The brown bear is carnivorous or omnivorous. Bears are herbivores or carnivores. Live to eat

Omnivorous is a way of obtaining energy and nutrients by consuming the food of an animal and plant origin. Animals with such a diet are considered "omnivorous". Most people, with the exception of vegans who completely exclude animal products, are also omnivores.

Term meaning

The word "omnivorous" comes from the Latin words omnis"everything" and vora, which means "devour or swallow" - so omnivorous means "devouring everything". It's pretty precise definition because omnivores have a variety of food sources, including algae, plants, fungi, and other animals. Some animals may be omnivores throughout their lives, while others may be omnivores at certain stages (for example, some sea turtles).

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantage of omnivory is the ability to find food in a variety of places and habitat conditions. For example, if it is not possible to eat a certain food, an omnivore can quite easily change its diet. Some omnivores are also scavengers, meaning they feed on dead animals or plants, further increasing their feeding options.

Omnivores have to find their own food, and because they have such a varied diet, their ways of obtaining food are not as specialized as those of carnivores or herbivores. For example, carnivores have sharp teeth for tearing and grasping prey, while herbivores have flatter teeth adapted for chopping up vegetation. Omnivores can have a mixture of both types of teeth (our molars and incisors, for example).

The disadvantages of omnivorousness can be well traced on the example of certain types of marine organisms, which, with highly likely able to invade non-native habitats. This has a cascading effect on native species that may be persecuted or displaced by invasive omnivores. An example is the Asian coastal crab, native to the Pacific Northwest. It was introduced to Europe and the USA, while the food and habitat do not match it, and this animal causes significant damage to the existing ones.

Examples of omnivores

mammals

• Pig: This is probably the best-known omnivore and is currently popular with humans, kept as a pet or raised for meat.
• Bear: These animals are one of the most opportunistic creatures, as they adapt very well to different environments. If there are many fruits in the area where they live, then the bears will feed on them. If instead there is a river with a lot of fish, the bear will catch them all day. The panda, a member of the bear family, is also considered an omnivore, as it can diversify its bamboo diet with rodents or small birds.
  The only exception is the carnivorous polar bear, possibly due to the lack of plant food in its natural Arctic habitat.
• Hedgehog: Many people think that hedgehog eats insects and small things, but these little creatures like to occasionally eat fruits and vegetables.
• Other omnivorous mammals: raccoons, mice, squirrels, sloths, chipmunks, skunks, chimpanzees, and of course humans.

Birds

• Crows: As shown in many films, they are always on the lookout for animal remains, but other than dead carcasses, they also tend to eat vegetables when other food sources are unavailable.
• Chickens: they are the complete opposite of a small child, as they absorb everything in sight. Whatever you give her, the chicken will swallow it without a moment's hesitation.
• Ostriches: Although their main diet includes vegetables and plants, these animals are lovers of all kinds of insects.
• Magpies: These birds also eat almost everything, although they tend to become food for dogs and parrots.

marine organisms

• Many types of crabs (including blue crabs, ghost crabs and Asian coastal crabs);
• horseshoe crabs;
• Lobsters (for example, American lobster, real spiny lobster);
• Some sea turtles - the olive turtle and the Australian green turtle - are omnivores. Green turtles are herbivorous as adults, but the young are omnivores. Loggerhead turtles become carnivores as adults, but they are omnivores when they are young.
• Common littorinas - these small snails feed mainly on algae, but can also eat small animals (for example, barnacle larvae).
• Some types of zooplankton;
• Sharks are generally carnivorous, although whale sharks and giant sharks can be considered omnivores as they are filter feeders and feed on plankton. As they swim through the water column with their huge mouths open, the plankton they consume can include both plant and animal organisms. Mussels and barnacles can also be considered omnivores as they filter small organisms (which may contain both phytoplankton and zooplankton) from the water.

Omnivores and levels of the food chain

In the marine (and terrestrial) world there are producers and consumers. are organisms that produce their own food. These include plants, algae, and some types of bacteria. The producers are at the base.

