Bear

Bear Fossil range: Early Miocene - Recent
Kodiak Brown Bear
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Caniformia Superfamily: Ursoidea Family: Ursidae G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817
Genera
Ailuropoda Helarctos Melursus Ursavus "true bear" Ursus Tremarctos Agriarctos (extinct) Amphicticeps (extinct) Amphicynodon (extinct) Arctodus (extinct) Cephalogale (extinct) Indarctos (extinct) Parictis (extinct) Plionarctos (extinct)

Bears (family Ursidae) are large mammals in the order Carnivora. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere.

Common characteristics of modern bears include a large body with stocky legs, a long snout, shaggy hair, paws with five nonretractile claws, and a short tail. While the Polar Bear is mostly carnivorous and the Giant Panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous, with largely varied diets including both plants and animals.

With the exceptions of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They are sometimes diurnal, but are usually active during the night (nocturnal) or twilight (crepuscular). Bears are aided by an excellent sense of smell, and despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they can run quickly and be adept climbers and swimmers. Bears use shelters such as caves and burrows as their dens, which are occupied by most species during the winter for a long period of sleep similar to hibernation.

Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur. To this day, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, and other cultural aspects of various human societies. In modern times, bears have been exploited through the encroachment of their habitats and the illegal trade of bears and bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six bear species as vulnerable or endangered, and even "least concern" species such as the Brown Bear are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations is prohibited, but still ongoing.

Characteristics

Common characteristics of bears include a short tail, acute senses of smell and hearing, a snubbed nose, five non-retractable claws per paw, and long, dense, shaggy fur.

Bears have large bodies and powerful limbs. They are capable of standing up on their hind legs. They have broad paws, long snouts, and round ears. Their teeth are bared for defense and used as tools, depending on the diet of the bear. Their claws are used for ripping, digging, and catching.

Living species

Giant panda

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is unique among bears it is almost completely vegetarian. About 99% of their diet is bamboo. About 30 different species are eaten. Pandas sometimes eat other plants, as well as small animals. Pandas are medium sized for bears, weighing from 75 to 160 kg (). They are found only in a few places in China and are now extremely endangered with only a few hundred left in the wild. (Nowak 1983, Ward 1995).

Spectacled bear

The spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is a smaller bear, 60 to 150 kg (), found in the mountainous regions of northwest South America. It is mainly vegetarian, up to 90% or more of its diet consists of fruit and other plant materials, especially bromoeliads which are common it its habitat (Nowak 1983, Ward 1995).

Sloth bear

The sloth bear (Ursus ursinus) is found thoughout India and Sri Lanka. It is medium sized bear weighing 55 to 145 kg (). It mainly feeds on temites which it sucks out of their nests with a vacuum cleaner like action. It also feeds on plant foods, honey, and carrion (Nowak 1983, Ward 1995).

Sun bear

The sun bear (Ursus malayanus) is the smallest bear, weighing 27 to 65 kg (). It is found in southeast Asia, including the islands of

Habitats

Bears live in a variety of habitats from the tropics to the Arctic and from forests to snowfields. They are mainly omnivorous, although some have a more specialized diet, such as polar bears who mainly consume fish and marine mammalia. They eat lichens, roots, nuts, and berries. They can also go to a river or other body of water to capture fish. Bears will commonly travel far for food. Hunting times are usually in the dusk or the dawn except when humans are nearby.

Behavior

Some of the larger species, such as the polar bear and the grizzly bear, are dangerous to humans, especially in areas where they have become used to people. For the most part, bears are shy and are easily frightened of humans. They will, however, defend their cubs ferociously if a situation calls for it.

Reproductive behavior

The bear's courtship period is very brief. Bears reproduce seasonally, usually after a period of inactivity similar to hibernation. Cubs are born toothless, blind, and bald. The cubs of brown bears, usually born in litters of 1–3, will typically stay with the mother for two full seasons. They feed on their mother's milk through the duration of their relationship with their mother, although as the cubs continue to grow, nursing becomes less frequent and learn to begin hunting with the mother. They will remain with the mother for approximately three years, until she enters the next cycle of estrus and drives the cubs off. Bears will reach sexual maturity in five to seven years. Bears are generally solitary creatures and will not stay close together for long periods of time. Exceptions have been regularly observed; siblings recently on their own, and sub-adult bears of similar age and status will spend a significant amount of time in informal social groups.

Other

Many bears of northern regions are assumed to hibernate in the winter. While many bear species do go into a physiological state called hibernation or winter sleep, it is not true hibernation. In true hibernators, body temperatures drop to near ambient and heart rate slows drastically, but the animals periodically rouse themselves to urinate or defecate and to eat from stored food. The body temperature of bears, on the other hand, drops only a few degrees from normal and heart rate slows only slightly. They normally do not wake during this "hibernation", and therefore do not eat, drink, urinate or defecate the entire period. Higher body heat and being easily roused may be adaptations, because females give birth to their cubs during this winter sleep.

The brown bear is Finland's national animal. In the United States, the black bear is the state animal of Louisiana, New Mexico, and West Virginia; the grizzly bear is the state animal of both Montana and California.

The constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor represent bears.

Etymology

Modern English "bear" derives from Old English "bera", which itself derives from Proto-Germanic "*beron" meaning "the brown one". (Compare Scandinavian "björn", Dutch "beer", Standard German "Bär" all meaning "bear").

