The life of polar bears in nature. Polar bears: The Red Book of Russia. Lifestyle and social organization

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

What do polar bears look like?

The polar bear is the second largest land animal in terms of size and mass. More than him - only the sea elephant. The largest bears reach three meters in length and weigh one ton.

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

Females are smaller and weigh up to 300 kg.

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

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

Bears keep well on the ice, thanks to fur-lined paws. And in the water they are helped by swimming membranes between the fingers.

In nature, sometimes polar grizzlies are found - 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 crossing.

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

Polar bears are called polar bears for a reason. Their habitat is the northern hemisphere, polar regions. They also 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. Synod bears go deep into the mainland or get to Kamchatka on floating ice.

What do polar bears eat

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

In water, bears are much more dexterous and mobile, therefore they pose a serious danger to marine animals. These majestic animals can move over great distances. A record of 685 kilometers was recorded: the bear that set it was looking for a hunting place.

In hunting, bears also contribute a lot to natural coloring and excellent hearing.

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

Sometimes bears turn over ice floes, on which seals make rookeries.

Walruses are hunted only on land: in the water it is more difficult for bears to cope with these animals.

How polar bears raise babies

During her life, one she-bear brings no more than 15 cubs. Females rarely give birth, once every two or three years.

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

Bears are loners by nature, so the mother gives birth and raises the babies alone. They are born in the middle of winter or towards its end, but the mother remains in hibernation all this time.

Bears, along with grown-up babies, are born in April.

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

- a predator included in the suborder of canids, the bear family and the bear genus. This unique mammal belongs to endangered species. Its most famous names are umka, oshkuy, nanuk and polar bear. He lives in the north, eats fish and smaller animals, sometimes attacks humans. Just a few centuries ago, its numbers exceeded hundreds of thousands of individuals, but their systematic destruction forced the defenders of nature to sound the alarm.

Where does the polar bear live?

The polar bear lives exclusively in the subpolar regions of the northern hemisphere, but this does not mean that the animal lives wherever the arctic snow does not melt. Most bears do not go beyond 88 degrees north latitude, while the extreme point of their distribution in the south is the island of Newfoundland, whose few inhabitants risk their lives daily, trying to get along with a dangerous predator.

The inhabitants of the arctic and tundra zones of Russia, Greenland, the USA and Canada are also well acquainted with the polar bear. Most of the animals live in areas with drifting, multi-year ice, where many seals and walruses also live. Most often, a bear can be seen near a large polynya, on the edge of which it freezes in anticipation of a seal or fur seal that has risen from the depths.

It is impossible to accurately determine the mainland where the polar bear lives for the most part. The most extensive populations of these animals were named after the place of their main concentration. So, most predators prefer:

• the eastern shores of the Kara and East Siberian seas, the cold waters of the Laptev Sea, the New Siberian Islands and the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (Laptev population);
• the shores of the Barents Sea, the western part of the Kara Sea, the islands of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, Frans Josef Land and Svalbard (Kara-Barents Sea population);
• Chukchi Sea, northern part of the Bering Sea, east of the East Siberian Sea, Wrangel and Herald Islands (Chukotka-Alaska population).

White bears are rarely found directly in the Arctic, preferring more southerly and warmer seas, where they have a better chance of survival. The habitat is variable and is associated with the boundaries of the polar ice. If the Arctic summer drags on and the ice begins to melt, then the animals move closer to the pole. With the onset of winter, they return to the south, preferring the ice-covered coastal zones and the mainland.

Description of the polar bear

Polar bears, described below, are the largest mammalian predators on the planet. They owe their significant dimensions to their distant ancestor, which became extinct thousands of years ago. The giant polar bear was at least 4 meters long and weighed about 1.2 tons.

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

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

The whole body of the white bear is covered with fur, which protects against severe frosts and allows you to feel comfortable even in icy water. Only the nose and paw pads are devoid of fur. The color of the fur coat can be crystal white, yellowish and even green.

