excellent sense of smell and is able to understand the smell of the victim, being 7 km from it. Thanks to the acute south, the bear can learn a lot in the footsteps left by his relatives, for example, their gender or willingness to mate.
The polar bear is elected in nutrition among the bear and the only one of the bears who feeds mainly with meat. He is able to take long distances in search of his beloved food - seal. White bears invented different techniques hunting. Most often, they are pushed with seals from their ice junctions. During swimming under water, seals periodically need to dial air. To this end, the ice is maintained in ice. At its edge and guard a white bear, often for several hours.
As soon as the seal carelessly pops up, the bear with a powerful blow of the paw drops it out of the water or jumps into the hole himself, killing prey under water. Sometimes in order to kill the seal, just one hit the paw. Often, seals are not resting in water, but on the edge of their holes. Then the polar bear gently sneaks into them. Sometimes even crawling on the belly, hiding behind the snow nans and ice floes. However, he makes the jerk from a distance of 20-25 m. After all, if the seal detects it, it will quickly slide into the water.
In the spring female, the seal is arranged in the snow, almost imperceptible outside, with access to water. In them, Tylenihi puppies and leave the young, going on fishing. The polar bear exceptionally acute sense of smell is able to teach the seal among the ice. A powerful jump he flies the ice roof or pierces her paw. In this case, the seal, as a rule, there is no chance of saving.
Larger animals - young walrus, Belukh - these predators catch less often. It also feeds on fish, lemmings, calves of shebities, eggs and padal. In the summer months, even plants are eaten. White bears excellent scent, which allows them to teach the Padal at a distance of more than 30 km. Polar foxes and seagulls are often taped by the remnants of bearish meals.
In the summer, he applies a different tactics: long swims under water, then suddenly emerges and attacks the seals lying on the ice floes or resting on the waves of geese, swans, ducks. On the shore, the bears usually do not hunt.
White bears under the skin there is a large stock of fat, which saves them from the cold and allows for a long time not to eat. But if the bear caught prey, it can eat 10-25 kg immediately. An experienced bear once every 3-4 days catches in seal.
Decent dimensions do not interfere with these animals to run at a speed of 40 km / h. On average, over the year they pass about 15 km in search of food.
Males of the White Medvea round year Go to the Arctic. They live by themselves, making an exception only for marriage period. Going to the hunt or in search of females to extend the genus, they move on endless ice spaces and sometimes go on a day a lot of tens of kilometers. Females live in small family groups with their cubs, as a rule, two, and sometimes more.
By the beginning of the marriage season, a bear becomes restless, her routes of walking are lengthened. When the male rises on her litter or traces of urine, he depends that the female is ready for mating, and takes her mark. At the first meetings, a bear demonstrates inaccessibility and rejects it with a roaring or piping. Running on the hind legs and loudly, the bear tries to impress the partner. He must be stubbornly behind her, and gradually the female let him closer. Some time bears are together, frolping and playing. But after a few days their paths are diverged. After one or two days, mating comes. Both beasts later mate with other partners. It may happen that the cubs of one litter are different fathers.
If a few males follow ready for the pairing, then the question is solved by the size and self-confidence of the applicant. Each of the males shows what is capable of, rising in full growth, exchanging the paws and loudly lean.
During the summer, the female of the polar bear accumulates under the skin of the fat to survive for a long winter. After the marriage period, the female at the coldest months in the year falls into the hibernation. She roets in the snow and closer in the resulting natural way Snow empties to fall into the hibernation. The Berloga of the Medolon suits not among the ice, but on the land of the Arctic islands.
Maunditz never eats and does not drink, getting energy due to the "burning" of fat reserves accumulated by the fall. Mesman, nursing kids, during winter hibernation It may lose more than half of its weight. The body temperature remains normal - in contrast to animals flowing into a real hibernation.
In Berlog, it is very warmth (the temperature comes to + 30 ° C), and a cub appears in the December to December from the Medoli. The Medveditsa is usually born 2-3 bearings every 3 years. Young bear bears are born weak, blind and mother take care of them with large love. Weighs the newborn only 700 g. And a length of 20 cm. Mothers fiercely protect their babies, especially from male bears, who, if hungry, can kill and eat cubs.

