Which bears are more dangerous, Russian or American grizzlies? Meet the world's largest bear. Grizzly bear food and prey

Grizzly bear - a subspecies of brown bear, reaching four meters in height and weighing about a ton, lives mainly in Canadian forests, Rocky Mountains and Alaska in North America. From a distance, the bear appears gray, so the settlers, when they first saw it, gave the bear a name that means “gray” in English.

Previously, the animal’s habitat, in addition to the indicated territories, covered northern Mexico and the state of Texas, but the advancing civilization pushed the animal far to the north and high into the mountains.

A distinctive feature of the grizzly is its long fifteen-centimeter claws, which are its formidable weapon. Due to the long claws, a grizzly bear can only climb trees when it is a child.

This bear has a notorious reputation as a bloody killer. However, in its diet the bear gives preference to young shoots of plants and nuts, berries and fruits, algae and roots. Sometimes this bear eats bird eggs, feasts on fish and honey, does not neglect reptiles, frogs, insects and their larvae, and does not even disdain carrion, the smell of which it can smell at a distance of almost 30 km.

Since the grizzly bear is a predator, its diet includes large animals, among which the old and sick, or inexperienced young people predominate.

Therefore, the bear is considered an omnivore and its teeth are adapted to a varied diet.

Among North American Indians it is considered a great honor to wear a necklace made from the teeth and claws of a grizzly bear.

The animal with enormous force, striking with its paw and tenacious claws, can overwhelm a deer, and when chasing prey at a speed of about 60 km/h, it shows miracles of dexterity. In pursuit of a grizzly bear victim without special effort can swim across the river.

During salmon spawning, bears gather near the river, occupying a certain area, and begin fishing, using all sorts of techniques: sticking their heads into the water and grabbing fish with their mouths or paws. Some individuals manage to catch a fish when it jumps out of a stormy river.

Like a brown bear, a grizzly bear, having accumulated fat reserves over the summer and autumn, goes into hibernation. During the thaw, the grizzly leaves the den and begins to wander through the forest in search of food, and when the frost intensifies, it goes back to the den.
Grizzlies keep to themselves, avoiding company except during mating season. After romantic meetings between a female and a male, naked, blind and toothless cubs weighing less than 700 grams are born in a den 250 days later in January. The mother looks after her offspring for about two years. Therefore, with the onset of the next winter, the bear settles down for the winter together with the cubs that have grown over the summer.

Small grizzly bear cubs are easy to tame. They quickly get used to a person and even rush to his defense in case of danger.

Under natural conditions, grizzlies are afraid of humans and try to go home.

Grizzlies can attack a person, but this happens extremely rarely in cases where the person himself provokes the animal. If this bear is wounded, it will defend itself fiercely and become very dangerous.

Video: Grizzly bear hunting (lat. Ursus arctos horribilis)

Film: Grizzly Cauldron - Yellowstone Battleground (2009)

Movie: Wild America: Grizzly vs polar bear

Various types of bears can be found not only in the forests of Russia, but in other parts of the world. Most of species leads sedentary image life. Meeting him one-on-one in the forest poses a huge threat to a person’s life, but there are also quite peaceful specimens. Bears are the most large predators in the world, and what are the biggest bears in the world we will learn from this article.

Before you is a Kodiak - a subspecies of brown bears, which are considered the most... big predators on the planet.

Dimensions and weight

Kodiaks are huge - their body length reaches 4 m, and their height at the withers is up to 1.5 m. The weight is also amazing - the average weight of males is about 450 kg, and females - 250 kg. However, occasionally there are specimens that weigh more than a ton! They live on Kodiak Island, as well as on other islands of the Kodiak archipelago near south coast Alaska. Their true habitat is where short winter and plenty of different food. It cannot be said that outwardly this species is somehow different from other bears, because it is not. Except for the size, of course.

Where do they live and what do they eat?

They live alone and hibernate during the cold months. They feed not only on other animals, but also on berries, roots, herbs and even carrion. They do not disdain fish, especially during salmon spawning. Mating of a male with a female usually occurs in the summer, but the fertilized cell develops only in the fall. Cubs appear during hibernation in January or February - from one to three pieces. Young individuals remain with their mother until the age of three.