These are organisms that must consume other organisms in order to survive. All animals, including omnivores, are consumers.

There are trophic levels in the food chain, which are the food levels of animals and plants. The first trophic level includes producers because they produce food that feeds the rest of the food chain. The second trophic level includes herbivores that feed on producers. At the third trophic level are omnivorous and carnivorous organisms.

Bears or bears (lat. Ursidae) - a family that includes mammals from the order of predatory animals. The difference between all bears and other canine animals is represented by a stockier and well-developed physique.

Description of the bear

All mammals from the order Carnivores originate from a group of marten-like primitive predators, which are known as miacids (Miacidae), who lived in the Paleocene and Eocene. All bears belong to the fairly numerous suborder Caniformia. It is assumed that all well-known representatives of this suborder descended from one canine ancestor, common to all species of such animals.

Relative to other families from the order of predatory animals, bears are animals with the greatest uniformity in appearance, size, and are also similar in many features in internal structure. All bears are among the largest representatives of terrestrial modern predatory animals.. adult body length polar bear reaches three meters with a mass in the range of 720-890 kg, and the Malayan bear is one of the smallest members of the family, and its length does not exceed one and a half meters with a body weight of 27-65 kg.

Appearance, colors

Male bears are about 10-20% larger than females, and in a polar bear, such figures can even be 150% or more. The fur of the animal has a developed and rather coarse undercoat. The high, sometimes shaggy type of hair in most species has a pronounced density, and the fur of the Malay bear is low and quite rare.

The color of the fur is monophonic, from jet black to whitish. The exception is, which has a characteristic contrasting black and white color. In the area of chest or around the eyes, there may be light markings. Some species are characterized by individual and so-called geographical variability in fur color. Bears have a marked seasonal dimorphism, expressed by changes in the height and thickness of the fur.

All representatives of the Bear family are distinguished by a stocky and powerful body, often with a fairly high and pronounced withers. Also characteristic are strong and well-developed, five-fingered paws with large non-retractable claws. The claws are controlled by powerful muscles, thanks to which the animals climb trees, dig the ground, and also easily tear their prey. The length of the claws of the grizzly reaches 13-15 cm. The gait of a carnivorous animal of a plantigrade type, characteristically shuffling. The giant panda has an additional sixth “finger” on its front paws, which is an outgrowth of the sesame-shaped radius.

The tail is very short, almost invisible under the fur. The exception is the giant panda, which has a fairly long and well-marked tail. Any bear has relatively small eyes, a large head, located on a thick and, as a rule, short neck. The cranium is large, most often with an elongated facial part and strongly developed ridges.

It is interesting! Bears have a highly developed sense of smell, and in some species it is quite comparable to a dog's sense of smell, but the sight and hearing of such numerous and large predators is an order of magnitude weaker.

The zygomatic arches are most often slightly spaced in different directions, and the jaws are powerful, providing very high bite force indicators. All representatives of the Bear family are characterized by the presence of large fangs and incisors, and the remaining teeth can be partially reduced, but their appearance and structure most often depend on the type of food. The total number of teeth can vary between 32-42 pieces. The presence of individual or age-related variability in the dental system is often observed.

Character and lifestyle

Bears are typical predators leading a solitary lifestyle, so such animals prefer to meet each other solely for the purpose of mating. Males behave, as a rule, aggressively and are capable of killing cubs that are near the female for a long time. Representatives of the Bear family are well adapted to a variety of conditions of existence, therefore they are able to inhabit high-mountain regions, forest zones, arctic ice and steppes, and the main differences are in the way of eating and lifestyle.

A significant part of the bear species lives in the plains and mountains. forest areas temperate or tropical latitudes. The predator is somewhat less common in high-mountain zones without dense vegetation. Some species are characterized by a clear attachment to the aquatic environment, including mountain or forest streams, rivers and sea coasts. The Arctic, as well as vast expanses

It is interesting! the Arctic Ocean - habitat habitats of polar bears, and the lifestyle of an ordinary brown bear is associated with subtropical forests, taiga, steppes and tundra, desert areas.