The kids open the eyes about a month after birth, and the first steps are made at the age of one and a half months. The first few months of the young are in a snowy berry and feed on fatty maternal milk. Beds are born completely without wool, but after a while she grows them and becomes thick and dense.
Four months cubs weigh 10 kg and still suck the mother (sometimes up to the year), but the bear is already beginning to feed the toddlers with seals with fat. Despite all the efforts of females, of the three young people usually survive alone.
With the end of the polar night, the cubs are published with a mother of close ice burgroles and gladly frolic on the square.
Now they can go out of shelter, and no frost will not be terrible. The bear will teach them to hunt and swim. While they are small, the mother allows them to sit down on her back and rolling with pleasure, as on a steamer.
In two years, the young bear begins to live independently. At this age, the risk to die is still quite high, as the hunter he is still inexperienced and often remains hungry.
On the territory of Russia, the White Bear is common on the islands of the Northern Ocean: on the Earth Franz Joseph, New Earth, Northern Earth, Novosibirsk Islands and the island of Wrangel.
The polar bear prefers to stay among the floating ice or in the wormwood, where you can get seals. The largest number of snow berry, in which the bear is born, is arranged on the Earth Franz Joseph and the island of Wrangel. In November - December, the bear is usually bringing two cubs. In March - April, Berlogue, together with his mother, leave the marriage. By this time, their weight reaches 10- 12 kg. Bear Family is saved for about two years.
In nature, the White Bear has no enemies. He is quite peaceful in relation to man. Protecting its prey (for example, caught seal) or cubs, can rush to a person trying to scare him. A loud muttering is a warning of possible danger. The actual cases of attack is very small. On a new land in more than 100 years of its development for this reason, three people were killed, and there was not a single victim on the island of Wrangel.
History with a white bear has a long history. Ancient Romans these animals were known in the first century AD. A written source containing information about polar bears dates back to 880.
In the XII-XIII centuries. Russian settlers, settled the shores of the White and Barents Seas, hunted on white bears, supplied Velikiy Novgorod And Moscow is bearish skins. Until the bears hunted residents Far North, the damage for the livestock was small.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. In the Arctic seas began to regularly penetrate hunting ships and began fishery of polar bears. It was especially sharp in the middle of the XIX century, when the reserves of Greenland whales were exhausted and the attention of the miners switched to walrus and bears. At the beginning of the XX century. Hunting was carried out with an unusually wide scope.
On Svalbard for 1920-1930. More than 4 thousand beasts were mined. According to approximate estimates, only in the north of Eurasia from the beginning of the XVIII century. Until the middle of the XX century. Mining was over 150 thousand bears.
Back in the seventies of the last century, white bears were an object of impudent hunting in Canada, Greenland, Norway and Alaska.
By the beginning of the 70s. XX century In the Russian sector of the Arctic, 5-7 thousand polar bears dwell, and throughout the territory of the Arctic, their number did not exceed 20 thousand. In 1973, an international agreement on the preservation of a polar bear was signed. Ten years later, the number of bears increased and was over 25 thousand.
Around the North Pole lives about 25 Bed Bears in different stars, the population is stable. But they suffer from pollution of the seas and global warming. Today they are protected by international agreements, the hunt for them is prohibited, and the White Bear itself is listed in the Red Book. The polar bear is guarded in the reserve on the island of Wrangel, brought to the Red List of IUCN 96 and the Red Book Russian Federation.
The sharp warming of climate has jeopardized the existence of a population of polar bears at Hudson Bay in the north of Canada. The sea began to freeze a month later, and it prevents them from hunting seals. Hungry bears are suitable for villages and garbage dumps.
Study the bears are not easy: they live scattered on large spaces, careful and too dangerous to approach them. Now researchers have efficient sleeping agents. White bears, which are aggressive and very moving, sleep from the air: Aeros will chase bears on open ice, and then shoot with a helicopter arrow with a sleeping agent. The stubborn animal is measured, exploring the presence of scars, remove the prints of the teeth and take blood. Analyzes of cover and fat give information about its health. At the Medvedits, on the basis of blood test, it is possible to determine whether it is ready for mating or already pregnant.

Other data on the life of bears are obtained by footprints, analyzing wool, logo and litter, by which you can define the type of power. Additional information gives observations of behavior. Thus, you can trace the development of bearish populations in a certain area over the years.
Bear trails and plots are investigated using telemetry. Animals receive radioosaicians, thanks to which they can be located. Many collars are additionally equipped with sensors that write the body temperature and animal movement.
According to them, the researcher can determine, the bear is resting or active. Every six hours, the exact coordinates of its location are transmitted to the satellite, and from there - on computers of scientists. Many transmitters even send data constantly, so that the coordinates indicated by them are projected onto the card, and you can follow the screen for the movement of the bears.
In order to determine the age of the bear, the sleepy beast remove a small, not functioning tooth in the lower jaw.
The teeth of bears form annual circles like trees trunks. Inside, they consist of dentin. The tooth crown is covered with dental enamel, root - dental cement. To the tooth always remains firmly fixed in the jaw, the cement layer is constantly growing throughout the life of the bear. Depending on the time of the year, the increase in cement occurs in different ways: in winter - slower, at that time only a thin layer is formed around the tooth. At the beginning of the year and in the summer there is a wider light layer. Both lines form a layer that has grown in one year. The older the Bear, the slower the cement is growing and the less distances between the annual rings are.
White bears studied quite well: the examples of their territories, diet and marriage behavior are known. Scientists were able to observe how the bear brought up their cubs.
Does the greenhouse effect threaten white bears?
Greenhouse effect and global warming primarily are a consequence of gas emissions. Carbon dioxide and other gas connections rise into high atmospheric layers, forming a layer above the ground, which delays heat at the surface of the planet, as in a greenhouse. The consequences are already noticeable in the Arctic: over the past 100 years, the air temperature has risen there about 5 ° C. Area arctic ice Every year is reduced every year.
Pollution ambient - Problem for polar bears. Around drilling rigs and oil harvesters sea \u200b\u200bwater It is often contaminated with oil. From the cold and dampness of polar bears well protects thick wool. But the wool wool loses its ability to hold the air, so half of its insulating effect is lost. The bear coolers faster, and there is a danger of overheating in the sun. If, while swimming, the bear is increasingly contaminated with water oil or misgens it from wool, it will lead to a damage to the kidneys, intestinal bleeding and other severe diseases. In the tissues of polar bears, such harmful substances as chloroil hydrogen were discovered. They accumulate from food and postponed in wool, teeth and bones. In the future, harmful substances affect not only health, but also on the ability of animals to continue the genus.
The life of polar bears depends on the presence of ice. Only if in the summer they go to ice to hunt for seals, they manage to accumulate sufficient fat reserves by winter. If the ice is melting in summer before or crushes onto ice, animals have to return to the mainland, where food is less. This affects the ability to continue the genus: Bears who eat worse, less offspring is born or it is not born at all. If warming and then goes the same pace, then cover summer ice In the Arctic Sea will disappear at the most later than 2080. The White Bear will have to adapt to completely different living conditions or be before the threat of extinction.