Unfortunately, Kodiaks are on the verge of extinction - today their number is no more than 3,000 individuals. However, it is allowed to shoot 160 specimens of these huge animals per year.

In second place in terms of size is the grizzly bear. It belongs to the brown bear subspecies and lives mainly in Canada and Alaska, although some time ago it could be found even in Mexico. One of the main differences between grizzlies and other bears is the presence of huge claws, the length of which can reach 15 cm. This is why, by the way, the animal cannot climb trees.

If speak about external features grizzly, then in its entire appearance it very much resembles the most ordinary brown bear, but is noticeably larger than the latter, heavier and stronger. The length of some individuals reaches 4 meters, and their weight is just under a ton! The color of the coat is dark brown, some parts of the body are covered with fur of a grayish tint, which from a distance makes the animal slightly grayish. By the way, grizzly is translated into Russian as “gray”.

What do they eat?

This type of bear usually feeds plant foods, however, mainly in early age, since only then can a grizzly bear easily climb trees and destroy hives in search of honey - huge claws grow much later. Having matured, he often feeds on animal food, including fish, which he can catch excellently.

Where do they live?

Today grizzlies live mainly in national parks on the territory of the USA. Despite the fact that the bear is under control, the American government allows seasonal shooting of bears, since their population is very significant.

For humans, this animal is very dangerous, since with one blow of its paw it is capable of inflicting a fatal blow. Fortunately, similar incidents in last years practically doesn't happen.

Interestingly, grizzlies can interbreed with polar bears, resulting in unusual hybrids - polar grizzlies.

We will also tell you about one interesting case which happened to a forest service employee in Alaska. He was hunting deer when he noticed a huge grizzly bear not far from him. The latter saw the hunter and rushed towards him. But the guy was not taken aback and immediately began shooting at the animal with his semi-automatic rifle. As a result, the bear fell literally a few centimeters from the forester.

When scientists arrived to examine the animal, they were amazed at its size - its weight was 726 kilograms and its length was just under 4 meters! Moreover, after they examined the contents of the bear's stomach, they found remains of human bodies. It was a man-eating grizzly bear, and in the last few days alone it had killed at least two people, the remains of one of which were later discovered in the same forest.

Third place is the polar bear, which is often called white, northern or sea, as well as oshkuy.

Dimensions and weight

This species originates from the brown bear. Scientists suggest that it appeared on Earth about 100 thousand years ago. The length of some specimens can reach 3 m and weight up to 800 kilograms. To be fair, it should be noted that such individuals are extremely rare in nature. Most often, researchers come across much smaller representatives of this species: average length The male's body is about 2-2.5 m, and his weight is up to half a ton. Females are about one and a half times smaller.

Despite all the similarities with its ancestor, the oshkuy has a flat head with small ears on an elongated neck. The color of its coat can be either bright white or yellow - it is often faded by the sun. At the same time, it is worth knowing that during ultraviolet photography, the animal’s fur coat appears dark - this is possible thanks to special structure wool. But the bear’s skin is completely black, although it is very difficult to notice.

Where does it live?

You can meet the beast in the northern hemisphere. Its main food is sea animals, among which we can recall seals, walruses, sea ​​hares and so on. Oshkuy catches them most often from behind cover, stunning them with a powerful blow to the head. However, it can hunt in other ways. Let's say one thing - finding prey at -60°C is very difficult, however polar bear copes with this task brilliantly. True, not always.

In our country, this species of bear is listed in the Red Book, since it reproduces slowly, and young animals often die due to other predators. There are no more than seven thousand individuals on the territory of our country; about 200 animals are shot by poachers every year.

Polar bears are excellent swimmers. Scientists recorded a case where a female swam about 700 km in icy water. This record was officially registered as there was evidence - a GPS tracker was attached to the animal's fur.

Average weight bear various types ranges from 150 kg to one ton.

This dangerous and graceful predator It’s hard to accuse him of being overweight: despite not having a model appearance, he is capable of moving at speeds of up to 60 km/h, which is comparable to a horse running at the races! The impressive mass of the bear is also not an obstacle to its acrobatic abilities. The animal easily climbs to a height of up to 30 meters. In order for a person to be at the same height (and this is no less than the ninth floor of a high-rise building) he will need at least professional rock climbing skills and mountaineering equipment. If such data were available, the winner in an athletics competition would obviously not be a human.

