The bear is a large and strong beast. It is believed that hearing and vision in these animals are not the best. But, since the bears belong to the order Psiform and, therefore, are connected by family ties with dogs, they are distinguished by a developed sense of smell. It is a good scent that helps them in finding food. Not without reason, scientists believe that bears have the best sense of smell among representatives of the class of mammals.
In describing this beast, it is worth mentioning a large body, short chunky legs, an elongated muzzle, a thick coat of usually dark color (if we are not talking about a polar bear) and five non-retractable claws on their feet.
This animal is able to move pretty quickly. Below in the article we will talk about the speed of the bear when running.
It is believed that a bear is rarely aggressive, and if it does, it means that it either protects its territory or cubs, or is thoroughly hungry.
Origin
The first bears on the planet appeared at least five million years ago. The oldest fossils of these animals are found in France. Today, scientists know the four genera of this beast, of which the polar bear is considered the youngest in origin. Its total biological age is only two hundred thousand years old.
The body length of a bear can reach 2 meters (white-breasted and black bears) and 3 meters (white and brown).
The maximum body weight is 750-800 kg. These sizes, of course, are large, but not comparable with the dimensions of a giant short-faced bear that lived in Sulfur America in the Pleistocene era and has long died out. He, standing on his hind legs, could be almost three times higher than an ordinary person, and the mass of the largest representatives reached one and a half tons!
Where does
The most widespread in numbers and one of the largest predators is considered to be a brown, or ordinary, bear. Now its habitat, of course, is much smaller than in the old days. It is still found, in particular, in the Pyrenees, the Alps, in places in the Scandinavian countries, in Asia - in Iran, Northern China, Japan. Still quite numerous in Alaska and northern Canada. In Russia, the habitat approximately coincides with the forest zone, except for the southern regions and the tundra.
As habitats, bears (except for polar ones, of course) prefer mountainous areas, dense forest thickets and windbreaks.
What eats
The bear, although considered a predator, is essentially omnivorous. His diet consists of berries, roots and stems of herbs, nuts. Bears do an excellent job of fishing in small rivers or in the shallows of large rivers. Busting bird nests and bee hives, catch insects. In the spring, when there is still little vegetation, the bear can attack roe deer or even moose. This beast is very strong - with one paw stroke it is able to kill, for example, a deer ridge.
By autumn, the bear, who had been pumping up subcutaneous fat over the summer, makes a lair in the pits and under the roots of the trees, warming it with branches and moss. Winter bear sleep (depending on the region of residence and the age of an individual individual) can last from 75 to 200 days. In one winter, the animal, as a rule, loses up to 80 kg of weight.
Movement speed
It may seem that the bear is a large and awkward beast. In fact, this beast is able to move quite briskly. What is the bear’s running speed in km / h? The maximum is about 50. Moreover, if we are talking about the speed of running of a brown bear, the grizzly can "prank" even faster - up to 56-60 kilometers per hour. The bears also swim excellently and climb trees with decent dexterity. True, the latter is more often done by young animals. In addition, a bear can withstand a long distance run for a rather long time, albeit at a much lower speed.
Why, then, are insects and fish on the shallows, and not small ungulates or, for example, hares, become the main prey of a bear-hunter? Undoubtedly, at such a speed of the bear, when running, it would be more likely to feast on any of these animals - however, there are more often shots that show how this beast deprives the wolves of the deer that they bullied, rather than hunting on their own.
Hunting
Probably the speed of the bear when running is not a decisive factor. Bear, a large and, whatever you say, rather bulky beast, must still be dispersed, and it is desirable that nothing interferes with the run. That is, the terrain should be flat and not particularly wooded. There are other videos in which the bear chases the flock of roe deer across the field (for reference: the speed that the roe deer, elk or hare develops most often varies within the same range as the bear: it’s 50-60 kilometers per hour) and catches up with the last running only in the final minutes of the footage. Undoubtedly, it is not easy for an adult well-fed predator to do this. But even if the victim fell into the bear’s reach, write was gone - as mentioned above, this predator is capable of knocking it to the ground with one blow.
In addition, it is known that creatures such as the hare develop maximum speed already at the fifth second of running. Long legs allow him to make the first jump three to five meters, and when he lands, he bends his back like a spring, preparing for a new jump. Thus, to hunt in ambush, even possess a bear and more speed when running, he would hardly be able to: for a predator, earning its own food in this way, the most important thing is agility and quick dispersal, both in forest thickets and in ravines , and in the highlands.
The hunting instinct in a bear, like in most predators, causes a running one (animal, human), therefore experienced hunters and travelers advise not to run away from the met beast. After all, then he will surely rush after you in pursuit, and the bear runs faster than a person.
Above we talked, in particular, about the speed a bear develops when running.