In fact, the animal's coat is devoid of pigmentation, it is colorless, the hairs are hollow, dense, hard, located at a minimum distance from each other. There is a well-developed undercoat, under which black skin with a 10 cm layer of fat is found.

The white color of the coat serves as an ideal disguise for the animal. A lurking bear is not easy to detect even for an experienced hunter, while seals and walruses often become victims of this cunning and cruel predator.

The structure of the body, head and legs

Unlike the grizzly, the polar bear's neck is elongated, the head is flat, its front part is elongated, the ears are small, rounded.

These animals are skilled swimmers, which is achieved due to the presence of webs between their toes and is determined by where the polar bear lives most of the year. At the time of the swim, no matter how much the polar bear weighs, thanks to the membranes, it can easily overtake even the fastest prey.

The legs of the predator are columnar, ending in powerful paws. The soles of the feet are covered with wool, which serves as an ideal protection against freezing and slipping. The front parts of the paws are covered with stiff bristles, under which sharp claws are hidden, allowing them to hold prey for a long time. Having captured the prey with its claws, the predator then uses its teeth. His jaws are powerful, incisors and fangs are well developed. A healthy animal has up to 42 teeth; there are no facial vibrissae.

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

Endurance

The polar bear is an extremely hardy animal, despite its apparent clumsiness, it is able to overcome up to 5.6 kilometers per hour on land and up to 7 kilometers per hour on water. The average speed of a predator is 40 kilometers per hour.

Polar bears hear and see well, and an excellent sense of smell allows you to smell prey located at a distance of 1 kilometer from it. The animal is able to detect a seal hiding under several meters of snow, or hiding at the bottom of a polynya, even if it is at a depth of more than 1 meter.

How long does a polar bear live?

Oddly enough, polar bears live longer in captivity than in their natural habitat. The average life expectancy in this case does not exceed 20-30 years, while the zoo inhabitant is quite capable of living over 45-50 years. This is due to the declining food supply, the annual melting of glaciers and the ongoing extermination of predators by humans.

In Russia, hunting for a polar bear is prohibited, but in other countries there are only some restrictions on this subject, allowing to exterminate no more than a few hundred predators per year. In most cases, such hunting is in no way connected with the real needs for meat and skins, therefore it is a real barbarism in relation to this beautiful and powerful beast.

Features of character and lifestyle

The polar bear is considered a cruel predator, attacking even people. The animal prefers a solitary lifestyle, males and females gather together only during the rut. The rest of the time, bears move exclusively on their own territory, conquered from their other brethren, and this applies not only to males, but also to females with newborn offspring.

Hibernation

Unlike their brown counterparts, the polar bear may not hibernate for the winter. Most often, only pregnant females sleep on the eve of childbirth. Adult males do not sleep every season, the duration of hibernation is no more than 80 days (the brown bear sleeps from 75 to 195 days a year).

Reproduction of polar bears, care for offspring

In relation to each other, polar bears behave quite peacefully, most fights take place between males during the rut. At this time, not only adult animals can suffer, but also cubs, which prevent the female from re-participating in mating games.

Animals become sexually mature when they reach 4 or 8 years, while females are ready to bear offspring 1-2 years earlier than males.

The mating season lasts from late March to early June. One female can be chased by up to 7 males. Bearing offspring takes at least 250 days, which corresponds to 8 months. Pregnancy begins with a latent stage, which is characterized by a delay in embryo implantation. This feature is associated not only with the physiology of the animal, but also with the conditions of its habitat. The female must prepare for the development of the fetus and for a long hibernation. Around the end of October, she begins to equip her own lair, and for this purpose she sometimes travels hundreds of kilometers. Many females dig dens near existing buildings. So, on the skeletons of Wrangel and Franz Josef, there are at least 150 closely spaced lairs.

The development of the embryo begins in mid-November, when the female is already sleeping. Her hibernation ends in April and at about the same time 1-3 bear cubs appear in the den, weighing from 450 to 700 grams each. An exception is the birth of 4 cubs. The babies are covered with thin fur, which practically does not protect them from the cold, therefore, in the first weeks of their life, the female does not leave the den, supporting her existence due to accumulated fat.

