What a polar bear he is. Polar polar bear

15.03.2020

Polar bears are one of the most magnificent animals in the world. Close relatives of brown bears, they, however, are much less studied and therefore more interesting.

What do polar bears look like?

The polar bear in size and weight is the second land animal. More than him - only a sea elephant. The largest bears reach a three-meter length and weight of one ton.

The standard body length of an adult male is from two to two and a half meters, weight - 400-450 kilograms.

Females are smaller and weigh up to 300 kg.

Compared to his brown relative, the polar bear has a flatter head and longer neck. Its fur is not always white - in summer it gives yellow.

Due to the special structure of the wool (they are hollow inside), the polar bear has good thermal insulation.

Bears are well kept on ice, thanks to lined with wool paws. And in the water, swimming membranes between the fingers help them.

In nature, sometimes there are polar grizzlies - half-breeds obtained from the union of polar and brown bears. But this phenomenon is rare: representatives of different species do not like and avoid each other. To date, there are three recorded cases of crossbreeding.

Hybrids have a mixed color, closer to brown, but lighter than usual.

These animals can live from 25 to 30 years. In captivity, this period increases; today the maximum life expectancy of a polar bear is 45 years.

Where do polar bears live

It is not for nothing that polar bears are called polar bears. Their habitat is the northern hemisphere, circumpolar regions. They live on the mainland, in the tundra zone.

Bears inhabit the north up to the southern border of their habitat - the island of Newfoundland.

In Russia, they can be found from Franz Josef Land to Chukotka. The synod of bears goes deep into the mainland or on floating ice fall in Kamchatka.

What do polar bears eat?

Polar bears are predators. And they hunt in water: these animals swim beautifully and can spend a lot of time in the sea or ocean. A thick skin and subcutaneous fat (its thickness can reach 10 centimeters) is an excellent insurance against the cold.

In water, bears are much more agile and mobile, therefore, pose a serious danger to sea animals. These magnificent animals can travel vast distances. A record of 685 kilometers was recorded: the bear that set it was looking for a hunting place.

In hunting, the bears are also greatly aided by their natural color and excellent hearing.

Along with fish, they also feed on the inhabitants of the waters: walruses, sea hares, and seals.

The polar bear is a cunning hunter. He attacks most often because of an ambush, often arranging it at the hole and stunning the protruding prey.

Sometimes bears turn over ice floes on which seal rookeries make.

Walrus hunting is only on land: in water it is harder for bears to cope with these animals.

How babies raise polar bears

During its life, one bear brings no more than 15 cubs. Females rarely give birth, once every two to three years.

The mating season falls on the months from March to June, and in October the expectant mothers begin to prepare the den. And for this they have favorite places. Most of the bear dens that females made were recorded on Franz Josef Land and on Wrangel Island.

Bears are single by nature, therefore a mother gives birth and brings up babies alone. They are born in the middle of winter or towards the end, but the mother stays in hibernation all this time.

Bears, along with older babies, are born in April.

Until a year and a half, the cubs remain in the care of the mother and all this time they feed on her milk. Together with the cubs, the bear leads a nomadic lifestyle.

The polar bear is the largest species of the bear family (Ursidae). In its homeland, in the Arctic, it is, without a doubt, the “king of beasts,” which has virtually no natural enemies. But what do we know about polar bears, besides the fact that they live in northern latitudes? This article will tell in detail about the life and behavior of the polar predators and help to understand what they really are, the lords of the far north?

Polar bears live in the ice of the circumpolar Arctic. There are about 20 populations that almost do not mix with each other and vary greatly in number - from 200 to several thousand individuals. The size of the entire world population is approximately 22-27 thousand animals.

The permanent residence of polar bears is the coastal ice of the continents and islands, where the number of their main prey - the ringed seal - is quite high. Some individuals live among less productive perennial ice in the central Arctic region. From the south, their distribution is limited by the southern boundary of the seasonal ice cover in the Bering and Barents Seas and in the Labrador Strait. In areas where ice completely melts in the summer (Hudson Bay and the southeast of Baffin Island), animals spend several months on the shore, spending their fat reserves until the water freezes.

Description and photo of a polar bear

The polar bear is the largest member of the bear family. As an independent species, it was first described in 1774 by C. Phipps, received the Latin name Ursus maritimus, which means “sea bear”.

Polar bears descended from brown during the late Pleistocene, the oldest find 100 thousand years old was discovered in the Royal Botanic Garden of London.

The body length of males is 2-2.5 m, females are 1.8-2 m; the mass of males is 400-600 kg (especially well-fed individuals can weigh a ton), females - 200-350 kg.