Most bears are classified as terrestrial carnivores, but polar bears are semi-aquatic members of the family. Malayan bears are typical adherents of a semi-arboreal lifestyle, therefore they are able to perfectly climb trees and equip themselves with a shelter or a so-called “nest”. Some species of bears choose pits near the root system of trees and crevices of sufficient size as their habitat.

As a rule, representatives of the Bear family and the Predatory order are nocturnal, so they rarely go hunting during the daytime. However, polar bears may be considered an exception to such general rules. Predatory mammals, leading a solitary lifestyle, unite during the period of "mating games" and mating, as well as to raise their offspring. Among other things, groups of such animals are noted at common watering places and traditional feeding areas.

How long do bears live

The average lifespan of bears in nature can vary depending on the species characteristics of this predatory mammal:

• Spectacled bears - two decades;
• Apennine brown bears- up to twenty years;
• Tien Shan brown bears - up to twenty years or a quarter of a century;
• Polar polar bears - just over a quarter of a century;
• Gubachi - a little less than twenty years.

In captivity, the average life expectancy of a predatory mammal is usually noticeably longer. For example, brown bears can live in captivity for more than 40-45 years.

Types of bears

Range, distribution

Spectacled bears are the only representatives of the Bear family that inhabit South America, where the predator prefers the mountain forests of Venezuela and Ecuador, Colombia and Peru, as well as Bolivia and Panama. - an inhabitant of the basin of the Lena, Kolyma and Anadyr rivers, most of Eastern Siberia and the Stanovoy Range, Northern Mongolia, some regions of China and the border area of ​​​​East Kazakhstan.

Grizzlies are predominantly distributed in western Canada and Alaska, with a small number of individuals remaining in continental America, including Montana and northwestern Washington. Tien Shan brown bears are found on the Tien Shan ranges, as well as in the Dzungarian Alatau, which has peripheral mountain ranges, and the Mazalays are found in the desert mountains of Tsagan-Bogdo and Atas-Bogdo, where rare shrubs and drain dry channels are located.

Polar bears are distributed circumpolar, and live in the polar regions in the northern hemisphere of our planet. White-breasted Himalayan bears prefer the hill and mountain forests of Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Himalayas, up to Japan and Korea. Representatives of the species in the summer in the Himalayas rise to a height of three and even four thousand meters, and with the onset of cold weather they descend to the mountain foot.

Gubach live mainly in the tropics and subtropical forests of India and Pakistan, in Sri Lanka and Nepal, as well as in Bangladesh and Bhutan. Biruangs are distributed from northeastern India to Indonesia, including Sumatra and Kalimantan, and the island of Borneo is inhabited by the subspecies Helarstos malayanus euryspilus.

Bears in the ecosystem of the planet

All representatives of the Bear family, due to the peculiarities of the diet and impressive size, have a very noticeable effect on the fauna and flora in their habitats. Species White and brown bears are involved in the regulation of the total number of ungulates and other animals.

All herbivorous bear species contribute to the active distribution of seeds of many plants. Polar bears are often accompanied by arctic foxes finishing their prey.

Bear diet

Spectacled bears are the most herbivorous of the family, and their main diet includes herbaceous shoots, fruits and rhizomes of plants, crops of corn, and sometimes insects in the form of ants or termites. An important role in the diet of the Siberian bear is assigned to fish, and Kodiaks are omnivorous animals that eat both herbaceous plants, berries and roots, and meat food, including fish and all kinds of carrion.

Pika-eating bears or Tibetan brown bears feed mainly on herbaceous plants, as well as pikas, which is how they got their name. The main prey of polar bears is represented by ringed seals, bearded seals, walruses and many other marine animals. The predator does not disdain carrion, willingly eats dead fish, eggs and chicks, can eat grass and all kinds of seaweed, and in inhabited areas looks for food in numerous garbage dumps.