Newborn cubs feed exclusively on mother's milk. They do not open their eyes immediately, but a month after birth. Two-month-old babies begin to crawl out of the den, in order to leave it completely when they reach 3 months. At the same time, they continue to feed on milk and stay close to the female until they reach 1.5 years of age. Little cubs are practically helpless, therefore they often become prey for larger predators. Mortality among polar bears under the age of 1 year is at least 10-30%.

A new pregnancy in a female occurs only after the death of the offspring, or its introduction into adulthood, that is, no more than 1 time in 2-3 years. On average, no more than 15 cubs are born from one female in her entire life, half of which die.

What does a polar bear eat

The polar bear feeds exclusively on meat and fish food. Seals, ringed seals, bearded seals, walruses, white whales and narwhals become its victims. Having caught and killed the prey, the predator proceeds to eat its skin and fat. It is this part of the carcass that polar bears eat in most cases. They prefer not to eat fresh meat, making an exception only during periods of long hunger strikes. Such a nutritious diet is necessary for the accumulation of vitamin A in the liver, which helps to survive a long winter without consequences. What the polar bear does not eat is picked up by scavengers following it - arctic foxes and wolves.

To saturate the predator needs at least 7 kilograms of food. A hungry bear can eat 19 or more kilograms. If the prey is gone, and there is no strength left to pursue it, then the beast feeds on fish, carrion, bird eggs and chicks. At such a time, the bear becomes dangerous to humans. He wanders to the outskirts of the villages, eating garbage and tracking down lonely travelers. In famine years, bears also do not disdain algae and grass. Periods of a long hunger strike mainly fall in the summer, when the ice melts and recedes from the shore. At this time, the bears are forced to use their own fat reserves, sometimes starving for more than 4 months in a row. The question of what the polar bear eats becomes irrelevant during such periods, since the animal is ready to eat literally everything that moves.

Hunting

The bear tracks down its prey for a long time, sometimes it stays for hours near the polynya, waiting for a seal to come up to breathe air. As soon as the head of the prey is above the water, the predator delivers a powerful blow to it with its paw. A stunned carcass, he clings with his claws and pulls out to land. To increase its chances of being caught, the bear expands the boundaries of the opening and practically plunges its head into the water in order to have time to notice the appearance of prey.

Seals cannot spend all their time in the water, they need to rest sometimes, which is what polar bears use. Noticing a suitable seal, the bear imperceptibly swims up and overturns the ice floe on which it is resting. The fate of the seal is sealed. If the walrus became the bear's prey, then everything is not so simple. Walruses have a powerful defense in the form of front fangs, with which they can easily pierce an unlucky attacker. An adult walrus can be much stronger than a bear, especially if he is young and does not yet have enough experience in such battles.

Bearing this in mind, bears attack only weak or young walruses, doing this exclusively on land. The prey is tracked down for a long time, the bear sneaks up to the closest possible distance, after which it makes a jump and leans on the victim with all its weight.

In its natural habitat, the bear has a minimum number of enemies. If the animal is injured or sick, then walruses, killer whales, wolves, arctic foxes and even dogs can attack it. A healthy bear is larger than any of the named predators and can easily cope even with several opponents who attacked in a common mass. A sick animal takes a significant risk and often prefers to avoid battle by lying down in a lair.

Sometimes the prey of wolves and dogs are small bear cubs, whose mother went hunting, or is watching them inattentively. The life of the bear is also threatened by poachers who are interested in killing the animal in order to obtain its luxurious skin and a large amount of meat.

Family ties

First appeared on the planet about 5 million years ago. The polar bear separated itself from its brown ancestors no more than 600 thousand years ago, and yet its closest relative continues to be an ordinary brown bear.

Both the polar bear and the brown bear are genetically similar, therefore, as a result of crossing, quite viable offspring are obtained, which can also later be used to produce young animals. Black and white bears will not naturally be born, but the young will inherit all the best qualities of both individuals.