In the photo, a polar bear is jumping from an ice floe. Despite the massive body, these animals are surprisingly mobile. If necessary, they can sail for several hours, and on land they can cover up to 20 km per day, although sometimes this leads to overheating.

Features of the structure are associated with living conditions in harsh climates. The body of the polar predator is stocky; they have no raised withers characteristic of brown bears. Compared to other species, the head of the polar is longer and longer, with a flat forehead and a long neck. The ears of the beast are small, rounded.

Due to the thick coat and a thick layer of fat, the polar predators feel quite comfortable at a temperature of -50 ° C. By nature, their fur is white; it serves as an ideal disguise for the beast. However, often the fur acquires a yellowish tint due to pollution and oxidation of fat, especially in summer. Interestingly, with a white coat, the skin of the animal is dark. Such a feature serves as a natural accumulator of solar energy for animals, which, in their habitats, is known to be in great shortage.

Large front paws resembling oars are an excellent tool for swimming, in addition, there are swimming membranes between the fingers. Hind legs when swimming play the role of a steering wheel. Wide feet increases the supporting surface when moving in the snow.

Interesting fact: despite the fact that outwardly polar and brown bears are very different, they are close relatives and in captivity can interbreed. A hybrid of this cross is called grolar or pizzley.

Polar Bears Lifestyle

Polar bears are predominantly solitary; keep in pairs only during the rutting season. Cases of their accumulation, sometimes up to several dozen individuals, in places where there is a sufficiently large amount of food, are quite rare. Groups of polar predators are quite tolerant of each other's society during feeding of large prey, for example, a dead whale. However, ritual battles or games are not uncommon, but each beast does not forget about its hierarchical status.

Animals lead a predominantly nomadic lifestyle, with the exception of time spent in lairs. Dens are primarily used by females for the birth and feeding of cubs. It is also a refuge for winter sleep, but animals hibernate briefly and not every year.

How are lairs arranged?

Lairs of breeding females can be divided into tribal and temporary. In the generic dipper bear offspring. Their stay in such dens is an average of 6 months. The temporary den serves breeding females for a short time - from 1 day to 2-3 weeks, and in isolated cases up to 1 month or more.

Ancestral lair consists of one or more chambers. The length of the chamber, on average, is from 100 to 500 cm, the width is from 70 to 400 cm, the height is from 30 to 190 cm, the length of the corridor varies from 15 to 820 cm. The inlet is often poorly visible from a distance of several meters.

Temporary lairs differ from generic lairs in structure. Usually they are of a rather simple structure: with one chamber and a short (up to 1.5-2 m) corridor, as a rule, with completely “fresh” walls and a vault, slightly icy floor.

Depressions, pits and trenches without a vault and clearly defined entrance are sometimes referred to as temporary dens, but it would be more correct to call them shelters. Such shelters usually serve polar bears for a short time - from several hours to several days. They provide the animal with minimal comfort, for example, shelter during bad weather.

In conditions of especially severe weather (snowstorm, frost), bears can go to temporary shelters for several weeks to save energy. The northern predator has one interesting physiological peculiarity: while other bears can hibernate only in winter, our hero can fall into a state similar to hibernation at any time.

What does the lord of the north eat?

Ringed seal (ringed seal) in the diet of polar bears is food No. 1, to a lesser extent their prey becomes a sea hare (its beast catches when it pops up to breathe). Animals hunt seals, waiting for them near the "vents", as well as in places of their breeding on ice floes, where inexperienced cubs become easy prey for predators. The bear sneaks up on the victim imperceptibly, then makes a sharp throw and plunges into the water. To expand small "vents", the beast breaks the ice with its front paws, using its impressive mass. Submerging the front of the body in water, he grabs the victim with powerful jaws and pulls it onto the ice. Bears can find the location of a seal hole through a meter-long layer of densely packed snow; they go to her from a kilometer away, guided solely by smell. Their sense of smell is one of the most acute among all mammals. They also hunt walruses, belugas, narwhals, waterfowl seabirds.

Emissions of the sea are essential for feeding hungry polar predators: the corpses of dead animals, the waste from the fishing of a sea animal. A large number of bears usually accumulate near the carcass of a whale thrown ashore (photo).

A polar bear, being a typical carnivorous animal, however, being hungry and not able to hunt its main prey - seals, can easily switch to other feeds, including plant foods (berries, seaweed, herbaceous plants, mosses and lichens, branches of bushes). This, apparently, should be regarded as an evolutionary adaptation of the species to harsh environmental conditions.