Since it is difficult for people to compete with this majestic creature, let’s try to find out which species among bears is the largest, the strongest and endowed with decent intelligence.

How much does a brown bear weigh?

The average weight of a bear of various species ranges from 150 kg to one ton.

The weight of a brown bear depends on the sex of the animal. Females have more modest parameters, their weight ranges from 120 to 150 kg. Representatives of the stronger sex “get better” up to 200-300 kg, although among them there are also males with a more respectable weight of up to 450 kg. For all its heaviness, the brown bear is endowed with a unique quality - it can move through brown and dense bushes absolutely silently. This big beast is quite careful when he is not hungry and calm,

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He avoids meeting a person in every possible way, unless he has invaded the territory where he gets food. His “accidental” collisions with people are explained by the fact that the brown bear is nearsighted and cannot distinguish a person at a distance of more than fifty meters. To arouse the animal's curiosity, it is enough to simply move; the animal's hearing is very acute.

Brown bear is not a record holder in the heavy weight category. Closer to North Pole lives his taller and larger brother.

How much does a polar bear weigh?

A female polar bear weighs 200-300 kg, and a male can reach 350-450 kg.

How much does this giant weigh and can he compete with his Siberian and Far Eastern relative? The physical characteristics of the animal are truly impressive. The length of its body is about three meters. If the animal rises to its full height on its hind legs, then even the tallest basketball player will be below its shoulder. The weight of some individuals reaches half a ton. The average weight is 200-300 kg for females, 350-450 kg for males.

Although the bear is called white, this is not entirely true. The animal's skin is completely black. This is due to the fact that the color of the skin allows one to maintain the necessary thermoregulation of the body, and the color of the coat provides camouflage against the background of polar snows. Animal hair is completely transparent and sunlight easily penetrates the hair and heats the dark skin of the animal.

The polar bear, like its brown counterpart, not only runs well, but also has serious wrestling skills - the paw span of the animal is more than three meters.

The weight of a grizzly bear can exceed 700 kg.

But even such remarkable strength cannot withstand a grizzly bear.

Not only representatives of the animal world avoid meeting with this giant; it also poses a danger to humans - at one time, the beast was known as a cannibal. Its extremely evil disposition, aggressiveness and the presence of sharp, curved claws up to 13 cm long make it a killer machine. This situation arose due to the fault of man; animals began to be exterminated at the beginning of the twentieth century, as cases of attacks on livestock were observed. Today, the grizzly bear population is negligible and protected.

To find out how much a grizzly bear weighs, you will need to put at least three brown bears on one scale. It may turn out that the advantage will not be in their favor; there is documentary information about when a specimen weighing 726 kg was shot. If such a “guest” decides to pay a visit to a person, he will easily look into the windows of a two-story house if he rises on his hind legs; his height reaches three meters or more. Grizzlies are excellent swimmers, and the myth about slowness and clubfoot gait is based on the fact that when walking, the bear simultaneously steps on two paws located on one side of the body.

People have always been in awe of the greatness and strength of this powerful beast, on coats of arms and heraldic symbols different countries you can see an image of a bear. Interest in studying the habits and lifestyle of an animal is still relevant in our time. Scientists and researchers install sensors and cameras to track the number and habitat of individuals. The devices transmit information about how much the bear weighs and the number of babies born. Difficult and important matter The task of preserving these graceful and majestic animals is only within the power of man.

Greetings, dear readers of the site “I and the World”! Today you will learn about the largest bears in the world: their habits and habitat, which specimens are very dangerous and which are quite harmless. But, in any case, it is undesirable to meet with them; the outcome of this meeting is unlikely to be in your favor.

From Russian fairy tales we know about bears as clumsy and stupid animals. Because of their weight, they really seem slow, but this is not so, they can reach such speed that it is difficult to escape from them even on a bicycle. You should get to know them better in order to know what to expect from them if you meet them by chance while traveling around the world, as well as: what they look like, how much they weigh, where they live, etc.

And our rating opens with “Black Bear” or Baribal

His black coat glistens in the sun of the USA and Canada. Less common in northern Mexico. It is in these countries that this animal lives and weighs from 300 to 360 kg.

