Brown Bear
Ursus arctos
Apart from Polar Bear, which can be found only in Spitsbergen, in the Svalbard Islands of Norway, Brown Bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore in Europe. Standing upright, it can reach a height at the shoulder of 90–125 cm. The female can be up to 2 m long, the male up to 2.35 m; females weigh between 60 and 200 kg, males between 100 and 200 kg. The short tail measures 5–15 cm.
In Scandinavia, Brown Bear lives in conifer forest at higher elevations, preferring old fir forest with clearings and rocks. In central and southern Europe, you find Brown Bear in fir and mixed forest at higher elevations in inaccessible mountain areas.
Outside the mating season and the period during which a female raises her young, bears are mostly solitary and occupy large territories they defend against other bears. They spend winter well hidden during hibernation, often beneath snow.
A bear’s tracks are large and hard to confuse with those of any other animal. The prints of the front feet are short and wide, up to 21 cm wide and 18 cm long. The heel prints are not always visible. The prints of the rear feet are longer and slightly narrower, up to 27 cm long and 17 cm wide. The bear has five toes on each foot. The toes are arranged in a slight arc in front of the pads, and the marks of the long, powerful claws are clearly recognisable. The bear’s stride is about 90–140 cm long.
A wild bear is a rare sight. AK.
If one disregards the claw marks, the prints of a bear’s hind feet resemble those of a human. The bear’s innermost toe, which corresponds to a human’s big toe, is, however, the smallest on a bear’s foot. The tracks of young bears are similar to those of Wolverines or Eurasian Badgers.
Brown Bears are omnivores, but the majority of their diet comprises plant matter; they feed on succulent wild plants, berries, fruit, seeds, and nuts. They also consume a wide variety of ant species (Formica), large beetles, and other insects, which they dig out of the forest floor. In Scandinavia, they also hunt large herbivores such as Elk, Reindeer, and other deer species, in southern Europe mainly deer, but also rodents and amphibians, and bears will dig up wasp or bumblebee nests. Brown Bear will feed on the remains of a kill left by other predators and also most other carrion, and they often bury it for later consumption. Occasionally, a Brown Bear might kill a domestic animal such as a sheep or cow.
Bear tracks in sand. TL.
Hind foot of a Brown Bear. Biopix.
Bear tracks in snow. LG.
A bear’s scat faithfully reveals its diet. Easily recognisable because of its size, the scat may be mushy or firm. The mushy scat is similar to an Elk’s summer scat, but since bears often lick themselves clean, you will almost always find hair in bear scat. The sausage-shaped droppings are 4–5 cm thick.
The scat is left in many places, but it can often be plentiful near a mass of carrion where the bear has been feeding.
A thoroughly ransacked ants’ nest is a clear sign of a bear. The top of the nest is almost always removed first, and then the bear digs up everything else in its hunt for ants (see p. 76).
The bear scratches trees with its large claws and also rubs itself against trunks and chews off the bark. A tree with these telltale signs is often called a ‘bear tree’. A bear leaves horizontal gnaw marks, whereas scrape markings made by an Elk run vertically. A bear will also bite off small spruce twigs to cushion a bed for itself under the tree. You almost always find longer body hairs at these locations. The bear’s winter den is usually well hidden. The den may be located beneath an ants’ nest, under the root bole of a downed tree, or in a rock crevice or cave or similar cavity. The ground in the den is cushioned with moss, branches, and dried grass.
Winter snow covers the entrance to the den and helps protect the bear from the cold. A winter den will always be full of the animal’s hairs.
A Brown Bear’s den may be extremely large.