In one sitting, the beast is able to eat a very large amount of food, and then, if there is no prey, starve for a long time.

In modern conditions, an increase in the technogenic impact on ecosystems can lead to a deterioration in the polar bear’s food supply, forcing it to switch to secondary feeds more often, visit landfills in settlements, ruin warehouses, etc.

Eternal nomads

Constantly changing ice conditions force northern bears to regularly change their habitat areas, looking for areas where seals are more numerous and among ice fields there are open or covered with young ice stains, channels and cracks that facilitate their prey. Such sites are very often confined to the zapripaynoy zone, and it is not by chance that many animals concentrate here in the winter. But from time to time, the zapryapnaya zone is completely closed due to pinch winds, and then the bears have to migrate to other areas again in search of more favorable hunting spots. Stable ice, and only then for the period of winter and the beginning of spring, remain motionless ice, but they are not everywhere suitable for the existence of seals, and therefore polar bears.

In search of more suitable places for hunting, animals sometimes travel hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, their habitat varies significantly even during one season, not to mention the inter-seasonal and annual differences. In the absence of territorialism in the polar bear, individuals or family groups for some time develop a relatively small area. But, as soon as the conditions begin to change dramatically, animals leave such areas and migrate to other areas.

Procreation

The mating season falls on April-May. Between males at this time there is a fairly intense struggle for females.

Females are characterized by induced ovulation (they must mate many times for several days before ovulation and fertilization occur), and therefore the pairs for successful breeding remain together for 1-2 weeks. In addition, polar bears are characterized by a delay in implantation until mid-September-October, depending on the latitude at which the animals live. After 2-3 months, cubs are born in most areas. This happens in a snowy den. Kids are born weighing about 600 grams. At birth, their hair is so thin that it seems like they are naked. Up to 7-8 months of age, the mother’s milk is the main diet. This milk is very fatty - 28-30%, but it seems to be separated in small quantities.

Sometimes a bear leaves a den that has become “dysfunctional” when the cubs are still weak. They move with difficulty and require constant care. If such a family is disturbed at this time, the female, saving the cubs, carries them in the teeth.

When the cubs reach a mass of 10-12 kg, they begin to accompany their mother everywhere. They freely follow her along steep slopes, often starting games while walking. Sometimes games end in a fight, while the cubs roar loudly.

Some bears who went for a walk do some kind of gymnastics in the snow. They brush themselves on the snow, rub their faces on it, lie on their stomachs and crawl, pushing their hind legs, move down the slope in various poses: on the back, side or stomach. For adult bears, this is apparently a hygienic procedure aimed at maintaining the purity of the fur. In cubs mimicking their mothers, this behavior also has a playful color.

Ursa training for the younger generation probably lasts as long as the family group persists. The imitation of the mother appears even when the babies are in the den, for example, digging activities. They also sometimes imitate her when eating plants.

Having finally left the den, the family goes to the sea. On the way, the female often stops to feed the cubs, sometimes she feeds herself by digging plants from under the snow. If the weather is windy, she lies with her back to the wind; in deep enough snow, dig a small hole or temporary den. Then the families go to the ice. In the first half of May, sometimes females and cubs are still found on land, but probably among those who, for some reason, left their lair with a delay.

Females can breed once every 3 years, since the cubs with her are up to 2.5 years. For the first time, females become mothers, usually between 4-5 years old, and then give birth every 3 years until they die. Most often, 2 cubs are born. The largest broods and largest cubs occur in females aged 8-10 years. In young and old bears, 1 cub is more often born. There is evidence that adult females in natural conditions can change cubs or adopt cubs who have lost their mother for some reason.

The life expectancy of female polar bears is 25-30 years, males - up to 20 years.

Diseases, enemies and competitors

Among polar bears, such a dangerous intestinal-muscle invasive disease as trichinosis is widespread. Other diseases they have are very rare.

More often, they suffer from various injuries, including those inflicted in a fight to each other for possessing a female or food. But they have no serious consequences for the population.

A polar bear rival can only be a person who hunts seals for the sake of skin, fur and meat, upsetting the natural balance between the predator and the prey.

The wolf and arctic fox have a minor effect on the population, attacking and killing the cubs.

Polar bears and man

Thanks to measures to protect polar predators, the risk of their extinction is low. Previously, they were considered a vulnerable species, but after the enactment of the 1973 Polar Bear Conservation Act, the population has stabilized.