At the same time, the polar and brown bears live in different ecological systems, which affected the formation of a number of phenotypic traits in them, as well as differences in nutrition, behavior and lifestyle. The presence of a significant difference in all of the above made it possible to classify the brown bear, or grizzly, as a separate species.

Polar bear and brown bear: comparative characteristics

Both white and brown bears have a number of distinctive features, the essence of which is as follows:

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

Interesting facts about the polar bear

There are many legends and myths about the polar bear. At the same time, some features of his behavior are so interesting that they deserve the attention of not only lovers of legends, but young admirers of wildlife. To date, the following is known about the polar bear:

• The largest predators are found in the Barents Sea, smaller animals prefer the island of Svalbard and the area near it.
• In photographs taken under ultraviolet light, the polar bear's fur appears black.
• Starving bears can travel great distances, moving not only by land, but also by swimming. In this, both white and brown bears are similar. The fact of a bear swim was recorded, lasting more than 9 days. During this time, the female covered over 660 kilometers along the Beaufort Sea, lost 22% of her mass and a one-year-old bear cub, but survived and was able to get ashore.
• The polar bear is not afraid of man, a hungry predator is able to make him his prey, chasing him tirelessly for many days. In the city of Churchill, which belongs to the Canadian province of Manitoba, there is a special place where bears wandering into the territory of the settlement are temporarily confined. The existence of a temporary zoo is a necessary measure. A hungry predator not afraid of the human presence can enter the house and attack a person. After overexposure and a hearty meal, the bear leaves the city already less aggressive, which allows us to hope for its not soon return.
• According to the Eskimos, the polar bear embodies the forces of nature. A man cannot call himself such until he enters into an equal confrontation with him.
• The giant polar bear is the ancestor of the modern bear.
• In 1962, a bear was shot dead in Alaska, weighing 1002 kilograms.
• The bear is a warm-blooded animal. Its body temperature reaches 31 degrees Celsius, which makes it quite difficult for a predator to move quickly. Long running can lead to overheating of the body.
• Children are introduced to the image of a polar bear through such cartoons as "Umka", "Elka" and "Bernard".
• Everyone's favorite sweets "Bear in the North" also have an image of a polar bear.
• The official polar bear day is February 27th.
• The polar bear is one of the symbols of the state of Alaska.

Polar bears are considered to be under-prolific, so their population is recovering extremely slowly. According to an audit conducted in 2013, the number of bears in Russia did not exceed 7 thousand individuals (20-25 thousand individuals worldwide).

For the first time, a ban on the extraction of meat and skins of these animals was introduced in 1957, due to their almost complete extermination by local residents and poachers. Polar bears, whose habitat has been disturbed, invade human possessions.

The mass of a polar bear is 300-700 kg, the length reaches 2.4-3.0 m, and the height in the club makes 1.3-1.5 m. Standing vertically, an adult male can reach a height of almost 3.35 m. The female is usually two times smaller and her weight ranges from 150-300 kg, and the length is 1.9-2.1 m. After birth, young cubs weigh only 600-700 grams.

The places where polar bears live are floating ice and a small edge of the Arctic coastline, beyond which they almost never go. On drifting ice floes, animals get to the shores of southern Greenland, Iceland, to the Bering and Okhotsk Seas. It has also been established that the animals live in the immediate vicinity of the North Pole, where not only adults, but also young cubs are found. The most numerous animals are polar bears in those areas where most often there are areas of water that are not covered with ice - because there you can quickly meet and easily get a seal.

These polar predators are considered excellent swimmers, and, if necessary, divers. They are not afraid of vast expanses of water at a distance of a hundred or more kilometers from the coast or the nearest ice mass. Swimming northern bears, thanks to their front paws, which play the role of oars, are able to reach speeds of up to 5-6 km / h. They dive, jumping from ice floes or icebergs, almost without splashing and silently. Under water are no more than two minutes with open eyes, but with compressed ear openings and nostrils. On land, animals move in a straight line, easily jumping over cracks in ice up to 3.5 m wide and two-meter hummocks. At the same time, they never break through the ice, since, spreading their paws wide, they evenly distribute their weight.