The diet of white-breasted or Himalayan bears is 80-85% represented by products of plant origin, but the predator is able to eat ants and other insects, as well as highly nutritious mollusks and even frogs. Sloth bears, similarly, are adapted to eating predominantly colonial insects, including termites and ants. All biruangs are omnivores, but primarily feed on insects, including bees and termites, as well as fruits and shoots, earthworms and plant roots.

To the question bears are herbivores or predators, asked by the author Elena Yakshigulova the best answer is Bears are omnivores. They eat grass, berries, mushrooms, they will not give up fish, especially meat, they fatten up - they eat everything until they are completely stupefied.
But pandas only eat bamboo, while polar bears prefer seal and seal fat.

Answer from Anastasia[newbie]
Predators))

Answer from merman[guru]
predators of course

Answer from Artyom Kirillov[master]
omnivores!!

Answer from Anyushka Selivanova[active]
predators, but from hunger they can pick up raspberries and chew grass =)

Answer from Anton Shefer[newbie]
The bear is an omnivore, just like humans.

Answer from Nastya Ropcea[master]
omnivores

Answer from Natasha[guru]
Bears (lat. Ursidae) - a family of mammals of the predatory order. They differ from other representatives of the canine in a more stocky physique. Bears are omnivorous, climb and swim well, run fast, can stand and walk short distances on their hind legs. They have a short tail, long and thick hair, as well as excellent sense of smell and hearing. They hunt in the evening or at dawn. Usually fearful of humans, but can be dangerous in areas where they are used to humans, especially polar bears and grizzly bears. Immune to bee stings. In nature, they have almost no natural enemies.

Answer from Marina Mirutenko[guru]

Answer from Olesya Yudintseva (Yumasheva)[newbie]
100% carnivorous predators, because they eat meat and hunt. Only carnivores can hunt and eat meat, first of all, and only then fish, mushrooms, nuts, honey, berries, grass, roots. But herbivores cannot eat meat.

Answer from Lyudmila Valentinovna[guru]
the white bear, grizzly bear, spectacled bear, and many other members of the bear family eat wild berries, nuts, honey, rodents, carrion, large mammals, and other plants. FROM THE ORDER THEY ARE PREDATORS. and here is a koala belonging to the family marsupial bears- herbivore bear.

Answer from Iodionov Sergey[guru]
the bear is omnivorous. He eats almost everything that can be eaten. in the summer, plant foods predominate, most of the animal protein in the bear's diet is small animals. rodents. insects. the bear is engaged in hunting directly, especially hunting for large animals, extremely rarely only in the absence of more accessible and less "dangerous" food

Answer from Ѝyvind Storm of the Fjords[guru]
Bears are omnivores. In principle, they eat plant food all the time, and animal food only when it falls into their paws.

Answer from KOMOV MICHAEL[guru]
Browns are omnivores. Whites are predators

Answer from Alesya Benitsevich[newbie]
omnivorous

Answer from Marat Timirgalin[active]
omnivorous

Answer from Jena Sluchic[newbie]
Differently

Answer from Gulnara Abulkhanova[newbie]
Anatomically predatory. Teeth, that and that. And constantly on plant foods, he can not. But in last years in many regions, the bear is increasingly using plant foods. In this regard, its numbers are growing, in some places it is much larger than the wolf. That is, it sort of climbs off the top of the food pyramid.

The brown or common bear is predatory mammal from the bear family. This is one of the largest and dangerous species land predators. About twenty subspecies of the brown bear are distinguished, differing appearance and distribution area.

Description and appearance

The appearance of a brown bear is typical for all representatives of the bear family. The body of the animal is well developed and powerful.

Appearance

There is a high withers, as well as a fairly massive head with small ears and eyes. The length of the relatively short tail varies between 6.5-21.0 cm. The paws are quite strong and well developed, with powerful and non-retractable claws. The feet are very wide, five-fingered.

Brown bear sizes

The average length of a brown bear living in the European part, as a rule, is about one and a half to two meters with a body weight in the range of 135-250 kg. Individuals inhabiting the middle zone of our country are somewhat smaller in size and can weigh about 100-120 kg. The Far Eastern bears and are considered the largest, the sizes of which often reach three meters.

