Description, structure, characteristics
Currently, the bear is the largest terrestrial predator of our planet, having appeared on Earth about 6 million years ago, he immediately became the embodiment of power and strength.
Depending on the species of bear body length can be from 1.2 to 3 meters, with a weight of 40 kg to a ton. The body of a bear is big, stocky, with a thick short neck and a big head.
The bear's powerful jaws allow it to gnaw both plant and animal food easily and comfortably. The bear's paws are short and slightly curved, which is why bears walk slightly wobbling and leaning on the whole foot. Because of this anatomical feature of the bear's paws, they have been nicknamed "clubfoot" since ancient times. Although in spite of its "clubfoot" and the seeming clumsiness of the bear is very fast and nimble - the speed of bears in pursuit of prey or in times of danger can be up to 50 km per hour.
And bears are not only great runners, but no less good swimmers, they are excellent swimmers, and polar bears even have special webbing between the paws, all for the convenience of swimming.
Also bears can climb trees. All these features make a meeting with a bear in the woods very undesirable and dangerous, because if anything, it can not hide from him either in a tree or in the water.
Bear's hearing, as well as eyesight are not his strong points (not without reason there is even a proverb about a man deprived of musical hearing - "a bear stepped on his ear"). However, these disadvantages are more than compensated for by the excellent sense of smell that all bears possess. It is through smells that bears navigate their surroundings and get the information they need about what is going on around them.
All bears are covered with a thick coat. The color of a bear's fur depends on its species and sometimes determines its name: brown bear, polar bear. An interesting fact: bears with dark colored fur, like humans, turn gray in old age, and their fur turns from black to gray. It is also interesting that in the zoo in Leipzig there is a bear without hair, or rather a bear named Dolores, which scientists believe is a result of some rare genetic disease. But something like this in the bear kingdom is really exceptional.
How to draw an ordinary bear with a pencil
- Step 1. Sketch the outline of his torso, head and paws. Although the bear's paws are not big, you should try to display them strong and strong in appearance. On top draw ears. Mark the location of the eyes with a thin horizontal stripe.
- Step 2. We proceed to the eyes and fur. On the prepared markings depict two small eyes. They must be symmetrical and of the same size. From them draw a line of the nose, on its end triangular tip of the nose. Not a long stroke add a mouth. Now it is important to remove all unnecessary lines, so they do not interfere with the drawing of the coat of the animal. Breaking strokes represent it on the head, hind legs, abdomen. Between the front paws, do wool "collar" on his chest.
- Step 3. The main work is done. It remains to give the beast more volume. We make it more fluffy. To do it correctly, you can look at the photo of a real forest dweller.
- Step 4. The final step is to paint the eyes, the nose. Make the nostrils darker. Trace the entire outline again to give clear boundaries where needed.
Nutrition
Bears are omnivorous animals that like to eat a variety of forest game (hares,
deer, roe deer, elk, all can become prey to bears), as well as juicy berries and fruits. By the way, some bears are great fishermen, skillfully catching fish in rivers and lakes. Also like a true sweet tooth bears like honey, which sometimes very nervous forest bees (a favorite children's cartoon about Pooh and his campaign for honey is based on a very real basis).
But also the diet of the bear depends on its species, for example, good-natured panda bear is a vegetarian bear, because it eats only bamboo shoots, Himalayan bear happily eats
frogs, insects and mollusks, but the polar bear - a hard predator that eats only meat, plant food it can not lure.
Menu for the carnivore
For food bears eat absolutely everything, it can be berries and mushrooms, nuts and various roots, all kinds of meat and fish, as a treat for animals can serve as ants, larvae and honey of bees, there are bears and vegans, these are pandas and koalas.
Of all the variety of bears, the pure carnivores are again polar bears, whose diet includes only fish and meat.
Lifestyle
All species of bears except the polar bear lead a sedentary lifestyle. They try to live either alone or in small families (a female bear with cubs). Each bear has its own territory in the forest where it lives and hunts. In winter, bears go into hibernation, which is one of the characteristic features of these animals.
Discussion of bear cubs.
The most popular subject for photo hunters is cubs. The baby bear is always friendly and direct, so photos with them are always a success.
These two, on the other hand, are not sharing something, but the mom in the background goes to resolve the babies' dispute.
Winter hibernation
The bear's winter hibernation can last up to 200 days. In preparation for it, bears have been actively stocking up on fat since the fall, and this is critical for the bear. Those bears that don't have enough fat reserves can't hibernate and, as a result, turn into jackknifed bears (also jackknifed bears are bears that wake up too early after the winter hibernation). Jack bears are very dangerous animals (also for people), attacking anything they come across in the forest. Usually stag bears are killed by hunger, cold, or a hunter's bullet.
As for the condition of hibernating bears, what happens to them somewhat resembles anabiosis: during hibernation, the pulse of a hibernating bear decreases from the usual 55 beats per minute to 9 beats per minute. The bear's metabolism (metabolism rate) drops by 53 percent. During this time, of course, bears do not eat, drink, or defecate, as if all their vital processes are paused. The exact mechanism of how bears fall into hibernation is still the subject of scientific research by zoologists.
Soviet postcards
And now from photos of bears let's go directly to the pictures. The image of the good-natured bear was the most popular on postcards of the Soviet period.
It is noteworthy that beautiful bears were suitable for birthday and New Year's Eve greetings.
Modern greeting cards are also distinguished by their warmth and charm. Bears are still very popular.
Types, photos and names
In the bear family, zoologists allocated 8 main species of bears, which in turn are divided into many subspecies, and below we will focus on them.