Being an unsurpassed hunter of sea animals, predators have excellent hearing, sharp eyesight and an excellent sense of smell, and they can smell the victim's scent at a distance of 7 km. For seals (especially seals), polar bears hunt, lying in wait for them near the holes. Animals inflict a strong blow with their paw on the head of the victim that has emerged from the water and instantly throw the carcass onto the ice. First of all, they devour lard and skin, and the rest only in case of great hunger. Not infrequently, selected all kinds of carrion, marine emissions, dead fish and chicks serve as food. In addition, they rob the warehouses of hunters and travelers. For one feeding, an adult male usually eats 6-8 kg, sometimes up to 20 kg of food.

Adult males live on their own and roam the endless expanses of ice all year round, overcoming several tens of kilometers a day. She-bears live more sedentary, in small family groups with their cubs. Only pregnant females go into hibernation. The rest also may not stay in the lair for a long time, but only in heavy starvation.

At the beginning of the mating season, she-bears become restless, and their walking routes increase. When males come across traces of a female's urine or droppings, they take her trail. After the mating season in early October, females arrange dens on land. In mid-November, from the moment the fertilized egg develops, they hibernate during the coldest winter months, receiving energy by burning accumulated fat reserves.

It is very warm in the den (up to + 30 °С), and cubs appear here in December. A female bear usually has 2-3 babies every 3 years. Bear cubs are born hairless, weak, blind, and feed on their mother's rich milk. A month after birth, they open their eyes, and two weeks later they take their first steps. With the end of the polar night, the babies, already with thick and dense hair, leave the ice lair with their mother.

We have already examined in detail and were surprised. Now let's take a closer look at the well-known Polar Bear and in more detail.

Polar bear- the largest bear, it is the largest predatory mammal in the world. The body length of an adult male can be up to 3 meters, and the mass can reach a ton. The largest representatives of the polar bear were seen along the shores of the Coastal Sea.

The polar bear is listed in the IUCN Red Book and the Red Book of Russia. Bear hunting is allowed only to the indigenous population of the North.

The skin of a polar bear is black, like a brown bear. But the color of the skin is from white to yellowish. Also, the fur of a polar bear has a feature: the hairs are hollow inside.

The bear seems clumsy due to its size and dimensions, but this is only an appearance. Polar bears can run fast enough, and even swim well. Bear north passes a day from 30 km. The bear's paw is unique. No deep snow can stop a bear, thanks to its size of feet and columnar legs, even compared to other polar animals, it very quickly and deftly overcomes any snow and ice obstacles. Cold tolerance is amazing. In addition to hollow hairs, the polar bear also has a subcutaneous layer of fat, which in winter can be up to 10 cm thick. Therefore, a white bear can easily overcome up to 80 km in icy water. In the summer, a bear can even swim to the mainland on an ice floe, then it is euthanized and sent back by helicopter.

In Russia, polar bears are found on the coast of the Arctic Ocean, in Greenland and Norway, Canada and Alaska.

The main food of the polar bear is seals. One bear eats about 50 seals a year. Catching a seal, however, is not easy. The northern bear can watch for prey at the hole for hours, waiting for the appearance of a seal on the surface. After the seal has surfaced to take a breath of air, the bear instantly beats the prey with its paw and throws it onto the ice. The predator eats the skin and fat, prefers to leave the rest, although in winter, in case of hunger, the bear eats the whole carcass too. The bear is often accompanied arctic foxes, who get the remains of the seal. Polar bears also do not disdain carrion, the bear smells the smell of prey at a distance of several kilometers. For example, beached whale will definitely become a meeting place for several bears. 2 bears or 3 bears may not share food, then there is a skirmish. How many bears can meet is unknown. That is why a bear can enter the territory of human habitation. More often, of course, this is a simple curiosity, although an evil hunger can drive the beast into a hopeless situation. Although the bear may be a vegetarian, they like cereals, lichens, sedges, berries and mosses.