Provided that the hunt for polar bears is controlled, they will not be destroyed. However, there are concerns that their numbers may decline due to the low rate of reproduction. Mostly the local population shoots them, whose representatives kill about 700 individuals per year. But the main danger to our heroes is the warming of the climate and environmental pollution.

In the Arctic regions, due to population growth, the likelihood of a collision between a polar predator and a human has increased. As a result, a conflict situation is created that is dangerous for both parties. Polar bears, however, cannot be considered aggressive towards humans, but there are exceptions. Most animals retreat when they meet a person, while 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 instinct for persecution is triggered. Therefore, to argue that a polar bear is a completely harmless animal would be a dangerous delusion. The real threat is exhausted individuals. First of all, these are old animals that have lost the ability to successfully hunt their usual food, as well as young animals that have not yet mastered the techniques of hunting. Females protecting their cubs pose a considerable danger. A polar bear can also be aggressive when it unexpectedly meets a person or if it is being pursued.

In contact with

The predatory mammal, the polar bear, or polar bear (Ursus maritimus), is a close relative of the brown bear and the largest land predator on the planet to date.

Characteristic and Description

Polar bear is one of the largest land-based mammals from the order of predatory animals.. The body length of an adult is three meters with a weight of up to a ton. The average weight of the male, as a rule, varies between 400-800 kg with a body length of 2.0-2.5 m, the height at the withers does not exceed one and a half meters. Females are much smaller, and their weight rarely exceeds 200-250 kg. The smallest polar bear category includes individuals that inhabit Svalbard, and the largest specimens are found near the Bering Sea.

It is interesting!A characteristic difference between polar bears is the presence of a fairly long neck and a flat head. The skin is black, and the color of the fur coat can vary from white to yellowish shades. In the summer, the animal’s fur turns yellow as a result of prolonged exposure to sunlight.

The hair of polar bears is completely devoid of pigment dyeing, and the hairs have a hollow structure. A feature of translucent hairs is the ability to pass only ultraviolet light, which gives the wool high thermal insulation characteristics. On the sole of the extremities there is also a wool that prevents slipping. Between the fingers is a swimming membrane. Large claws allow the predator to retain even very strong and large prey.

Extinct subspecies

A closely related subspecies for the well-known and fairly common polar bear these days is the extinct giant polar bear or U. maritimus tyrannus. A distinctive feature of this subspecies were significantly larger body sizes. The body length of an adult could be four meters, and the average weight exceeded a ton.

In the UK, in the Pleistocene sediments, it was possible to find the remains of a single ulna belonging to a giant polar bear, which made it possible to determine its intermediate position. Apparently, the large predator was perfectly adapted for hunting large enough mammals. According to scientists, the most likely reason for the extinction of the subspecies was insufficient food at the end of the icing period.

Habitat

The polar polar habitat of the polar bear is limited by the territory of the northern coast of the continents and the southern part of the distribution of floating ice, as well as the border of the northern warm currents of the sea. The distribution area includes four areas:

permanent habitat;
habitat of a high number of animals;
place of regular occurrence of pregnant females;
territory of long-distance calls to the south.

Polar bears inhabit the entire coast of Greenland, the ice of the Greenland Sea to the south to the Jan Mayen Islands, Spitsbergen Island, as well as Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya in the Barents Sea, Bear Islands, Vai-gach and Kolguyev, Kara Sea. A significant number of polar bears is observed on the coast of the Laptev Sea continents, as well as in the East Siberian, Chukchi Sea and Beaufort. The main range of the highest predator abundance is represented by the continental slope of the Arctic Ocean.

Pregnant females of a polar bear regularly lie in dens in the following territories:

northwest and northeast of Greenland;
southeastern part of Svalbard;
the western part of Franz Josef Land;
the northern part of the island of Novaya Zemlya;
small islands of the Kara Sea;
North Earth;
the northern and northeastern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula;
lena Delta and Bear Islands of Eastern Siberia;
the coast and adjacent islands of the Chukchi Peninsula;
wrangel Island;
southern part of Banks Island;
simpson Peninsula Coast;
northeastern part of the coast of Baffin Island and the island of Southamptom.

Dens with pregnant polar bears are also observed on pack ice in the Beaufort Sea. From time to time, as a rule, in the early spring period, polar bears make long calls in the direction of Iceland and Scandinavia, as well as the Kanin Peninsula, in Anadyr Bay and in Kamchatka. With ice and at the intersection of Kamchatka, predatory animals sometimes end up in the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan and Okhotsk.

Power Features

The polar bears have a very well-developed sense of smell, as well as the organs of hearing and sight, so it is not difficult for a predator to notice its prey at a distance of several kilometers.

