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Bear

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Mammals

   iBear

                    Fossil range: Early Miocene - Recent

   Kodiak Brown Bear
   Kodiak Brown Bear
                Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Mammalia
   Order:   Carnivora
   Family:  Ursidae
            G. Fischer de Waldheim, 1817

                                   Genera

   Ailuropoda
   Ailurus
   Helarctos
   Melursus
   Ursus
   Tremarctos
   Arctodus (extinct)

   A bear is a large mammal in the family Ursidae of the order Carnivora.
   The adjective "ursine" is used to describe things of a bear-like
   nature. The collective noun for a group of them is a sleuth.

Etymology

   Modern English "bear" derives from Old English "bera", which itself
   derives from Proto-Germanic "*beron" meaning "the brown one". (Compare
   Old Norse "björn", Dutch "beer" and 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 "one who leads to honey".

Physical attributes

   Common characteristics of bears include a short tail, acute senses of
   smell and hearing, 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. Black bears, and likely other bears, have colour
   vision to help them identify fruits and nuts.

   Depending on the species, bears can have 32 to 42 teeth. Bear teeth are
   not specialized for killing their prey like those of cats. Normal
   canine teeth in a carnivore are generally large and pointed used for
   killing prey, while bears' canine teeth are relatively small and
   typically used in defense or as tools. Bears' molar teeth are broad,
   flat and are used to shred and grind plant food into small digestible
   pieces.

   Bears have four limbs that end in paws. Each paw has five long, sharp
   claws that are unretractible, unlike cats. These claws can be used to
   climb trees, rip open termite nests and beehives, dig up roots, or
   catch prey, depending on the species. While most carnivores tend to
   walk on their toes in a way that is adapted for speed, bears have a
   plantigrade stance. They walk with their weight on the soles of their
   feet, with the heel touching the ground, while the claws of the arm are
   used more for balance. Although slower than most carnivores, a running
   bear can reach speeds of up to 50 km/h (30 mph).

   A bear's fur is often long and shaggy. Fur colour varies among species,
   ranging from white, blonde or cream, black and white, to all black or
   all brown. Colors of a bear's fur can also vary within species. For
   example, American black bears may be black, brown, reddish-brown, or
   bluish-black. Several species, such as the sun bear and spectacled bear
   have a light-colored chest with facial markings.

   In all bear species, males are larger than females, but the difference
   between sexes varies and is greatest in the largest species. Large male
   polar bears may weigh twice as much as females, while smaller male and
   female bears are much more similar in weight. A bear's life span seems
   to last about 25 to 40 years. Bears living in the wild tend to die
   younger than their zoo-counterparts.

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 specialised diet, such as polar bears. 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.

Behaviour

   Bears generally lead solitary lives, except for mothers attending her
   cubs, or males and females during mating season. Bears form temporary
   groups only when food is plentiful in a small area. Alaskan brown bears
   group in the same area to feed on salmon during the annual salmon runs,
   when the fish swim upriver to reach their spawning grounds. Other bears
   may live alone but exist in a social network. A male and female may
   live in an overlapping home range, each defending their range from
   other bears of the same sex. Male young usually leave their mothers to
   live in other areas, but females often live in an area that overlaps
   that of their mother.

   Bears travel over large territories in search of food, remembering the
   details of the landscape they cover. They use their excellent memories
   to return to locations where food was plentiful in past years or
   seasons. Most bears are able to climb trees to chase prey or gain
   access to additional vegetation. The only exceptions are polar bears
   and large adult brown bears, whose heavy weight makes it difficult to
   climb trees.

   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 behaviour

   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. Exception have been regularly observed; siblings
   recently on their own, and subadult bears of similar age and status
   will oftentimes spend significant amounts of time in informal social
   groups.

Bear/human interaction

   Despite their large size, bears, like many other forest animals, are
   adept at moving through wooded or rugged terrain while barely making
   any noise. They will also exist in surprisingly close proximity with
   humans.

   Bears will generally avoid contact with humans, and are usually aware
   of a human's presence long before the human is aware of the bear. As a
   result, encounters are typically avoidable and rare. However, bears are
   opportunistic feeders, and will generally take food where it is
   available. When humans provide feeding opportunities, such as left out
   garbage, food stored outside, or deliberate feeding, the chance of
   confrontation escalates. As a bear begins to associate human presence
   with food, it may lose its shyness and the hazard it poses to humans
   will become unbearable. Conflicts may also arise in situations where
   the bear regards a human as an immediate threat to itself, its cubs, or
   food cache (which is one reason that found animal carcasses should be
   avoided). In a chance encounter with a bear, the best course of action
   is usually to back away slowly in the direction that you came, speaking
   in a loud, calm tone to make sure the bear is aware of your presence
   and will not be caught off guard. The bear will rarely become
   aggressive and bear towards you. In order to protect yourself, some
   suggest passively lying on the ground and waiting for the bear to lose
   interest. Another approach is to constantly maintain an obstacle
   between you and the bear, such as a thick tree or boulder. A person is
   much more agile and quick than a bear allowing him or her to respond to
   a bear's clockwise or counter-clockwise movement around the obstacle
   and move accordingly. The bear's frustration will eventually cause
   disinterest. One can then move away from the bear to a new obstacle and
   continue this until he or she has created a safe distance from the
   bear. When encountering a bear, one should never look directly into the
   bear's eyes. This action can be misconstrued by many wild animals as an
   aggressive act.