Spring is the time of paradise for bears. Young marine animals are born, which, due to inexperience and weakness, do not offer proper resistance and often do not even run away.

The polar bear has an incomparable resistance to cold. Its thick long fur consists of hairs that are hollow in the middle and contain air. Many mammals have this protective hollow hair, an effective insulator, but those of the bear have their own characteristics. Polar bear fur retains heat so well that it cannot be detected by aerial infrared photography. Excellent thermal insulation is also provided by the subcutaneous layer of fat, which reaches 10 cm in thickness with the onset of winter. Without it, the bears would hardly be able to swim 80 km in the icy Arctic water.

By the way, polar bears are the only large predators on Earth that still live in their original territory, in natural conditions. This is largely due to the fact that seals, their favorite and main food, live on drifting ice in the Arctic. There are approximately 50 seals per bear per year. However, hunting seals is not easy. The state of the ice changes from year to year, and the behavior of seals is unpredictable. Bears have to walk thousands of kilometers in search of the best places to hunt.

In addition, the hunt itself requires skill and patience. The bear spends hours guarding the seal at the hole, waiting for it to come up to get some air. He instantly strikes with his paw on the head of a sea animal that has emerged from the water and immediately throws it onto the ice. First of all, the predator devours the skin and fat, and the rest of the carcass - only in case of great hunger. A bear hunting a seal is usually accompanied by one or more arctic foxes, eager to take advantage of the remains of dead animals. White bears themselves do not disdain carrion, thus compensating for the lack of seal fat and meat. The owners of the ice kingdom can smell carrion for several kilometers. And if suddenly a whale, having fallen into shallow water, dries up and dies, a whole company of polar bears, always hungry, will immediately come running from all sides.

Hunting for seals is not at all easier. At the slightest danger, shy seals dive under the ice and emerge in another hole for breathing. And the bear vainly rinses his face in ice water. But in the spring, a fertile time comes for the bear - cubs of marine animals are born who have never seen a polar bear and therefore do not realize the danger. But even here the clubfoot bear has to show miracles of ingenuity. In order not to frighten off the cubs, the bear has to be very careful, because even the slightest crunch can betray its presence and deprive it of food.

Difficulties with the extraction of food are exacerbated by climate change on Earth. Due to the warming of the climate, the ice in the bays begins to melt earlier than usual, the summer is getting longer every year, the winter is getting milder, and the problems of polar bears are becoming more acute. Summer, in general, is a difficult time for polar bears. There is very little ice left and it is almost impossible to get close to the seals. Over the past 20 years, the hunting season for polar bears has been reduced by two to three weeks. As a result, the weight of animals has decreased: if earlier the male weighed about 1000 kg, now, on average, 100 kg less. The females also lost weight. This, in turn, has an extremely negative effect on the reproduction of the population. Increasingly, only one bear cub is born to females ...

However, polar bears suffer not only from warming and shortening of the hunting season. In the recent past, the polar bear was an important target for hunting. Fur and bear paws, which are the most important component of popular and expensive oriental soups, pushed members of polar expeditions to ruthlessly exterminate this beautiful animal. The profits from such a business are so great that the international black market continues to thrive, despite all attempts to stop it. The struggle in this area has reached the same intensity as the fight against drug smuggling.

In July, many of the polar bears that traveled with drifting ice move to the coasts of the continents and islands. On land, they become vegetarians. They feed on grasses, sedges, lichens, mosses and berries. When there are many berries, the bear does not consume any other food for weeks, eating them to the point that his muzzle and buttocks turn blue from blueberries. However, the longer the bears starve, forced to move to land ahead of time from melting ice as a result of warming, the more often they will go in search of food to people who have been actively developing the Arctic in recent decades.

It is difficult to answer the question whether a meeting with a polar bear is dangerous for a person. Sometimes bears attacked people out of curiosity, quickly realizing that they were easy prey. But most often, tragic incidents happen on campsites, where bears are attracted by the smell of food. Usually the bear goes immediately to the smell, crushing everything in its path. The situation is complicated by the fact that the animal, in search of food, tears to pieces and tastes everything that comes across to it, including people who have turned up by chance.