Skin color

The color of the brown bear is quite variable. Differences in coloration of the skin depend on the habitat, and the color of the fur can vary from a light fawn shade to bluish-black. Brown color is considered standard.

It is interesting! A characteristic feature of the grizzly is the presence of hair with whitish ends on the back, due to which a kind of gray hair is present on the coat. Individuals with a grayish-white coloration are found in the Himalayas. Animals with reddish-brown fur inhabit Syria.

Lifespan

AT natural conditions The average life span of a brown bear is approximately twenty to thirty years. In captivity, this species can live for fifty years, and sometimes more. Rare specimens live in natural conditions up to the age of fifteen.

Brown bear subspecies

The type of brown bear includes several subspecies or so-called geographic races, which differ in size and color.

The most common subspecies:

• European brown bear with a body length of 150-250 cm, a tail length of 5-15 cm, a height at the withers of 90-110 cm and an average weight of 150-300 kg. A large subspecies with a powerful physique and a pronounced hump at the withers. The general color varies from light greyish-yellow to blackish-dark brown. The fur is thick, quite long;
• Caucasian brown bear with an average body length of 185-215 cm and a body weight of 120-240 kg. The coat is short, coarse, of a paler coloration than that of the Eurasian subspecies. The color varies from a pale straw color to a uniform gray-brown color. There is a pronounced, large dark-colored spot in the withers;
• East Siberian brown bear weighing up to 330-350 kg and large skull. The fur is long, soft and dense, with a pronounced sheen. The coat is light brown or blackish brown or dark brown in color. Some individuals are characterized by the presence in the color of fairly well-marked yellowish and black shades;
• Ussuri or Amur brown bear. In our country, this subspecies is well known under the name black grizzly. The average body weight of an adult male can vary between 350-450 kg. The subspecies is characterized by the presence of a large and well-developed skull with an elongated nose. The skin is almost black. Distinctive feature is the presence long hair on the ears.

One of the largest subspecies in our country is the Far Eastern or Kamchatka brown bear, whose average body weight often exceeds 450-500 kg. Large adults have a large, massive skull and a broad, raised front of the head. The fur is long, dense and soft, pale yellow, blackish brown or completely black in color.

The area where the brown bear lives

The range of natural distribution of brown bears has undergone significant changes over the past century. Previously, subspecies were found in vast territories stretching from England to the Japanese islands, as well as from Alaska to central Mexico.

Today, due to the active extermination of brown bears and their eviction from inhabited territories, the most numerous groups of the predator are recorded only in the western part of Canada, as well as in Alaska and in the forest zones of our country.

Bear lifestyle

The period of activity of the predator falls on twilight, early morning and evening hours. The brown bear is a very sensitive animal, orienting itself in space mainly with the help of hearing and smell. Low vision is typical. Despite their impressive size and large body weight, brown bears are almost silent, fast and very easy to move predators.

It is interesting! The average running speed is 55-60 km/h. Bears swim quite well, but they are able to move through deep snow with great difficulty.

Brown bears belong to the category of sedentary animals, but young animals separated from the family are able to roam and actively look for a partner. Bears mark and defend the boundaries of their territory. In summer, bears rest directly on the ground, nestling among forbs and low shrubs. With the onset of autumn, the beast begins to prepare a reliable winter shelter for itself.

Food and prey of the brown bear

Brown bears are omnivores, but the basis of the diet is vegetation, represented by berries, acorns, nuts, roots, tubers and stem parts of plants. In a lean year, oats and corn serve as a good substitute for berries. Also, the diet of a predator necessarily includes all kinds of insects, represented by ants, worms, lizards, frogs, field and forest rodents.

Large adult predators are able to attack young artiodactyls. Roe deer, fallow deer, deer, wild boar and elk can become prey. An adult brown bear can, with a single blow with its paw, break the spine of its prey, after which it fills it with brushwood and guards it until the carcass is completely eaten. Near water areas, some subspecies of brown bears hunt seals, fish and seals.