The largest male is 363 kg. It was killed in Canada - this is the largest Baribal ever caught by man. The animals are quite harmless. They do not attack people or domestic animals and live quietly and peacefully, eating plant foods and fish.

Very rarely, when there is not enough food, Baribal can drag off livestock. With a height of up to two meters, Baribal cubs are born so small that their weight ranges from 200 to 400 grams.

In captivity: in zoos and circuses they can live up to 30 years, but in nature only 10. Now there are about 600,000 individuals.

In 4th place - American Grizzly

Among brown bears, he is the strongest, but not so big. The grizzly bear is very resilient and if there is a fight with another large animal, the animal has an instant grip, which leads to victory. He is considered friendly, but if there is not enough food or feels aggressive, good character disappears. The Grizzly's rather strong sense of smell allows it to sense prey at a great distance. It feeds on plant foods, loves fish, and like any predator, does not refuse animal food.

It lives in Alaska and western Canada and reaches 450 kg.

Grizzly in translation means “terrible”, but it does not try to attack people just like that, but only when it is hungry or very angry. In such rare cases, Grizzly was said to be a cannibal. During the rest of the time when it is rich in prey, it is not dangerous.

Brown Siberian bear takes third place

The dimensions of the Russian Siberian reach: weight up to 800 kg, and height up to 2.5 meters. This is a big fish lover, living near the Anadyr, Kolyma and Yenisei rivers. Sometimes found in Chinese provinces.

Although the warm season in these places is short, there is a lot of plant and animal food and allows you to gain heavy weight.

Siberians are loners and hibernate during the winter. They fish very interestingly: when salmon jump out of the water, the bears try to catch them in the air.

2nd place – one of the brown specimens – Kodiak

They live on the shores of Alaska on Kodiak Island. This island got its name from this island. brown beast. Most big bear in the world among brown species. Muscular animal with long paws The Kodiak easily obtains abundant food.

They grow 2.6 meters long and gain up to 1000 kg. The height of an adult predator can be up to 2.8 meters.

There was a time when animals could completely disappear, and therefore they were prohibited from being shot. Now their number is increasing, but so far only 3000.

They do not attack people, and therefore do not pose a danger to tourists. But for the animals themselves, these encounters are quite unpleasant. Animals, frightened by strangers, stop eating normally and gain too little fat before hibernation. And an animal caught for the sake of keeping it in a zoo may simply not survive in captivity.

And finally, first place - Polar Bear

Wikipedia believes that the white bear is the world's largest bear, living in the Arctic and reaching a mass of 1 ton or even more. This predatory animal reaches 3 meters in length - how huge!

This is a real record in weight among all species. Can you imagine this huge beast like a white steamer slowly moving among the snow. There is also fur on the paws, so they move easily on the ice and do not freeze in the most severe frosts.

On the island of Spitsbergen there are even more polar bears than people living there. Long neck with a flat head allows you to stretch out and see far.

It is clear that living among the snow on drifting ice, it feeds on animal food: sea ​​hare, fish, walruses, arctic foxes. Just like brown ones, they live alone and until about 30 years old. Only females hibernate when they are pregnant, in order to gain strength to raise the next generation.

There are 28,000 polar bears all over the world, and about 6,000 in Russia alone. And although hunting them is strictly prohibited, poachers kill up to 200 bears every year.

In the photo you saw the most big bears on the ground. They are all listed in the Red Book, but poachers do not think about this, destroying animals for the sake of a beautiful skin. Over the entire history of mankind, so many of these animals have been destroyed that many populations are difficult to increase again.

We say goodbye to you until our next meetings on the pages of our website. If you liked the article, share it with your friends, they will also be interested in it.

Titles: brown bear, grizzly bear, North American brown bear.
In North America it is known as the “grizzly bear” (previously, the brown North American bear was identified as a separate species).

