carnivore mari  
LARGE CARNIVORES
° Worf
° Bear
° Lynx

Bear

   The brown bear belongs to the Usidae family, which includes 8 species and has the largest areal for a bear species in the world, being present in Europe, Asia and North America.

   It is a plantigrade animal (steps on the entire foot), same as the humans, letting its body weight on the foot. It is corpolent and muscular, with an imposing head, short nose, rounded years, small eyes, short tail, heavy body with a prominence in the back between the shoulders, and slightly curved claws. It has a developed olfactory sense. The males are taller and heavier (140-320 kg) than the females (100-200 kg).

   All the European brown bears still don’t reach the same considerable dimensions as the bears from Alaska and the Russian Extreme Orient, because they don’t have access to a protein and lipid rich food.

   The bear generally lives in mountainous forest, and also in cliff areas covered with dense copses. In his travels prefers hidden spaces with dense vegetation, avoiding open spaces. The bear travels in continuum in search of food, having a slow pace, with his head down, looking towards the soil or laterally. He can climb rapidly slopes of 450.

   The bear is a solitary and nomad animal, omnivorous, in his diet predominating acorns, chestnuts, forest fruits, ants, snails, insects and animal carcasses, honey, wax, bee larvae.

© 2010 APM Vrancea