Grizzlies are able to attack the baribal bear and take prey from smaller predators.

It is interesting! Regardless of age, brown bears have an excellent memory. These wild animals are able to easily memorize mushroom or berry places, as well as quickly find their way to them.

Spawning salmon becomes the basis of the diet of the Far Eastern brown bear in summer and autumn. In lean years and poor food supply, a large predator is able to attack even domestic animals and grazing livestock.

Reproduction and offspring

The mating season of a brown bear lasts a couple of months and begins in May, when males enter into fierce fights. Females mate with several adult males at once. Latent pregnancy consists in the development of the embryo only at the stage of hibernation of the animal. The female carries the cubs for about six to eight months.. Blind and deaf, completely helpless and covered with sparse hair cubs are born in a den. As a rule, the female bears two or three babies, whose growth at the time of birth does not exceed a quarter of a meter and weighs 450-500 g.

It is interesting! In the den, the cubs feed on milk and grow up to three months, after which they have milk teeth and become able to feed on berries, vegetation and insects on their own. However, on breastfeeding cubs are up to a year and a half or more.

Not only the female takes care of the offspring, but also the so-called foster daughter, who appeared in the previous litter. Next to the female, the cubs live until about three or four years old, until they reach puberty. The offspring of the female acquires, as a rule, once every three years.

Hibernation of the brown bear

The sleep of a brown bear is completely different from the period of hibernation characteristic of other mammalian species. During hibernation, the brown bear's body temperature, respiration rate, and pulse remain practically unchanged. The bear does not fall into a state of complete stupor, and in the first days it only dozes.

At this time, the predator listens sensitively and reacts to the slightest danger by leaving the den. In a warm winter with little snow, when there is a lot of food, some males do not dive into hibernation. Sleep comes only with the onset of severe frosts and can last less than a month. In a dream, the reserves of subcutaneous fat, which was accumulated in the summer and autumn, are wasted.

Preparation for sleep

Winter shelters are arranged by adults in reliable, deaf and dry places, under a windbreak or the roots of a fallen tree. The predator is able to independently dig a deep lair in the ground or occupy mountain caves and rock crevices. pregnant brown bears they try to equip for themselves and their offspring a deeper and more spacious, warm lair, which is then lined from the inside with moss, spruce branches and fallen leaves.

It is interesting! Bear cubs of the year always spend winter period along with his mother. Such a company can be joined by cubs-lonchaks of the second year of life.

All adult and lone predators hibernate alone. The exception is individuals living on the territory of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Here, the presence of several adults in one den at once is often observed.

Hibernation duration

Depending on the weather conditions and some other factors, brown bears are able to stay in a den for up to six months. The period when the bear lies in the den, as well as the duration of hibernation itself, may depend on the conditions imposed by weather conditions, the yield of the fattening food base, gender, age parameters, and even the physiological state of the animal.

It is interesting! Old and fat wild beast goes to hibernation much earlier, even before a significant snow cover falls, and young and underfed individuals lie in a den in November-December.

The period of occurrence stretches for a couple of weeks or several months. Pregnant females are the first to winter. AT last turn dens are occupied by old males. The same place for hibernation in winter can be used by a brown bear for several years.

Rod Bears

Shatun is a brown bear that did not have time to accumulate a sufficient amount of subcutaneous fat and, for this reason, is not able to hibernate. In the process of searching for any food, such a predator is able to roam around the neighborhood all winter. As a rule, such a brown bear moves unsteadily, has a shabby and relatively exhausted appearance.

It is interesting! When meeting with dangerous opponents, brown bears emit a very loud roar, stand on hind legs and try to knock down their opponent with a strong blow from the front powerful paws.

Hunger makes the beast often appear in close proximity to human habitation. The connecting rod bear is typical of northern areas characterized by severe winters, including the territory Far East and Siberia. A mass invasion of connecting rod bears can be observed in lean seasons, about once every ten years. Hunting for connecting rod bears is not a fishing activity, but a forced measure.