Other

   Many bears of northern regions are assumed to hibernate in the winter.
   In medieval times it was believed that they died and were reborn in the
   spring. 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 do not wake normally 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 bear cubs during this winter sleep.

   Laws have been passed in many areas of the world to protect bears from
   hunters or habitat destruction. Bears in captivity have been forced to
   be trained to dance, box, or ride bicycles; however, this use of the
   animals became controversial in the late 20th century. In cartoons,
   circus bears are frequently depicted riding unicycles.

   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.

   Kodiak bears are the largest type, and in fact one of the largest
   extant carnivores, though polar bears are the heaviest. Sun bears are
   the smallest, only the size of a large dog. The constellations Ursa
   Major and Ursa Minor represent bears.

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. Thousands of bile bears are
   farmed for their bile in China, Vietnam, and Korea.

Classification

   A Syrian (Brown) Bear in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
   Enlarge
   A Syrian (Brown) Bear in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
     * Family Ursidae
          + Subfamily Ailuropodinae
               o Giant Panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca
               o Dwarf Panda, Ailuropoda minor (extinct)
          + Subfamily Tremarctinae
               o Spectacled Bear, Tremarctos ornatus
               o Florida Cave Bear, Tremarctos floridanus (extinct)
               o Giant Short-Faced Bear, Arctodus simus (extinct)
               o Short-Faced Bear, Arctodus pristinus (extinct)
               o Brazilian Short-Faced Bear, Arctotherium brasilense
                 (extinct)
               o Argentine Short-Faced Bear, Arctotherium latidens
                 (extinct)
          + Subfamily Ursinae
               o Brown Bear, 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)
               o MacFarlane's Bear, Ursus inopinatus (extinct)
               o American Black Bear, Ursus americanus
                    # Subspecies Kermode Bear, Ursus americanus kermodie
               o Polar Bear, Ursus maritimus
               o Asiatic Black Bear, Ursus thibetanus, or Selenarctos
                 tibetanus
                    # Ursus thibetanus formosanus, or Selenarctos
                      tibetanus formosanus
                    # Ursus thibetanus gedrosianus, or Selenarctos
                      tibetanus gedrosianus
                    # Ursus thibetanus japonica, or Selenarctos tibetanus
                      japonica
                    # Ursus thibetanus laniger, or Selenarctos tibetanus
                      laniger
                    # Ursus thibetanus mupinensis, or Selenarctos
                      tibetanus mupinensis
                    # Ursus thibetanus thibetanus, or Selenarctos
                      tibetanus thibetanus
                    # Ursus thibetanus ussuricu, or Selenarctos tibetanus
                      ussuricu

                            Asiatic black bears might be classified as
                            genus Selenarctos.

               o Auvergne Bear, Ursus minimus (extinct)
               o Etruscan Bear, Ursus etruscus (extinct)
               o European Cave Bear, Ursus spelaeus (extinct)
               o Atlas Bear, Ursus crowtheri (extinct)
               o Sloth Bear, Melursus (Ursus) ursinus
                    # Subspecies Sri Lankan Sloth Bear Melursus (Ursus)
                      ursinus inornatus
                    # Subspecies Indian Sloth Bear Melursus (Ursus)
                      ursinus ursinus
               o Sun Bear, Helarctos malayanus
                    # Subspecies Borneo Sun Bear Helarctos (Ursus)
                      malayanus euryspilus

   The genera Melursus and Helarctos are included in the genus Ursus. The
   Asiatic Black Bear and the Polar Bear used to be placed in their own
   genera, Selenarctos and Thalarctos.

   A number of hybrids have been bred between American Black, Brown and
   Polar Bears (see Ursinae hybrids).

Evolutionary relationships

   Bears are members of the order Carnivora, suborder Caniformia, and
   family Ursidae. Other members of the Caniformia include wolves and
   other dog-like mammals (family Canidae), weasels, badgers and allies
   (family Mustelidae), raccoons (family Procyonidae), and walruses
   (family Odobenidae), seals (family Phocidae), and sea lions (family
   Otariidae). Although bears are often described as having evolved from a
   dog-like ancestor, their closest living relatives are the pinnipeds
   (walruses, seals, and sea lions).