Bears and People
Today in zoos try to provide animals to the content corresponding to their form. Zoopards perform an important function to maintain those species that are under threat of destruction: animal habits are investigated, the public is informed about the types under threat, and breeding programs at the international level are coordinated.
To somehow take animals, more and more zoos are developing entertainment programs for their bears. Bears are not at all lying. In nature, they are constantly engaged in reconnaissance and search for food. Animals that cannot satisfy their need in motion often demonstrate violations in behavior: they are trampled on the spot, they shook their heads, then they also jump or show the same type, rhythmic repetitive movements.
The food is no longer served in the feeder, but spread over the territory of the enclosures, bury or hide in the hollows of trees or under roots.
So the bear has to look for her or catching the paws. Film filled with straw or hay balls, honey is placed on the most tops high trees. Bears adore frozen food. For example, carrots, apples and carcasses of the fish are placed in buckets with water or fruit juice and frozen.

- A predator, which is included in the jammed, family of bearish and genus bears. This unique mammal refers to extinct species. His most famous names - Umku, Oshkui, Nanoo and Polar Bear. He lives in the north, feeds on fish and smaller animals, sometimes attacks man. Just a few centuries ago, his number exceeded hundreds of thousands of individuals, but their systematic destruction forced the defenders of nature to score the alarm.

Where does the polar bear live?

The polar bear lives exclusively in the indoor regions of the northern hemisphere, but this does not mean that the animal lives everywhere where the non-melting arctic snow is. Most bears do not go further than 88 degrees of northern latitude, the extreme point of their distribution in the south is the island of Newfoundland, a few inhabitants of which, risk life daily, trying to get along with a dangerous predator.

The inhabitants of the Arctic and tundra zones of Russia, Greenland, the United States and Canada are also familiar with the White Michemale. Most animals live in areas with drifting, perennial ice, where many seals and walruses also live. Most often, the Bear can be seen near a large wormwood, on the edge of which he freezes waiting for a sealing depth of seal, or a sea cat.

To accurately determine the mainland, where the polar bear lives for mostly it is impossible. The most extensive populations of these animals were named at their main cluster. So, most of the predators prefers:

• Eastern shores of Kara and East Siberian seas, cold water of the sea Laptev, Novosibirsk Islands and Archipelago New Earth (Laptev population);
• the shores of the Barents Sea, the western part of the Kara Sea, the Islands of the archipelago New Earth, the Earth of France Joseph and Svalbard (Karsko-Barentsomoor's population);
• Chukotka Sea, Northern Bering Sea Bering, East of the East Siberian Sea, Wrangel Islands and Herald (Chukotka-Alaskan population).

Directly in the Arctic, white bears are rare, preferring more southern and warm seawhere they have more chances for survival. Habitat habitat and is associated with borders polar ice. If the Arctic summer was dragged, and ice began to melt, then animals go closer to the pole. With the onset of winter, they return to the south, preferring to ice-covered coastal zones and mainland.

Description of the White Bear

White bears, the description of which is presented below are the largest mammal predators on the planet. Significant dimensions they are required to extinct thousands of years ago. The giant polar bear had at least 4 meters of length, weighed about 1.2 tons.

A modern white bear and a mass and growth is inferior to him. Thus, the maximum length of a white bears does not exceed 3 meters by weight of the body up to 1 ton. The average weight of males does not exceed 500 kilograms, females weigh 200-350 kilograms. The growth of an adult animal in the withers is only 1.2-1.5 meters, while a gigantic polar bear reached a height of 2-2.5 meters.

Woolen cover, features of the structure of the body and head

The whole body of a white bears covers a fur that protects against severe frosts and allows you to feel comfortable even in ice water. Fur cover is deprived of only the nose and pads of the paws. The coat color can be crystal white, yellowish and even green.

