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The brown bear is the most well-known and most widely distributed species of large bear.
Distribution area and habitat
The different subspecies of brown bear are native to the north, east and west of Europe, northern Asia, Japan, Canada and the United States.In America, the brown bear is also known as the “grizzly” because the tips of its fur are silver-gray (from grizzled meaning grayish). The distribution area of the Eurasian subspecies stretches from Scandinavia to the Kamchatka peninsula and as far as Greece and Iraq in the south.
The brown bear tends to settle in tundra and isolated mountain regions with vast expanses of mixed forest with sufficient food. On average, one bear requires an area of 100 square kilometres. The size of the terrain varies depending on the food it can provide. As brown bears normally avoid each other, their territories can sometimes overlap.
Appearance, height and weight
The brown bear has a clearly recognizable mound of muscle on the nape of its neck. The colour of the fur on its strong paws varies from almost black to chocolate brown and grey to red and light brown depending on distribution area. The biggest brown bears live on the coast of Alaska: the Kodiak bear, Ursus arctos middendorffii, is the largest land predator still alive today. When upright it can reach a height of three meters. The Kodiak weighs in at up to 800 kilograms.The brown bear of the European Alps grows to around two meters in height and weighs up to 250 kilograms, the females being considerably lighter at around 160 kilograms. With a weight of approximately 150 kilograms, grizzly bears are not much heavier than black bears.
Diet
Brown bears are omnivores. They eat plants, fish, carrion, birds and mammals as well as other food. However, three quarters of their diet consists of roots, berries and herbs. If given the opportunity, they will also happily plunder fields with crops of corn, potatoes, turnips or cabbages. Beehives also represent a welcome enhancement to their diet. Migrating salmon are a special delicacy for the brown bears of Alaska. In contrast, the North American grizzly bear, Ursus arctos horribilis, shows a special preference for carrion.
Way of life
Brown bears are loners and roam their territory from the spring to the fall. They have no natural enemies apart from man as they avoid almost all other animals upon which they cannot prey. In the cold months, brown bears hibernate in caves or holes in the ground, living on their fat reserves during this period of rest. Their body temperature drops by around 4° centigrade in order to save energy and their heart and breathing rates also decrease.
Social behaviour and reproduction
Brown bears only abandon their solitary existence during the mating season between May and July. After a gestation period of six to nine months, two cubs are usually born in the winter den, which are then nursed by their mother for approximately one and a half years. The young bears receive instruction from their mother for two to three years, learning all they need for survival. Afterwards they have to look for their own territory.
Status
The number of brown bears worldwide is estimated at 100,000. The populations in southern and south-west Asia, Tibet and Kashmir are considered to be endangered.
The European brown bear has already been eradicated in large swathes of its erstwhile distribution area. Areas in which small populations are still found include Scandinavia, Russia, Slovenia, the Pyrenees, and both the Abruzzi mountains and the Trentino valley in Italy. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, more protection programs are urgently required.
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