Brown Bear
Also known as the common bear, it is the most typical representative of this species. It has a thick brown coat, due to which it is called the brown bear. It inhabits a wide geographic range, in the forests of Eurasia, North America, in our country brown bears are found in the Carpathian forests, although in our time to meet them is very rare (but for hapless tourists it is for the best). Many brown bears are found in the Siberian taiga, the forests of Scandinavia, Canada, and some northern U.S. states (e.g., Montana).
Polar Bear.
Also known as the polar bear, the polar bear is the largest bear in the world, with a body length of 3 meters and a weight of just over 1 ton. These bears are perfectly adapted for life in the northern Arctic latitudes, starting with a white coat, with which they can be invisible in the snow, and ending with the special structure of the paws, which has webbing for ease of navigation (polar bears swim a lot between the ice). Also, as we wrote above, it is polar bears are one hundred percent predators, although, strangely enough the temper of polar bears is more good-natured than their brown congeners. Polar bears live in the circumpolar regions of the northern hemisphere. And by the way, there's a separate article on our website about polar bears.
about polar bears on our website.
Baribal .
He is also a black bear. It looks a lot like the brown bear, but differs from it by its smaller size and characteristic black coat coloration. The length of the black bear does not exceed 2 meters. Baribals live in North America: from the vast expanses of Alaska to hot Mexico.
The Malay bear.
It is also biruang, is the smallest bear in the world, well how small, 1.5 meters long biruang still reaches. From other bears differs disproportionately large paws with huge claws. The body of the Malay bear is covered with black and brown fur, and its chest is decorated with a white and red spot. The Malay bear lives in southern China, Thailand, and Indonesia.
Himalayan Bear.
He is also a white-chested bear. It is not the biggest representative of the bear family, its size is half the size of the brown bear - its body length is 1.5-1.7 m. It also has a white or yellowish spot on its chest. The Himalayan bear lives in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas, Afghanistan, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and China.
The spectacled bear.
Named so because of its unusual coloring on the muzzle, which has white and yellow rings. Has a medium size - body length of the spectacled bear is 1.5-1.8 m. Occurs in South America, in countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Panama.
Gubach Bear.
This bear has an elongated muzzle and medium size (body length - up to 1.8 m). Its fur is black or brown and forms a mane closer to the head. It also has a light-colored spot on its chest. These bears live in India, parts of Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
Panda
Also known as the bamboo bear. The panda is the friendliest and most peaceful of bears, as evidenced even by its diet, pandas eat only plant foods, mainly bamboo shoots. The panda is characterized by its white head, torso, and black paws, which distinguish it from other bear species. Pandas live in the mountainous regions of China and Tibet.
Pandas
Many people wonder, but who are they? The fact is that some of the representatives of the species, for one reason or another, do not have time to get that very portion of the fat reserve.
Because of this, they are forced to wander through the woods in the cold, trying to find meager supplies of food. Such an animal is very dangerous, so you should stay away from it.
Breeding
Although bears are monogamous animals, couples are usually short-lived and break up after a couple of years. The mating season for bears can be different (depending on the species), but interestingly, female bears always give birth to their cubs in winter, right during the winter hibernation and come out of the den with cubs. A bear's pregnancy lasts between 180 and 250 days, depending on the species. One to four cubs are usually born at a time.
The cubs are born without fur, without teeth, and with their eyes closed. They are totally dependent on their mother's milk for the first time, and then they put on weight and grow hair until they become fully grown bears.
Drawing a Teddy Bear
Not only realistic bears are popular with art lovers. Characters from various cartoons have won the love of not only children, but also adults. One of these, is the Teddy Bear. It can be found in every store of soft toys. Children love them.
So how to draw a teddy bear and make your child happy? The sequence of the process is similar to the previous lesson. Here you only need to add distinctive details and give a recognizable look.
- Draw two auxiliary circles for the head and torso. Legs and arms need to make a little extended. Give a smooth silhouette shape.
- On the head we draw small ears, eyes-buttons, mouth, nose. Bear sitting, so draw a clear foot. One hand will be hidden behind his back, and the other to do on his stomach.
- Draw little strokes hair. Make a patch on his chest and half of his forehead, as if he had been mended.
- You can paint the teddy bear and add, if desired, a bouquet of flowers or a card.
Keeping in a zoo
Nowadays, the only place where you can see a bear firsthand are zoos, where they are kept in large spacious enclosures, designed to recreate the natural conditions as much as possible. In addition to trees and rocks in the enclosure, there must be a small pool in which bears can bathe from time to time. The bear's food should also depend on the season and include those foods that are available to the predator in the natural environment.
Misunderstood Russia
For many people in Western Europe and the U.S., this amazing photo shoot causes genuine horror and bewilderment, and often incomprehension.
But that's how Russia is, unique and inimitable, where natural beauty blends harmoniously with wildlife landscapes.
In addition, there are several other famous photo shoots, where beautiful girls pose together with a live bear.
Interesting facts
Video
And to end with an interesting documentary about brown bears.
About the author page
Bear attack on a forester in Chhattisgarh state, India, 2014.
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Source:
In December 2014, there was a bear attack on a man in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh - alas, with a fatal outcome. It was a female bear, who had been on the habit of raiding a nearby village in the forest. She caused great damage with her raids. Forest Service workers were called in to capture and tame the bear. However, she also attacked them, killing a man. Eyewitnesses said that the animal was unusually aggressive and it had never been seen before in the area. It was decided to shoot the rabid bear.