In fact, animal wool is deprived of pigmentation, it is colorless, hairs hollow, dense, tough, located on minimum distance Friend from each other. There is well-developed undercoat, under which black leather with a 10-centimeter fat layer is found.

White wool color is perfect camouflage for the animal. Blowing a bear is not easy to calculate even an experienced hunter, seals and walruses often become victims of this crucible and cruel predator.

The structure of the body, heads and legs

Unlike the grizzly, the neck of the white bear is elongated, the head is flat, the facial part of it is elongated, the ears are small, rounded.

These animals skillful swimmers, which is achieved by having a refill between their fingers and is caused by where the polar bear lives most of the year. At the time of the swim it does not matter how much the white bear weighs, thanks to the membranes, it can easily overtake even the fastest prey.

Feet of the Predator Film, ends with powerful legs. The soles of the feet covers wool, which serves perfect protection against freezing and slip. The front parts of the paws are covered with rigid bristles, under which sharp claws are hidden, allowing preaching for a long time. Capturing the victim claws, the predator further uses the teeth. His jaw has powerful, cutters and fangs are well developed. A healthy animal has up to 42 teeth, there are no facial vibribuses.

All representatives of this species have a tail, the polar bear is no exception in this regard. His tail is small, length from 7 to 13 centimeters, is lost against the background of the extended wool of the back of the back.

Endurance

The polar bear is extremely hardy animal, despite the seeming clumsiness, it is able to overcome up to 5.6 kilometers per hour on land and up to 7 kilometers per hour. The average predator rate is 40 kilometers per hour.

Polar bears are well heard and see, and an excellent sense of smell allows you to teach production from it at a distance of 1 kilometer. An animal can detect the seal, hiding under several meters of snow, or hiding at the bottom of the wormwood, even if it is at a depth of over 1 meter.

How much does the polar bear live?

Oddly enough, in captivity, polar bears live longer than in the natural habitat. Medium duration Life in this case does not exceed 20-30 years, while the inhabitant of the zoo is quite capable of living over 45-50 years. This is due to the cutting feed base, the annual melting of glaciers and the incessant extermination of predators by man.

In Russia, the hunt for the polar bear is prohibited, but in other countries there are only some restrictions on this score that exterminate no more than a few hundred predators per year. In most cases, such a hunting is not related to real needs for meat and skins, therefore is a real barbarity towards this beautiful and powerful beast.

Features of character and lifestyle

Polar bear is considered a cruel predator that attackers even on people. An animal prefers a single lifestyle, males and females are collected together only during the Gon. The rest of the time the bears move exclusively on its own, disheveled in other fellow people, territory, and this applies not only to males, but also females with a newborn offspring.

Hibernation

Unlike his brown fellow, the polar bear may not lay in a hibernation for the winter. Most often only pregnant females on the eve of childbirth. Adult males sleep not every season, the duration of the hibernation is not more than 80 days (the brown bear sleeps from 75 to 195 days a year).

Reproduction of polar bears, care for offspring

In relation to each other, white bears behave quite peacefully, most of the fights occur between the males during the Gon. At this time, not only adult animals can suffer, but also bearings that prevent the repeat participation of females in marital games.

Female beasts are becoming the achievement of 4 or 8 years old, while the females are ready for the tooling offspring for 1-2 years before males.

The marriage period lasts from the end of March and before the beginning of June. One female can pursue up to 7 males. Singing offspring takes at least 250 days, which corresponds to 8 months. Pregnancy begins with a latent stage for which the embryo implantation delay is characteristic. This feature is associated not only with the physiology of the animal, but also with the terms of its habitat. The female should prepare for the development of the fetus and to a long hibernation. At about the end of October, she begins to equip their own berry, and for this purpose sometimes overcomes hundreds of kilometers. Many females are digging burgroges near existing buildings. So, on the Osts of Wrangel and Franz Joseph there are at least 150 nearby Berlogs.

The development of the embryo begins in mid-November, when the female is already sleeping. His hook ends in April and approximately at the same time 1-3 bears appear in the berry, weighing from 450 to 700 grams each. The exception is the birth of 4 young. The kids are covered with a thin fur, practically not protecting them from the cold, because in the first weeks of their life, the female does not leave the Berlogue, supporting its existence by the accumulated fat.

Newborn cubs feed exclusively with maternal milk. They do not open their eyes immediately, and a month after birth. Double-month kids are starting to crawl out of the beams so that it is finally off to reach it for 3 months. At the same time, they continue to eat with milk and are close to the female until the achievement of 1.5 years. Small beables are practically helpless, therefore often become prey for larger predators. Mortality among polar bears under the age of 1 year is at least 10-30%.

The new pregnancy in the female comes only after the death of the offspring, or the introduction of him in adulthood, that is, no more than 1 time in 2-3 years. On average, no more than 15 young, half of which dies is born from one female.