The diet of the polar bear is determined by the characteristics of the distribution area and the characteristics of its body. The predator is ideally suited to harsh polar winters and long swims in ice water, so marine representatives of the animal world, including sea urchin and walruses, most often become its prey. Eggs, chicks, young animals, as well as carrion in the form of corpses of sea animals and fish that are thrown by the wave on the coast, are also used for food.

If possible, the polar bear’s food can be very selective. In seals or walruses caught, the predator primarily eats the skin and body fat. However, a very hungry beast is able to eat the corpses of its brethren. Relatively rarely, large predators enrich their diet with berries and moss. Changes in climatic conditions have had a significant impact on nutrition, so lately polar bears are increasingly hunting on land.

Lifestyle

Polar bears make seasonal migrations, which are caused by annual changes in the territories and borders of the polar ice. In the summer, animals recede towards the pole, and in winter the animal population moves to the southern part and enters the mainland.

It is interesting!Despite the fact that polar bears mainly stay on the coast or on ice, in winter animals lie in dens located on the mainland or island, sometimes at a distance of fifty meters from the sea line.

The duration of winter hibernation of a polar bear, as a rule, varies between 50-80 days, but lies on hibernation, most often pregnant females. Irregular and rather short winter hibernation is characteristic of males and young animals.

On land, this predator is fast, and also excellent in swimming and diving very well.

Despite the apparent slowness, the sluggishness of a polar bear is deceptive. On land, this predator is agile and quick, and among other things, a large beast swims and dives very well. To protect the body of a polar bear, a very thick and dense coat is used, which prevents getting wet in ice water and has excellent heat-retaining properties. One of the most important adaptive characteristics is the presence of a massive layer of subcutaneous fat, the thickness of which can reach 8-10 cm. White coat color helps the predator to successfully disguise itself against the background of snow mass and ice.

Breeding

Based on numerous observations, the period of rutting in polar bears lasts about a month and usually begins in mid-March. At this time, predators are divided into pairs, but females also occur, accompanied by several males at once. The mating period lasts a couple of weeks.

Pregnancy of a polar bear

It lasts about eight months, but depending on a number of conditions, it can vary between 195-262 days. It is practically impossible to visually distinguish a pregnant female from a single polar bear. About a couple of months before giving birth, behavioral differences appear and the females become irritable, inactive, lie on their stomach for a long time and lose their appetite. A litter often has a pair of cubs, and the birth of one cub is characteristic of young, primiparous females. A pregnant bear leaves on land in autumn, and spends the entire winter period in a snow den, located most often near the sea coast.

Bear Care

In the first days after the birth, the polar bear lies curled up almost all the time on its side. Short and sparse hair is not sufficient for self-heating, so newborn cubs are located between the paws of the mother and her breasts, and the polar bear warms them with his breath. The average weight of newborn cubs most often does not exceed a kilogram with a body length of a quarter meter.

Bear cubs are born blind, and only at the age of five weeks they open their eyes. The she-bear feeds the monthly bear cubs while sitting. A mass exit of female bear occurs in March. Through a hole dug out, the bear begins to gradually take her cubs out for a walk, but with the onset of night the animals return to the den again. On walks, the cubs play and delve into the snow.

It is interesting!In the polar bear population, approximately 15-29% of cubs and about 4-15% of immature individuals die.

Enemies in nature

Under natural conditions, polar bears, due to their size and predatory instinct, have virtually no enemies. The death of polar bears is most often caused by accidental injuries as a result of intraspecific skirmishes or when hunting for too large walruses. Also, a certain danger for adults and young individuals is represented by a killer whale and a polar shark. Most often, bears die of hunger.

Man was the worst enemy of a polar bear, and such ethnic groups of the North as the Chukchi, Nenets and Eskimos have been hunting for this polar predator for centuries. Fishing work, which began in the second half of the last century, was detrimental to the population. During one season, St. John's wort destroyed more than a hundred individuals. More than sixty years ago, the polar bear hunt was closed, and since 1965 it has been included in the Red Book.

Danger to humans

Cases of polar bear attacks on people are well known, and the most vivid evidence of predator aggression is recorded in the notes and reports of polar travelers, so you need to be very careful when moving around in places where a polar bear may appear. On the territory of settlements located near the habitat of the polar predator, all containers with household waste must be inaccessible to a hungry beast. In the cities of the Canadian province, the so-called “prisons” have been specially created, in which temporary keeping of bears approaching the city line is carried out.