Both Greek ("arktos") and Latin ("ursus") have retained the Proto-Indo-European root word for "bear" ("*rtko") but it was ritually replaced in the northern branches of the Indo-European languages (The Germanic, Baltic, Celtic and Slavic branches) because of the hunters' taboo on the names of wild animals. For example the Irish word for "bear" translated means "the good calf", in Welsh it translates as "honey-pig", in Lithuanian it means "the licker" and Russian "медведь" literally means "honey-wise".

In English, the adjective "ursine" is used to describe things of a bear-like nature, while the collective noun for a group of them is a sleuth.

Bears as food and medicine

Many people enjoy hunting bears and eating them. Their meat is dark and stringy, like a tough cut of beef. In Cantonese cuisine, bear paws are considered a delicacy. The peoples of China, Japan, and Korea use bears' body parts and secretions (notably their gallbladders and bile) as part of traditional Chinese medicine. It is believed more than 12,000 bile bears are kept on farms, farmed for their bile, in China, Vietnam and South Korea.

Classification

A Syrian (Brown) Bear in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

• Family Ursidae
  • Subfamily Ailuropodinae
    • Giant Panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca
    • Dwarf Panda, Ailuropoda minor (extinct)
  • Subfamily Agriotherinae
    • Agriotherium (extinct)
      • Agriotherium inexpectans (extinct)
      • Agriotherium sivalensis (extinct)
      • Agriotherium roblesi (extinct)
      • Agriotherium africanum (extinct)
  • Subfamily Tremarctinae
    • Spectacled Bear, Tremarctos ornatus
    • Florida Cave Bear, Tremarctos floridanus (extinct)
    • Giant Short-Faced Bear, Arctodus simus (extinct)
    • Short-Faced Bear, Arctodus pristinus (extinct)
    • Brazilian Short-Faced Bear, Arctotherium brasilense (extinct)
    • Argentine Short-Faced Bear, Arctotherium latidens (extinct)
  • Subfamily Ursinae
    • Brown Bear, Ursus (Ursus) arctos
      • Subspecies Syrian (Brown) Bear Ursus arctos syriacus
      • Subspecies Grizzly Bear, Ursus arctos horribilis
      • Subspecies Kodiak Bear, Ursus arctos middendorffi
      • Subspecies Himalayan Brown Bear, Ursus arctos isabellinus
      • Subspecies Bergman's Bear, Ursus arctos piscator (extinct?)
      • Atlas Bear, Ursus arctos crowtheri (extinct)
    • American Black Bear, Ursus (Ursus) americanus
      • Subspecies Cinnamon Bear, Ursus americanus cinnamomum
      • Subspecies Kermode Bear, Ursus americanus kermodie
    • Polar Bear, Ursus (Thalarctos) maritimus
    • Asiatic Black Bear, Ursus (Selenarctos) thibetanus
      • Formosan Black Bear, Ursus thibetanus formosanus
      • Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus
      • Ursus thibetanus japonica
      • Ursus thibetanus laniger
      • Ursus thibetanus mupinensis
      • Ursus thibetanus thibetanus
      • Ursus thibetanus ussuricu
    • Sloth Bear, Melursus ursinus
      • Subspecies Sri Lankan Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus inornatus
      • Subspecies Indian Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus ursinus
    • Sun Bear, Helarctos malayanus
      • Subspecies Borneo Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus euryspilus
    • Auvergne Bear, Ursus minimus (extinct)
    • Etruscan Bear, Ursus etruscus (extinct)
    • European Cave Bear, Ursus spelaeus (extinct)

The genera Melursus and Helarctos are sometimes also included in Ursus. The Asiatic Black Bear and the Polar Bear used to be placed in their own genera, Selenarctos and Thalarctos which are now placed at subgenus rank.

Culture

Myth and legend

File:BXVI CoA like gfx PioM.svg

The saddled "bear of St Corbinian" the emblem of Freising, here incorporated in the arms of Pope Benedict XVI

Some evidence has been brought to bear on prehistoric bear worship, see Arctic, Arcturus, Great Bear, Berserker, Kalevala. Anthropologists such as Joseph Campbell have regarded this as a common feature in most of the fishing and hunting-tribes. The prehistoric Finns, along with most Finno-Ugric peoples, considered the bear as the spirit of one's forefathers. This is why the bear was a greatly respected animal, with several euphemistic names. There has been evidence about early bear worship in China and among the Ainu culture as well. In the Korean mythology, Korean people identifies bear as their ancestor and symbolic animal.

In the arms of the bishopric of Freising (illustration, right) the bear is the dangerous totem animal tamed by Saint Corbinian and made to carry his civilized baggage over the mountains: the allegory of the civilizing influence of Christianity is inescapable. A bear also features prominently in the legend of Saint Romedius, who is also said to have tamed one of these animals and had the same bear carry him from his hermitage in the mountains to the city of Trento.

Imaginary bears are a popular feature of many children's stories including Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the Bernstein Bears, and Winnie the Pooh

File:SmokeyTheBearHeadshot.GIF

Smokey the bear

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Kruuk, H. 2002. Hunter and Hunted: Relationships Between Carnivores and People. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521814103.
• Nowak, R. M., and J. L. Paradiso. 1983. Walker's Mammals of the World. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801825253.
• Voelker, W. 1986. The Natural History of Living Mammals. Medford, New Jersey: Plexus Publishing. ISBN 0937548081.
• Ward, P. and Kynaston, S. 1995. Wild Bears of the World. New York: Facts on File, Inc.

External links

• The Bears Project Information, reports and images of European brown bears and other living species

• Grizzly Bear Outreach Project Information on the history, biology, and conservation of North American Grizzly Bears

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