What is powered by a polar bear

Pouring a polar bear exclusively meat and fish food. The victims of it become seals, a ringed nerve, marine hare, walru, Beluha and Narlalya. After catching and making prey, the predator starts eating her skins and fat. It is this part of the carcass that is the fact that white bears eat in most cases. Fresh meat they prefer not to eat, making an exception only during periods of long hunger strike. Such a nutrient diet is necessary for accumulating vitamin A in the liver, helpsing without consequences to survive prolonged wintering. The fact that the White Bear does not eat are chosen by the following Padalkers - Sands and Wolves.

For saturation, predator needs at least 7 kilograms of food. The hungry bear can eat 19 or more kilograms. If the extraction went away, and there was no strength to persecute, then the beast feeds on fish, Padalu, bird eggs and chicks. At such a time, the bear becomes dangerous for a person. He will raise on the outskirts of the villages, feeding the garbage garbage and eating lonely travelers. In the hungry years, the bears do not bother algae and grass. Periods of long-term hunger strikes are mainly falling for the summer when they melt and retreat from the shore of the ice. At this time, the bears are forced to spend their own fat reserves, sometimes starving over 4 months in a row. The question of what the polar bear eats is becoming irrelevant in such periods, since the animal is ready to eat literally to all that moves.

Hunting

The prey of the bear seals a long time, sometimes it stands for hours near the wormwood waiting for the pop-up to breathe seal. As soon as the head of the sacrifice turns out to be over the water, the predator inflicts a powerful punch of the paw. Stunched carcass, he clings to claws and pulls out on land. To increase your chances of catching, the bear expands the boundaries of the wormwood and practically immerses his head into the water to have time to get the appearance of mining.

Tylenei cannot spend all the time in the water, they must sometimes rest than and enjoy the polar bears. Scrimiting the suitable seal, the bear quietly swims and turns the iceplace on which he rests. The fate of the seal is predetermined. If the prey of the bear became a walrus, then everything is not so unequivocal. Widham has a powerful protection in the form of front fangs, which they can easily pierce the unlucky striker. Adult walrus can be much stronger than the bear, especially if he is young and has no sufficient experience in such battles.

Remembering this, the bears attack only weak, or young walrles, making it exclusively on land. The prey is dried long, the bear sneaks at the as close as possible, after which he makes a jump and fell sacrificing with all its weight.

In the natural habitat, the bear has a minimum number of enemies. The animal was wounded, or got sick, they can attack walruges, fascia, wolves, sands and even dogs. A healthy bear is more than any of these predators and can easily cope with even several opponents who attacked the overall mass. The sick beast risks significantly and often prefers to avoid the battle, leaving in Berorga.

Sometimes the prey of wolves and dogs become small beables, the mother of which went hunting, or intensively observing them. Bear's life is also threatened with poachers interested in murdering an animal to obtain its luxurious skins and a large amount of meat.

Family ties

For the first time appear on the planet about 5 million years ago. The White Bear made up of its brown ancestors not more than 600 thousand years ago, and his nearest relative continues to be an ordinary brown bear.

And the polar bear, and the brown bear is genetically similar, because as a result of crossing, it turns out quite viable offspring, it is also possible to be used to receive young people. Black and white bears naturally do not bother, but young people will inherit everything top Qualities Both individuals.

At the same time, the white and brown bear live in different environmental systems, which affected the formation of a number of phenotypic signs, as well as differences in nutrition, behavior and lifestyle. Availability essential difference In all of the listed allowed to classify a brown bear, or grizzly, like a separate look.

Polar Bear and Brown Bear: Comparative Characteristics

And the white, and the brown bear have a number of distinctive features, the essence of which comes down to the following:

And the white, and brown bear are dangerous predators, which leads to the emergence of natural questions about who is stronger in the fight, a polar bear or grizzly? To give an unequivocal answer to the question about who is stronger, or who will win the polar bear or brown, it is impossible. These animals almost never intersect. In the conditions of the zoo, they behave quite peacefully.

Interesting facts about white bear

A lot of legends and myths are folded about the white bear. At the same time, some features of his behavior are so interesting that not only lovers of legends, but young admirers deserve attention. wildlife. To date, the Polar Bear knows the following:

• The largest predators are found in the Barents Sea, animals are preferred by the island of Spitsbergen and the terrain near him.
• On photographs made in ultraviolet lighting, white bear wool seems black.
• The bears can be tormented by hunger can overcome huge distances, moving not only on land, but also climb. In this and white, and brown bear are similar. The fact of the bear swim, lasting over 9 days. During this time, the female overcame over 660 kilometers by the sea of \u200b\u200bBeaufort, lost 22% of their masses and a one-year-old bear, but remained alive and was able to get ashore.
• The polar bear is not afraid of a man, the hungry predator is able to make it its prey, without tired of pursuing many days. In the city of Churchill, belonging to the Canadian Province of Manitoba, there is a special place, which is temporarily consisted to the territory of the bears settlement. The existence of a temporary zoo is a forced measure. Not afraid of a hungry presence of a hungry predator can penetrate the house and attack a person. After overexpose and feedstuffs, the bear leaves the city less aggressive, which allows you to hope for his non-disconnect return.
• According to Eskimos, the polar bear embodies the strength of nature. A man cannot call himself as such until it comes to equal confrontation.
• The giant polar bear is the ancestor of the modern bears.
• In 1962, a bear was shot at Alaska, weighing 1002 kilograms.
• Bear is a warm-blooded animal. The temperature of his body reaches 31 degrees Celsius, which is why the predator is not enough just to quickly move. Long-term jog can lead to overheating of the body.
• With the image of the polar bear, children acquaint themselves through such cartoons as "Umka", "Elka" and "Bernard".
• All beloved candy "Bear in the north" is also present an image of a polar bear.
• The official day of the polar bears is February 27.
• The polar bear is one of the symbols of the state of Alaska.