An intellectual among bears, perfectly orientated in a three-dimensional, constantly changing space of water and ice, flexibly changing hunting tactics and not having natural enemies, the polar bear is a real master of the Arctic.

Taxonomy

Russian name - polar bear, polar bear, polar bear, shake, nanuk, umka
   Latin name - Ursus (Thalarctos) maritimus
   English name - Polar bear
   Squad - Carnivora (Carnivora)
   Family - Bear (Ursidae) has 7 species
   Genus - Ursus

Species status in nature

The polar bear is listed in the International Red Book and the Red Book of Russia as a species whose abundance in nature is declining - CITES II, IUCN (VU). In Russia, polar bear hunting has been banned since 1956 and is currently only allowed in very limited areas in the United States, Canada, and Greenland.

View and man

These animals were known to the ancient Romans, at least in the first century AD. Archives of Japanese emperors indicate that polar bears and their skins came to Japan and Manchuria already in the 7th century, but the population of these countries could get acquainted with these animals much earlier - bears sometimes reach the shores of Japan along with floating ice. The oldest written source containing information about polar bears and related to the north of Europe dates from about 880 - then two teddy bears were brought from Norway to Iceland. In 1774, the polar bear was first described in the scientific literature as an independent species. The author of this description is the English zoologist Konstantin Phipps.

The peoples inhabiting the Arctic have long hunted these animals. As the exploration of the North by humans, the number of bears decreased, but after the ban on hunting and the organization of protected areas in places of tribal lairs, it began to increase. However, now it is shrinking again, as bears are suffering very much due to climate change - in the Arctic, the ice cover necessary for a successful seal hunting is being established late. As a result, the animals go hungry, and the bears, in addition, cannot get to the places of the birth clan. A negative role is played by environmental pollution and the disturbance factor.

Polar bears are very curious, they examine any new subject and often visit polar stations. However, they are not aggressive and, if people do not start to feed them, leave.

Distribution area

The world for a polar bear is limited by ice fields. This is the beast of the Arctic belt - and he finds food and shelter among endless ice and hummocks. It happens that, together with floating ice, polar bears reach the coast of Iceland, even fall into the Sea of \u200b\u200bOkhotsk and the Sea of \u200b\u200bJapan. However, such animals always strive to return to their usual ice environment and, being outside it, make large transitions overland, moving strictly north.

Appearance, features of morphology and physiology

The polar bear is the largest animal not only among bears, but also among all predators. Among males, there are hulks whose body length reaches 280 cm, height at the withers - 150 cm, and weight - 800 kg; females are smaller and lighter. The polar bear has an elongated body, narrow in the front and massive in the back, a long and mobile neck and a relatively small head, with a straightened profile, a narrow forehead and small high-set eyes. This beast has very strong paws with large claws. The feet of the bear are wide, but the corns are almost invisible under the thick dense coat. Such wool covers the entire body of the beast and has a uniform white color that does not change over the seasons of the year.

But the skin of a polar bear is dark, almost black, which contributes to the least heat transfer. All year round under the skin lies a thick - 3-4 cm layer of fat; on the back, it can reach a thickness of 10 cm. Fat not only protects the beast from the cold and serves as an energy storehouse, but also makes its body easier, making it easier to stay on water.
The brain of this animal differs markedly from the brain of other predators in its outlines and more complex arrangement of furrows and convolutions. In this regard, it is similar to the brain of some pinnipeds, for example, fur seal. Greater than the development of a brown bear, the development of the visual region of the brain and less olfactory development may indicate that the polar bear has better vision and worse sense of smell than its brown counterpart.

The structure of the digestive tract is specific and distinct from other bears - the intestines are shorter and the stomach is much larger than other members of the family, which allows the hungry predator to eat an entire seal right away.

Intellectual among bears, perfectly oriented in the space of water and ice

Lifestyle and Social Organization

In the arctic conditions of the Arctic, there is no alternation of the day of the night habitual to us. There is no pronounced daily activity of animals that host it. In short hibernation, widely known for brown bears, whites fall far away. Winter sleep is characteristic only for the damsels who are going to become mothers, and elderly males, waiting in this way for the most difficult time of the year. Strong, healthy males and non-pregnant females are active all year round, sitting in the dens of freshly excavated dens only during the time of a strong snowstorm.

Polar bears do not adhere to certain individual sites; they belong to the entire Arctic. Adult animals, as a rule, roam alone. Having obtained a seal after being satisfied, the predator spills its place here, in the place of a successful hunt, and, waking up, wanders on. Meeting with a brother-in-law can occur in different ways. Well-fed animals are most often neutral in relation to each other. Females with little cubs try not to fall in love with large males, who, being hungry, prey on their cubs. If the meeting is unavoidable, the she-bear will desperately protect her babies.