   The origins of the bears can be traced back to the raccoon-sized,
   dog-like Cephalogale from the middle Oligocene and early Miocene
   (approximately 20-30 million years ago) of Europe. Cephalogale gave
   rise to a lineage of early bears, the genus Ursavus. This genus
   radiated in Asia and ultimately gave rise to the first true bears
   (genus Ursus) in Europe, 5 million years ago. Extinct bear genera
   include Arctodus, Agriarctos, Agriotherium, Plionarctos and Indarctos.

   Although there has previously been much discussion as to whether the
   Giant Panda belongs to the bear family or the raccoon family, recent
   DNA analyses have shown that the Giant Panda is a member of the Family
   Ursidae and as such is more closely related to other bears. The status
   of the Red Panda remains uncertain, but many experts, including Wilson
   and Reeder, classify it as a member of the bear family. Others place it
   with the racoons in Procyonidae or in its own family, the Ailuridae.
   The many similarities between the two pandas are thought to represent
   convergent evolution for feeding primarily on bamboo.

   There is also evidence that, unlike their neighbors elsewhere, the
   Brown Bears of Alaska's ABC islands are more closely related to Polar
   Bears than they are to other Brown Bears in the world. Researchers
   Gerald Shields and Sandra Talbot of the University of Alaska Fairbanks
   Institute of Arctic Biology studied the DNA of several samples of the
   species and found that their DNA is different from that of other Brown
   Bears. The researchers discovered that their DNA was unique compared to
   Brown Bears anywhere else in the world. The discovery has shown that
   while all other Brown Bears share a Brown Bear as their closest
   relative, those of Alaska's ABC Islands differ and share their closest
   relation with the Polar Bear. There is also supposed to be a very rare
   large bear in China called the Blue Bear, which presumably is a type of
   black bear. This animal has never been photographed.

Bears in mythology

   The saddled "bear of St Corbinian" the emblem of Freising, here
   incorporated in the arms of Pope Benedict XVI
   Enlarge
   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 of 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; also several other Tungusic people consider bear as their
   ancestor animal.

   In addition, the Proto-Indo-European word for bear, *hr̥ktos (ancestral
   to the Greek arktos, Latin ursus, Welsh arth (c.f. Arthur), Sanskrit
   *ṛkṣa, Hittite hartagga) seems to have been subject to taboo
   deformation or replacement (as was the word for wolf, wlk^wos),
   resulting in the use of numerous unrelated words with meanings like
   "brown one" (English bruin) and "honey-eater" (Slavic medved). Thus
   four separate Indo-European language groups do not share the same PIE
   root. In the Finnish countryside, the word for "bear" remains taboo to
   this day. The theory of the bear taboo is taught to almost all
   beginning students of Indo-European and historical linguistics; the
   putative original PIE word for bear is itself descriptive, because a
   cognate word in Sanskrit is rakshas, meaning "harm, injury" .

Bears as symbols and totems

   Numerous cities around the world have adopted the bear as a symbol,
   notably the Swiss capital Bern, which takes its name from the German
   for bear, bär. The bear is also the name-emblem of Berlin bärlein
   meaning small bear. Bears are a common symbol of heraldry (e.g. Rawa
   Coat of Arms, Bernhardt coat of arms). 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.

   The bear is a common national symbol for Russia (as well as the Soviet
   Union) and even Germany. It was used in the Ronald Reagan political ad
   "Bear in the woods." A subspecies of Grizzly Bear is featured on the
   Flag of California, first flown in 1846 during the Bear Flag Revolt.
   Also, the bear, the bruin, or specific types of bears are popular
   nicknames or mascots, e.g. for sports teams (Chicago Bears,Boston
   Bruins); and a bear cub was mascot of the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Bears in figures of speech

   The physical attributes and behaviors of bears are commonly used in
   figures of speech in English. In the stock market, a bear market is a
   period of declining prices. Pessimistic forecasting or negative
   activity is said to be bearish (due to the stereotypical posture of
   bears looking downwards), and one who expresses bearish sentiment is a
   bear. Its opposite is a bull market, and bullish sentiment from bulls.
   In CB slang, "bear" (or "smokey", in reference to Smokey Bear) is a
   nickname for highway patrol. In gay slang, the term " bear" refers to
   male individuals who possess physical attributes much like a bear, such
   as a heavy build, abundant body hair, and commonly facial hair. To "try
   like a bear" means to try your hardest to catch the attention of a
   certain lady. The harder you try, the better the bear you are. A bear
   hug is typically a tight hug that involves wrapping one's arms around
   another person, often leaving that person's arms immobile. The Chicago
   Bears, a United States football team, are often referred to as "The
   Monsters of the Midway," a term that alludes to imagery of bears as
   monsters, or frightening creatures.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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