Polar bears are considered not sufficiently prolific, therefore their population is restored extremely slow. According to the inspection conducted in 2013, the number of bears in Russia did not exceed 7 thousand individuals (20-25 thousand individuals around the world).

For the first time a ban on the extraction of meat and the skins of these animals was introduced in 1957, in view of their practically complete extermination by local residents and poachers. White bears, whose habitat was broken, invaded human possession.

Polar Bear - the most large view Bear family (Ursidae). In his homeland, in the Arctic - this is, without a doubt, the "king of animals", which practically does not have natural enemies. But what do we know about polar bears, besides what they live in northern latitudes? This article will tell in detail about the life and peculiarities of the behavior of polar predators and will help you understand what they really are, the Lord of the Far North?

White bears dwell in the ice of the circumpolar Arctic. There are about 20 populations that are almost not mixed between themselves and are very different in numbers - from 200 to several thousand individuals. The number of the entire global population is about 22-27 thousand animals.

The permanent residence of the polar bears are the coastal ice of continents and islands, where the number of their main production is a collected nerve - quite high. Some individuals live among less productive perennial ice in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Central Arctic. From the south, their distribution is limited to the southern border of seasonal ice cover in the Bering and the Barentsie seas and in the Labrador's Strait. In areas where ice is fully melted in the summer (Goodzons Bay and Southeast Island of Buffin), animals spend several months on the shore, spending their fat reserves until water freezes.

Description and photos of the polar bear

The polar bear is the largest representative of the family of bearish. As an independent view, it was first described in 1774 by K. Fipps, having received latin name Ursus Maritimus, that translated means "sea bear".

White bears occurred from the brown in the period of the late Pleistocene, the most ancient find age of 100 thousand years was discovered in the royal botanical Garden London.

Length of the body of males - 2-2.5 m, females - 1.8-2 m; Mass of males - 400-600 kg (especially the respanted individuals can also weigh a ton), females - 200-350 kg.

In the photo, the polar bear jumps from the ice floes. Despite the massive body, these animals are amazingly moving. If necessary, they can sail several hours, and on land per day can overcome up to 20 km, although sometimes it leads to overheating.

The features of the structure are associated with habitat in the habitat. Body polar predator County; The raised withers characteristic of brown bears, they do not have. Compared to other species, the head of the polar is already longer, with a flat forehead and a long neck. The ears of the beast are small, rounded.

Due to the thick wool and a thick layer of fat, the polar predators feel quite comfortably at a temperature of -50 ° C. From nature their wool white color; It serves for the beast of perfect disguise. However, the fur often acquires a yellowish tint due to contamination and fat oxidation, especially in summer. Interestingly, with white wool color, the skin of the animal is dark. This feature serves for beasts with a natural solar energy battery, which is in their habitats, as you know, in a large deficit.

Large front paws, reminiscent of oars - an excellent sailing device, in addition, there is a swimming polaring between the fingers. The rear paws when swimming play a role of a certain steering wheel. Wide feet increases the support surface when driving through the snow.

An interesting fact: despite the fact that externally white and brown bears are very different, they are close relatives and in captivity can cross each other. The hybrid of such crossing is called Galr or Pizzli.

The lifestyle of polar bears

White bears lead a predominantly single lifestyle; Couples are held only during the Gon. Cases of their clusters, sometimes up to several dozen individuals, in places where there is a sufficiently large amount of food, rather rare. Group of polar predators completely tolerate each other's society and during feeding large preyFor example, dead whale. However, ritual battles or games are not uncommon, but every beast does not forget about their hierarchical status.

Animals are mainly a nomadic lifestyle, for the exception of time spent in the burgrels. Berlogs, first of all, are used by females for birth and feeding the young. It is also asylum for winter sleep, but in hibernation animals lie for a short time and not every year.

How are the burgots?

Burfts of breeding females can be divided into generic and temporary. In the genital bear brought offspring. The time of their stay in such burgogs is an average of 6 months. Temporary Berloga serves short-standing females a short time - from 1 day to 2-3 weeks, and in isolated cases up to 1 month and more.

Generic burgrel consists of one or more cameras. The length of the camera is on average from 100 to 500 cm, the width is from 70 to 400 cm, height is from 30 to 190 cm, the length of the corridor varies from 15 to 820 cm. The inlet is often poorly noticeable from a distance of several meters.