Area: The brown bear was once common throughout Europe, including England and Ireland, in the south its range reached northwest Africa (the Atlas Mountains), and in the east through Siberia and China it reached Japan. It probably came to North America about 40,000 years ago from Asia, through the Bering Isthmus, and spread widely in the western part of the continent from Alaska to northern Mexico.
Now the brown bear has been exterminated in a large part of its former range, and is scarce in other areas. IN Western Europe its scattered populations survive in the Pyrenees, Cantabrian Mountains, Alps and Apennines. The brown bear is quite common in Scandinavia and Finland, sometimes found in forests Central Europe and in the Carpathians. In Asia, it is distributed from Western Asia, Palestine, northern Iraq and Iran to northern China and the Korean Peninsula. In Japan it is found on the island of Hokkaido.

Description: Appearance this beast is well known. His body is powerful with high withers (hump). This hump is actually a mass of muscles that allow brown bears to dig easily and use their paws as impact force. The head is massive with small ears and eyes. The tail is short - 65-210 mm, barely standing out from the fur. There is a clearly visible depression between the forehead and the bridge of the nose in profile. In a standing animal, the withers are noticeably higher than the croup. Paws are strong, five-fingered, plantigrade. The feet of a brown bear are very wide, the toes are armed with long, powerful, laterally compressed and crescent-shaped non-retractable claws 8-10 cm long, which are much longer on the forelimbs than on the hind limbs.
The coat is long, thick and coarse, often felted and usually evenly colored. Brown bears molt twice - in autumn and spring. Spring molting lasts a long time and is most intense during the rutting period. Autumn molting proceeds slowly and imperceptibly, ending with the period of lying in the den.
The brown bear has 40 teeth.

Color: The color of the brown bear is very variable, and not only in different parts range, but also within the same area. The color of the fur varies from light fawn to bluish and almost black. The most common is the brown form. In Rocky Mountain grizzlies, the hair on the back may be white at the ends, giving the appearance of a gray or grizzled coat. A completely grayish-white color is found in brown bears in the Himalayas, and a pale reddish-brown color is found in Syria. Bear cubs have light markings on their necks and chests, which disappear with age. The bear's paws are black or brownish in color, with wrinkled skin on the pad.

Size: The length of the European brown bear is usually 1.2-2 m with a height at the withers of about 1 m and a weight of 135 to 250 kg. Bears living in middle lane Russia, smaller and weigh only 80-120 kg. Largest sizes bears from the Far East, Kamchatka and especially from Alaska and Kodiak Island, where they are called grizzlies, differ - some giants, standing on their hind legs, reach a height of 2.8-3 m.

Weight: The weight of an adult brown bear ranges from 80-600 kg and, despite intensive hunting, bears weighing up to 750 kg are still found. The largest individuals are found in Alaska and Kamchatka - they weigh 300 kg or more, and giants weighing 600-700 kg have been encountered. The largest bear caught on the island. Kodiak for Berlin Zoo, weighed 1134 kg. Average weight: males: 135-390 kg, females: 95-205 kg. In autumn, a bear's weight can increase by about 20%.

Lifespan: In nature they live for 20-30 years, in captivity they live for more than 50 years.

Habitat: The brown bear is a forest animal. Its usual habitats in Russia are continuous forested areas with windbreaks and burnt areas with dense growth of deciduous trees, shrubs and grasses, interspersed with swamps, lawns, and ponds; can enter both the tundra and alpine forests. In Europe it prefers mountain forests; in North America it is more often found in open places - in the tundra, on alpine meadows and on the coast.
The habitat of the brown bear in our country occupies almost the entire forest zone, with the exception of its southern regions. The bear finds shelter under the forest canopy, and open areas serve as feeding grounds. Berry trees, tall grasses, hazel trees - this is what attracts bears, regardless of where they grow - in a dark coniferous forest, in a clearing of a light forest, in a stream valley or in the chars of the Siberian mountains.