It should be noted that bears, unlike wolves, tigers and other dangerous predators, have practically no mimic muscles. They never warn of impending aggression. By the way, circus trainers claim that because of this feature, it is most dangerous to work with bears - it is almost impossible to predict what to expect from them in the next moment.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Greenpeace, they try not to kill bears wandering into the city in search of food, resorting to temporarily sleeping shots from a special gun. The sleeping animal is weighed, measured and recorded. A colored tattoo is applied to the inside of the lip - a number that remains for the whole bear's life. Females, in addition, receive a collar with a miniature radio beacon as a gift from zoologists. The euthanized bears are then transported by helicopter back to the ice so that they can continue their normal lives in their natural habitat. Moreover, females with cubs are transported in the first place.

The world for the polar bear is limited by ice fields, and this primarily determines the features of its behavior. Judging by the animals kept in captivity, this bear, in comparison with the brown one, seems less quick-witted and not so dexterous; he is less trainable, more dangerous and excitable, and therefore it is relatively rare to see him in the circus arena. True, he is characterized by some “straightforwardness” in actions, due to a rather monotonous lifestyle, narrow food specialization, and the absence of enemies and competitors. But even a short time to observe this animal in a natural setting is enough to be convinced of the high level of its psyche, its exceptional ability to assess the conditions of the natural environment, including the quality of ice, adapt to them and, depending on them, flexibly change hunting tactics, find the easiest and passable paths among heaps of hummocks, to move confidently through young, fragile ice fields or areas of ice, replete with cracks and leads.

The power of this beast is amazing. He is able to drag and lift up the slope the carcass of a walrus weighing over half a ton, with one blow of his paw to kill a large bearded seal, which has almost the same mass as his, and if necessary, easily carry it in his teeth a considerable distance (a kilometer or more).

Polar bears are eternal nomads. Ice carries them over great distances. It often happens that even such experienced "travelers" are in distress. So, animals that have fallen into the zone of the cold East Greenland Current are carried on drifting ice along the southeast of Greenland, and in the Davis Strait the ice is melting, and most polar bears, with all their dexterity, die.

It would seem that living in the deserted polar expanses, the polar bear should not have to suffer from a person. However, it is not. The Arctic is already fairly settled. Sailors, St. John's wort, people of other professions are now constantly meeting with polar bears, and these "contacts" do not always end favorably for huge, but very curious and generally harmless animals.

Yes, and the very biology of the beast has "weak" sides. During the mating season, the male has to travel great distances to find a female, and often endure a battle with a rival. Often searches are not crowned with success at all and families are not formed. Bears bring offspring (one or two cubs) every two years and become sexually mature only at the age of about four years.

The availability of food (seals and fish), suitable breeding grounds and the absence of human disturbance are the main conditions for the existence of polar bears in the Arctic. But there are not so many places like this at first glance. The unique "maternity hospital" of these animals is Wrangel Island. In addition, polar bears make lairs on the northeastern islands of Svalbard, on Franz Josef Land, in the northeast and northwest of Greenland, in the southwest of Hudson Bay and on some of the Arctic islands of Canada. The main territory of the Arctic, in fact, is not suitable for habitation, and even more so for reproduction of this species.

All pregnant female polar bears spend the winter in snowy shelters, relatively similar in design and located, with rare exceptions, on land; everywhere in the Arctic, they enter and leave their dens at almost the same time. The physiological state of animals in dens is similar to that of brown bears, i.e. it is a shallow sleep or torpor with some decrease in body temperature, respiratory rate and pulse, but not hibernation (as, for example, in marmots, ground squirrels, etc.) . Apparently, at the beginning of winter, the she-bears lying in the dens are more active than in the middle of winter, although in the spring in most dens one can see traces of the burrowing activity of females of different age.