Temporary burgots differ from the generic on the device. They are usually a fairly simple structure: with one camera and a short (up to 1.5-2 m) corridor, as a rule, with completely "fresh" walls and a vault, slightly iced floors.

Deepeners, pits and trenches without an arch and a distinctly expressed entrance sometimes relate to temporary burgogs, but it would be more correct to call them asylum. Such asylum usually serve as white bears a short time - from several hours to several days. They provide animal minimal comfort, for example, they are covered by bad weather.

In the conditions of particularly harsh weather (Purga, Moroz) bears to save energy, they can go to temporary asylum for several weeks. The Northern Predator has one interesting physiological feature: while other bears can fall into hibernation only in winter, our hero can fall into a state of hibernation, at any time.

What does the Vladyka of the North eat?

The ringed nerve (ring seal) in the diet of white bears - food number 1, to a lesser extent their prey becomes marine hare (his beast catches when he pops up). In seals, animals hunt, waiting for them near the "bloodstream", as well as on the places of their breeding on the floes, where inexperienced young becomes easy prey for predators. The bear is imperceptibly sinking to the victim, then makes a sharp throw and immersed in water. To expand small "products", the beast breaks the ice with the front paws using its impressive mass. Immersing the front part of the body into the water, it is a powerful jaws of the victim and pulls it on ice. Bears can find the location of the wells of the seal through the meter layer of a tightly flattened snow; They go to her from a kilometer distance, focusing exclusively by smell. The smell of them is one of the most sharp among all mammals. They hunt and on the walrus, Belukh, Narvalov, waterfowl of seabirds.

For the nutrition of hungry polar predators, the emissions of the sea are essential: the corpses of the dead animals, the waste of the sea animal fishery. A large number of bears usually accumulates at the carcass thrown ashore (photo).

The polar bear, being a typical carnivorous animal, nevertheless, being hungry and not having to hunt the main prey - seals, can easily go to other feed, including vegetable (berries, seaweed, herbate plants, Mossi and lichens, branches of shrubs). This, apparently, should be regarded as an evolutionary adaptation of the type of habitat environment.

For one, the beast is able to eat a very large amount of food, and then, if there is no mining, it is long to starve.

IN modern conditions The strengthening of the technogenic effect on the ecosystem may entail the deterioration of the feed base of the polar bear, to force it to become increasingly switching to secondary feed, visit the landfills in settlements, break warehouses, etc.

Eternal nomads

Constantly changing ice conditions forcing the northern bears to regularly change their habitats, looking for areas where seals are more numerous and among the ice fields there are open or young divergences, channels and cracks, which facilitate the extraction of victims. Such sections are very often confined to the feed zone, and it is not by chance that many animals are concentrated here in winter. But from time to time and the feed zone completely closes due to the clamping winds, and then the bears have to be converging again to other areas in search of more favorable places. Stable, and then only for the period of winter and early spring, remain fixed iceBut they are not everywhere suitable for the existence of seals, and therefore white bears.

In search of more suitable places for hunting, beasts sometimes take place hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, their habitat is significantly changing even for one season, not to mention the off-season and annual differences. In the absence of territorialism, individual individuals or family groups are mastered by a relatively small area for some time. But as soon as the conditions begin to change dramatically, the beasts leave such sections and move to other areas.

Continuation of kind

The marriage is accounted for April-May. Between the males at this time there is a fairly tense struggle for females.

The females are peculiar to induced ovulation (they must be paired at many times over several days, before ovulation and fertilization occurs), and therefore pairs for successful reproduction remain together for 1-2 weeks. In addition, for polar bears, a delay of implantation is characterized by mid-September-October, depending on the latitude on which animals live. After 2-3 months, cubs are born in most areas. It happens in a snowy berry. The kids appear on the light of about 600 grams. When birth, their wool is so thin that seems to be naked. Until 7-8 months of age, the foundation of the young mother is milk mother. Milk is very fat - 28-30%, but it seems to be separated in small quantities.

Sometimes a bear leaves the "disadvantaged" burgrel, when the bearish is still weak. They are moving with difficulty and require constant care. If such a family is disturbed at this time, then the female, saving a cub, takes them into teeth.

When the bearings reaches a mass of 10-12 kg, they begin to accompany mother everywhere. They freely follow her on the steep slopes, often clouded games during walks. Sometimes the games end with a fight, the cubs are loudly roar.

Some bears who came for a walk are made of a kind of gymnastics in the snow. They are cleaned about the snow, rub about him with a face, fall on the stomach and crawling, pushing out the rear paws, move along the slope in different poses: on the boost, side or abdomen. For adult bears, it seems to be hygienic procedures aimed at maintaining fur cleanliness. Bear with imitative mothers, such behavior also has a gaming color.

The teaching of the masturbation of the younger generation lasts, probably, all that time is preserved the family group. Mother's imitation is already manifested when kids are located in Berloga, such as working. They also sometimes imitate her when eating plants.