A seasoned male can take away the prey of the younger and even try to kill him and eat. At the same time, dozens of bears sometimes gather near the carcass of a whale thrown out by the sea, feeding several meters away from each other, not showing any aggression to the brothers.

Females with little cubs are extremely loyal to orphaned cubs: there are cases when females received and fed them together with relatives.

Nutrition and Feeding Behavior

The polar bear, the identity of its omnivorous relatives, is a predator actively hunting large animals. Its main victim is arctic seals, primarily, ringed seal. Hunting natylyon, the bear shows an amazing ingenuity and resourcefulness: he can sneak up on his victim's favor, watch for the abductions, or pick up a knee occasion. The bear is very patient - he can sneak up on his victim for several hours, as well as lie down near the hole while waiting for the animal to emerge to breathe. With a powerful blow of the front paw, the predator kills its prey and with one movement pulls its ice. Most often, the bear is limited only to the subcutaneous layer of fat, eating it together with the skink, which is pulled together by a stocking of the victim. The meat is eaten up by Arctic foxes and hayscocks, often accompanying his wanderings. However, a very hungry bear eats seal meat, and at one time it can eat up to 20 kilograms or more. It is very likely that the next portion of food will get to his stomach only after a few days.

Sometimes a bear preys on the young of large marine mammals - walruses, beluga whales and inarval. A real feast begins when the sea throws a whale corpse on the shore. A few predators gather at once for a chase — enough food for everyone.

Being dry, the bears feed on the eggs of birds, grab lemmings. In addition, in the summer on the mainland and the islands they eat cloudberries, in the intertidal zone, algae such as kelp, fucus. Bears after the exit of the Izberloga dig up the snow and eat the shoots of willow silt sedge.

Breeding and growing offspring

Mating of white bears occurs in spring or summer. Animals can stay in pairs for about two weeks, at night up to 3 even 7 males gather near the female, between which fights arise.

October-November, when the ice fields fit the bonfires, the females go out on the rocky shores. Here, in their favorite places in powerful snow deposits, they make lairs. The entrance to the den is always lower than the nesting chamber, due to which the shelter is much warmer than outside. Blizzards of Ivetra complete the construction of the “house”, forming a solid roof over it, sometimes up to 2 m thick. Here, after 230–250 days of pregnancy (including the latent stage characteristic of bears when the egg does not develop), cubs appear in the midst of the Arctic winter. Newborns are as helpless as other species of bears, weighing about 700 g. The ability to see and hear appears in their ears only at the age of one month, after another month the teething erupts. By this time, they begin to come out of the way, for only 3 months they are able to follow their mothers. I rent young animals do not part one and a half years. The hunters do not take any part in raising children, on the contrary, they pose a serious danger to them - the cannibalism of white bears is not uncommon.

For the first time, the female gives birth to one cub at the age of five to six, and subsequently the moose is likely to be born 2 cubs once every three years.

Life span

Captive polar bear can live more than 30 years, less in nature.

Keeping animals at the Moscow Zoo

Throughout the existence of the zoo there were only very short periods when polar bears did not contain us. There is evidence that the first polar bear appeared in 1871. B1884 Emperor Alexander gave the zoo two more polar bears. Cubs were born to them, but, unfortunately, because of the anxiety of the side of the people, their mothers refused to feed them, and the first born involuntarily cubs died. In subsequent years, the zoo got mostly bear cubs brought by polar stations. In1938, 8 polar bears were kept at the zoo at the same time. From them, offspring were obtained and raised. During the war years, zoo enthusiasts made truly heroic efforts to save animals, but some of them even died during the bombing. Early 1945 the zoo took another bear cub as a present from the famous polar explorer Papanin.

Now there are three adult polar bears living in the zoo, only one of whom was born in the zoo, the rest, left without parental care, were picked up and transferred to the zoo by the wintering co. Wrangel and Chukotka. Two open-air cages are outlined, of which, in addition to the obligatory swimming pool, there is an installation from which it snows on hot summer days. The installation is a gift from the Moscow government, and the ion greatly decorated the life of our furry favorites. Bears like to rest near the snowdrift and hide the rest of the food, while their children play with pleasure.