The question of the winter activity of males, barren females, and young individuals is not clear enough. Obviously, in a significant part of the range, especially in the south of the Arctic, they are active all year round, with the exception of periods of strong snowstorm, from which the animals hide among hummocks or coastal rocks; finding here before. a fairly deep layer of snow, they even dig shallow shelters in it. With the end of the snowstorm, the bears leave such shelters and continue to roam and hunt.

In the high latitudes of the Arctic, especially in places with a harsh climate, frequent and strong winds, and possibly where animals experience great difficulties in feeding, most of them relatively regularly go to dens. On the northern coast of Greenland, 90% of all animals spend the winter in shelters, in the northern part of Baffin Island - 50% and in the south of Greenland - 30%; in general, 70-80% of all bears overwinter in shelters throughout the range, and old males lie down in shelters earlier and leave them earlier.

In the Canadian Arctic, male polar bears use the shelter from early August to late March (most often in September, October and January); young, as well as females with one-year-old cubs, were met here in shelters from early October to early April. The state allocates funds for buildings made of laminated waterproof plywood, which greatly helps the animals.

In the north of the Taimyr Peninsula (the area of ​​Cape Chelyuskin), all animals spend the winter in dens, but the duration of their stay there is different and depends on sex, age, and whether the female is pregnant or barren. For the shortest period (at the latest 52 days - from mid-December to early February), young bears lie in shelters in the north of Taimyr; almost the same number of adult males are in them. Females with underyearlings spend 106 days in dens, barren females - 115-125, and pregnant she-bears - 160-170 days.

There is information in the literature about encounters in the dens of male polar bears on Franz Josef Land, in the east of Taimyr, in the Kolyma Territory, etc., although everywhere here animals of various sex and age categories were observed and hunted outside the den, which means that they were active throughout the winter. The dens of such animals (obviously, the shelters of barren females, young bears) are often located on sea ice and are more diverse in structure (shape, size) than the dens of pregnant bears. It is also obvious that the terms of their use are relatively inconsistent.

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

Children learn that many species of animals are endangered, how fragile the animal world is, this beautiful world of nature must be protected.

Message around the world on the topic "Animals of the Red Book of Russia - a polar bear"

Polar bear - a short description for children

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

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

The coat color of a polar bear in winter is snow-white. With the advent of heat, the coat becomes yellowish. Also, thanks to fat reserves, the bear is perfectly kept afloat. The polar bear, like every predator of this size, must have a dangerous weapon. These are powerful jaws and strong claws.

Polar bear habitat

Polar bears are associated all year round with drifting and landfast sea ice, where they hunt seals - ringed seals and, to a lesser extent, bearded seals. If bears come to land, then, as a rule, not for long. The exceptions are pregnant females, which lie 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 need to 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 Bays, in the north of the Bering Sea and on the Arctic islands.
White bears lead a nomadic lifestyle. Sometimes they are transported over long distances.

What do polar bears eat

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

In summer, it can consume cloudberries, algae, willow shoots and sedge leaves.

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

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

Under natural conditions, the polar bear is not threatened by anyone except humans. A big threat to polar bears is poachers who can hunt cubs.

Climate change is a big threat. 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 of polar bears' food. For these reasons, the protection of this animal is of great importance.

Although the polar bear is the largest predator on Earth, thanks to man, its species is endangered. Therefore, the polar bear is listed in Red Book and is under protection. It is also listed in the international red book. Harvesting 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 family lairs (Wrangel and Herald Islands and Franz Josef Land) contributed. In order to improve the protection of polar bears, the following measures are proposed:

Expand the area of ​​the Wrangel Island Reserve;

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

Introduce more stringent temporary restrictions on economic activities in areas where polar bears are concentrated in ice and where they live in dens;

Implement preventive measures to reduce the likelihood of polar bears appearing in settlements and attacking a person (remove or move as far as possible the landfills with food waste, places for butchering sea animals and fish;

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

Equip district environmental inspectorates with sets of immobilizing equipment, with the help of which it is possible to catch and remove bears that have entered the territory of a settlement, etc., to a safe distance).

The polar bear breeds regularly in the zoos of Kazan, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Perm, Rostov-on-Don.