Finally leaving Berlogue, the family goes to the sea. On the way, the female often stops to feed the bear, sometimes feeds itself, digging out of the snow from the snow. If the weather is windy, it falls back to the wind; With a sufficiently deep snow digs a small pit or a temporary burgrel. Then family go to ice. In the first half of May, sometimes female and cubs on land, but probably, from among those for some reason with the delay left their burgrels.

Females can multiply once every 3 years, because the bear with it is up to 2.5 years. For the first time, females become mothers usually aged 4-5 years, and then give birth every 3 years before death. Most often 2 bear born is born. The biggest broods and the largest beabling are in females at the age of 8-10 years. Young and old marshs have more often born on 1 cub. There is evidence that adult females in natural conditions They may vary or adopt a bear who lost their mother for some reason.

The life expectancy of females of white bears is 25-30 years old, males - up to 20 years.

Diseases, enemies and competitors

Among the polar bears are widespread such a dangerous intestinal muscular invasive disease as trichinosis. Other diseases they have been marked very rarely.

Much more often they suffer from various injuries, including those applied in a fight to each other for possession of female or food. But they do not have serious consequences for the population.

A competitor of the polar bear can be only a person who hunts on seals for the sake of skin, fur and meat, disturbing the natural balance, which has developed between the predator and the victim.

A slight impact on the population is a wolf and sands, attacking and killing the bear.

White bears and man

Thanks to the protection of polar predators, the risk of their disappearance is small. Previously, they were considered a vulnerable species, but after the introduction of the 1973 Agreement on the protection of the White Bear, the population has stabilized.

Provided that the hunting on the northern bears will be monitored, the destruction does not threaten them. However, there are concerns that their number can be reduced due to the low rate of reproduction. She shoots them mostly the local population, whose representatives are killed about 700 individuals for the year. But the main danger for our heroes is the warming of climate and environmental pollution.

In the Arctic areas, due to the increase in population population, the likelihood of a collision of the polar predator with a person has potentially increased. As a result, a conflict situation is created, dangerous for both parties. White bears, however, can not be recognized by aggressive towards people, but there are exceptions. Most animals are retained at a meeting with a person, others do not pay attention to him. But there are those who pursue a person, especially if he runs away. Most likely, at this moment the beast is trusted by the persecution instinct. Therefore, to argue that the polar bear is a completely harmless animal, it would be a dangerous misconception. The depleted individuals are a real threat. First of all, these are old animals that have lost the ability to successfully hunt to the familiar food for them, as well as young, as well as not yet mastered hunting techniques. A considerable danger represents females that protect their cubs. The Northern Bear can also show aggression with an unexpected meeting with a person or if he is being pursued.

In contact with

The white bear female, the offspring appears in the middle of winter. Cleaning are born small, size with a cat or rabbit. Baby Bear Bear is completely helpless, they live in a berry, in which heat and dark, as if in the incubator.

Barg of white bears

Even before the birth of babies, but in anticipation of the offspring, the female begins to look for a suitable burgrel. Usually she chooses a place somewhere on the shore, but sometimes finds a comfortable place and on the ice. Since they will have to spend the whole winter in Berorgog, the place should be near the water. By choosing a place, a bear is equipped with a layer size of a meter for two and about a meter in height. Before the final selection of the Berloga, the white bear female can overpow the few options, but then chooses the most convenient one.

In Beror, prepared by the bear, will be well circulating the air, but it will always be warm. The body temperature of the female in the berry does not decrease as much as, for example, a brown bear, a deviation can be only five degrees. Throughout the wintering in Berorod, the Medvedian does not eat anything, its body uses pre-accumulated reserves of subcutaneous fat.

Birth to bear

Bear is born in December, usually two of them. Their body in length does not reach thirty centimeters, the weight is no more than eight hundred grams. Baby cubs exclusively with maternal milk. Mother periodically wakes up and checks - whether everything is in order with bearings, then falls asleep again. The kids also sleep all the time when they do not eat. The female of the White Bear can begin to bring offspring at the age of about four to five years and remain childbearing sometimes up to 20 years and more.

My daughter loves to watch the cartoon about the clever. And today she asked where the clever lives, and whether he was friends with penguins. Then there was still a series of questions, and I had to answer. About all the subtleties of your answer will tell you.

White Bears

White bears, as assumed my daughter, live at the North Pole. But with penguins in natural conditions they are not found. All because they live at different ends of the globe. Penguins dwell solely on the southern pole, and white bears on the north. The largest part of these bears Lives in Northern Canada. In Russia White bears live on the island of Lunner.

Survival in extreme conditions

White bears are very cute and funny, but they live in the most severe places. What helps them survive:

Feed bears mostly seals. For one season, the polar bear can eat up to 50 seals. But they eat meat very rarely. Basically, they eat the skin and fatAnd the meat behind them donate the sands, which often go after the white bears. During the day, the bear passes and swims large distances In search of prey. He can spend a few hours at the wells, waiting for another seal.

With the advent of global warming, the climate is changing, the glaciers are departed, and white bears have to pass thousands of kilometers, in search of seaside habitats. And during the summer, when heat becomes warm, bears can starve up to four months.. At this time, they peacefully lie on the shore and warm in the sun.