Females live each in their aviary, Asamets move, they remove it only shortly before the time comes for pregnant females to go to bed. At this time, expectant mothers try to bother as little as possible. In the light of the cubs appear in October-November, but visitors to the zoo can see them in their volunteers no earlier than February. The first 3–4 months of their life, as it should be for all cubs, they spend with their mother on a den. About one year old cubs suddenly leave zoos.

Feeding polar bears at the zoo is very diverse. They prefer meat to everything else; they like mainly aryba large. Of a variety of vegetables, first and foremost, bears choose a green salad. They eat various porridges.

Of course, life at the zoo is easier than nature, but less interesting. “Foreign” objects that you see in the open-air cages are toys of bears. If you do not make the bears sleeping, then you are very likely to see them playing.

Today we still have a chance to see a polar bear in the wild, whether it is a television show on Discovery or an exotic trip to its natural habitat. But it is likely that our children will be deprived of this opportunity. Whatever happens at the lessons of the world, primary school students study animals of the Red Book of Russia.

Children learn that many species of animals are threatened with extinction, how fragile the animal world is, you need to protect this beautiful world of nature.

A message around the world on the topic "Animals of the Red Book of Russia - Polar Bear"

Polar bear - a brief description for children

from the series "Animals of the Red Book of Russia"

The polar bear is one of the largest land predators. Its height at the withers (from the ground to the neck) is 1.5 m, length 2-2.5 m, foot size 30 cm long and 25 wide; males of a polar bear weigh 350-650 kg, some even more, females 175-300 kg. The maximum life expectancy of 25-30 years, rarely more. With its size, it exceeds all predators in the world. But such dimensions do not prevent the animal from cleverly moving through the snow, swimming and diving.

The color of the coat of a polar bear in winter is snowy white. With the arrival of heat, the coat becomes a yellowish tint. Also, thanks to its fat reserves, the bear is perfectly kept afloat. A polar bear, like every predator of this size, must possess dangerous weapons. These are powerful jaws and strong claws.

Polar bear habitat

Polar bears are year-round associated with drifting and landfast sea ice, where they hunt seals - ringed seals and, to a lesser extent, sea hares. Bears even enter land, as a rule, not for long. The exception is pregnant females, lying in dens for up to six months, and in some years, bears, for one reason or another, remained on land for several weeks.

For a polar bear, you must be near the sea. Therefore, he spends his life near the ice-covered Arctic seas. This predator is mainly distributed in the Arctic Ocean, Hudson and Baffin Bay, in the north of the Bering Sea and on the Arctic islands.
White bears lead a nomadic lifestyle. Sometimes it carries them over long distances.

What do polar bears eat?

The main prey of the bears are seals, which predators lie in wait near the holes. When a seal sticks its head out, the polar bear throws the animal out with a powerful blow. Uses only lard and seal skin. Only in hungry times can it eat the whole carcass.
In addition to seals, polar bears feed on fish, chicks, carrion. Can prey on large animals such as walruses.

In summer, cloudberries, seaweed, willow shoots and sedge leaves can be consumed.

The main reasons for the decrease in the number of polar bears:

For polar bears, the main natural limiting factor is the number and availability of seals.

Under natural conditions, no one but a person threatens the polar bear. A big threat to polar bears are poachers who can hunt for cubs.

The greatest danger is climate change. Due to a sharp drop in temperature, the ice cover began to decrease. This led to a decrease in the population of seals, walruses, which are the basis for the nutrition of polar bears. For these reasons, the protection of this animal is of great importance.

Although the polar bear is the largest predator on Earth, thanks to humans, its appearance is threatened with extinction. Therefore, the polar bear is listed in Red bookand is protected. He is also listed in the international red book. The production of polar bears in the Russian Arctic has been banned since 1956.

Conservation of polar bear populations in the Russian Arctic, the organization of a special protection regime in places of concentration of clan dens (the Wrangel and Herald Islands and Franz Josef Land) contributed to the organization. In order to improve the protection of polar bears, the following measures are proposed:

To expand the area of \u200b\u200bthe Wrangel Island nature reserve;

To organize specially protected natural territories and water areas in the areas of Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya;

Introduce more stringent time limits on economic activity in areas where polar bears are concentrated in ice and where they are located in dens;

To carry out preventive measures that reduce the likelihood of polar bears in settlements and attacks on humans (remove or transfer landfills with food waste to the greatest possible distance, places for cutting sea animals and fish;

It is more reliable to isolate food stores and warehouses from animals;

To equip the district environmental inspections with sets of immobilizing equipment, with which you can catch and remove to a safe distance bears that have entered the territory of a settlement, etc.).

Polar bear breeds regularly in zoos in Kazan, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Perm, Rostov-on-Don.