Food: The brown bear is omnivorous, but its diet is 3/4 plant-based: berries, acorns, nuts, roots, tubers and grass stems. In years when there is no berry harvest in the northern regions, bears visit oat crops, and in the southern regions - corn crops; on Far East in autumn they feed in cedar forests.
Its diet also includes insects (ants), worms, lizards, frogs, rodents (mice, marmots, gophers, chipmunks). In summer, insects and their larvae sometimes make up up to 1/3 of a bear’s diet. Large males attack young ungulates - roe deer, fallow deer, deer (caribou, red deer, pampas deer), ibex, wild boar and moose. Some animals, most often males from the northern part of their range, hunt ungulates, hiding them or attacking from ambush. An adult bear is capable of breaking the spine of an elk or horse with one blow of its paw. When hunting ungulates, such bears display amazing strength, agility and tirelessness in pursuing victims.
The bear covers the prey or found carrion with brushwood and stays nearby until it has completely eaten the carcass. If the animal is not very hungry, it often waits several days until the meat becomes softer.
On occasion, brown bears hunt sea otters and seals on coastal haulouts and even go out onto the ice in pursuit of seals. Grizzlies sometimes attack baribal bears.
The brown bear sometimes takes prey from tigers, wolves and pumas. In summer and autumn, Far Eastern bears catch salmon going to spawn. On spawning rivers you can sometimes see 10-30 animals at once.
In years when food is poor, bears sometimes attack livestock and destroy apiaries. In some years, due to the failure of the pine nut harvest in large areas of the Siberian taiga, bears do not have time to fatten up properly in the fall, and in winter they become homeless connecting rods, very dangerous for people who find themselves in their path.

Behavior: The brown bear is active more often at dusk, in the mornings and evenings, but on rainy days it wanders throughout the day. Daytime vigil is typical for bears in the mountains of Siberia. The seasonal cyclicality of life is clearly expressed.
Bears are very sensitive; they navigate the terrain mainly with the help of hearing and smell; their eyesight is weak. Brown bears can smell rotting meat more than 2.5 km away.
Although the bear's body weight is large and it seems clumsy, in fact it is a silent, fast and easy-to-move animal. The bear runs extremely fast - with the agility of a good racer - at a speed of over 55 km/h. He is a good swimmer, can swim 6 km or even more, and willingly swims, especially in hot weather. In his youth, a brown bear climbs trees well, but in old age he does this reluctantly, although it cannot be said that he completely loses this ability. By deep snow However, it is difficult to move.
When encountering a dangerous opponent, the bear emits a loud roar, stands on its hind legs and tries to knock down the enemy with blows of its front paws or grab him.
In the winter, looking for a den, bears can go far from their summer area.
The brown bear is a sedentary animal and only the young, having separated from the family, wander until they create their own family. Individual hunting ranges are large and males have more than females. The bear marks and defends the boundaries of the areas. In the summer, male bears mark the boundaries of their territory by standing on their hind legs and tearing bark from trees with their claws. Such “border trees” have been used by various animals for decades. In treeless mountains, the bear tears up any suitable objects - clay slopes or tourist tents (usually in the absence of the owners). To secure your tent, the easiest way to mark the boundary of your site is to urinate in several places at a distance of 10-20 meters around the camp. Boundaries are not respected only during the ripening period of oats and on the eve of hibernation.
In the summer, the bear settles down to rest, lying directly on the ground among grass, bushes or in moss, as long as the place is sufficiently secluded and safe.
In autumn, the animal has to take care of a reliable shelter for the winter until mid-spring.
Depending on climatic and other conditions, bears are in dens from October-November to March-April and later, i.e. approximately 5-6 months. Bears with cubs live the longest in dens, old males live the least. In different areas, winter sleep lasts from 75 to 195 days a year.
For a den, the bear chooses the most reliable, remote and dry corners, somewhere on an island of forest in the middle of a vast moss swamp. The animal sometimes comes here from several tens of kilometers away and, approaching the target, confuses its tracks in every possible way. Sometimes bears have favorite places wintering grounds, and they gather here from the whole neighborhood. So, once in Russia, 12 dens were discovered on an area of ​​about 20 hectares.
Very often, dens are located in holes protected by windbreaks or roots of fallen trees. In some areas, animals dig deep dens in the ground, and in the mountains they occupy caves and rock crevices. Often bears limit themselves to open lying down in dense young spruce trees, near a tree or even in an open clearing, having dragged there a bunch of moss and spruce branches in the form of a large nest. Sometimes a bear makes a den right in a dug-up anthill of red forest ants. Pregnant female bears make deeper, more spacious and warmer dens than males do. The bear lines the finished den with moss, dry grass, pine branches, leaves and hay. Over time, the den is covered with snow from above, so that only a small hole for ventilation remains (the forehead), the edges of which are in very coldy covered with frost.