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Post by Montezuma on Jun 13, 2022 23:49:10 GMT -5
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Post by Montezuma on Jun 13, 2022 23:50:19 GMT -5
Mine most favourite is about the Spectacled bear and Polar bear. Which onr is your most favourite??
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Post by brobear on Jun 14, 2022 1:15:19 GMT -5
Mine most favourite is about the Spectacled bear and Polar bear. Which onr is your most favourite?? The cave bear and the brown bear.
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Post by Montezuma on Jun 26, 2022 1:29:16 GMT -5
Bears in ancient cultures overview
1#. Cave bear (Ursus spelaeus)
This honour is only shared by the Ursidae family that in prehistoric times, only the Cave bear was revered by the Cave men. Other powerful animals like legendary dire wolves, cave lions, massive mammoths, rhinoes, beautiful stags, majestic bovids and plane-like birds were present in that age but only this burly bruin was worshipped as the current evidence shows.
The neantherdals, modern european ancestors, were those people who derived the cult of the cave bear. Ancient graves and caves from France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Croatia and Northern Italy are symbols of the Cave bear's cult. Graves contained the bear's baculum, skulls and bones which suggest to honour the dead by rituals. The spevial arrangements of the Cave bea's skulls attached with either the bear's own bones or with human bones point in some direction which reflects the udea of the cult of this mysterious bear. Although these evidences are scientific theories yet these therories hold very logical abd unsterstandable evidence which makes the theiry very true and acceptable.
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Post by Montezuma on Aug 6, 2022 1:05:22 GMT -5
2#. Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus)
Spectacled bear, also known as the andean bear, is one of the most venerated and an iconic beasts in the ancient cultures and civilizations of Latin America: from Panama to Northern Argentina. Unluckily, little us known about its cultural role in natives because after the Spanish invasion in 1500s, the many elements of the Andean cultures vanished and once this revered creature became unknown to humans for centuries. Since then, the bear was a mysterious creature for science and there was very scarce knowledge about this little bear; also the bear was not well known only some decades ago. Since, just like Sun bears, Spectacled bears have largely remained an unknown and unstudied bear for a long period of time which made us to think of them as an unimportant animal in pre-columbian mythology and iconography. However, this misunderstanding is diminishing nowadays, since the good and happy news is that the Spectacled bear is now a well recognised species being studied by scientists and few studies, which have begun recently, are revealing multifold evidences and too much knowledge that what a significant role the Andean bear played in the culture of the South American indians. It has been hoped that more studies in the coming years would reveal more the bear's deep cultural role and more sharpely falsify the past misconceptions about the bear's cultural importance. Currently, thanks to the recently started studies few decades ago, have showed solid evidence that just like Serpents, birds, felines and alligators etc, the Spectacled bear occupied a great significant cultural role throughtout its range and sometimes even beyond its habitat!
The reverence of the Spectacled bear ranges from Southern Panama to the Northern Chile; although it is largely revered in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, the core habitat of andean bears, its cultural importance is also been noticed in neighbouring Amazonia, where the creature was not even present! The Speactacled bear has a very mythical and significant role in native mythology, iconography, cosmology, totemism, legends, festivals and divinity etc where the bear is not just a beast only but is a creature in multiple forms: God, demon, monster, sacred spirit, mediator (of abstract and materical things), totem, healer, ancestor, human, creator and a creature with spiritual and mythical powers. Such respect gave way to Bear-worship and sometimes even Bear-festivals in the Andes.
The Spectacled bear is not simply called as "bear" by the native americans. They have various names like Jukumari, Ucumari and yanapuma etc. Spectacled bear's one of the most biggest evidence of respect by natives is its association with the largest native pilgrimage, festival on crop harvest, "Qollyr Rit'i" or "The Snow Star". Here "Ukukus" or bear-man are the main protagonists, and, without them the festival is never done. Ukukus are half-bear and half-man which the native believe that with the human wisdom and bear strength, would make the glacier snow into water for crop irrigation. To symbolize it, they carry water bags; and since water is a symbolically important thing in native myth, so the ukukus also get a very good symbolism too. It is worth to be noted that in one of the most important indian festivals, the ukuku or bear-man is the only main animal; no other animal is associated with this great festival. To depict ukukus, men wear bear-skins to look like half bear. Ukukus apart from this festival, played a great role in tales, songs and dances too. Another sort of bear-festival is held in Bolivia called Feista de San Juan, where the ukukus carry ice chunks instead of water bags. The Spectacled bear skin must have been also used in Incan festival of Sun god, Inti, since bear skins were always used in rituals as skins were wore by shamans and priests in most festivals. The andean bear has a deep effect on the pre-columbian folklore. Bears are often seen in tales, stories, legends, metaphors and mythologies of Inca and pre-inca cultures. The most famous and widely spread folklore in the whole andes is the that a bear who married a woman. In this story, a spectacled bear took a beautiful young woman in his cave where he had sex with her and cared her; they gave birth to a were-bear son (bear-man) who one day killed his father and started to live in local people community with his mother. Spectacled bear's sex with woman is a widely spread supersitition in the Latin America. The bear is associated with aggressive and powerful male sexual power and desire which usually is considered a good symbol as this king of fertility ensures good crop growth. Water is also linked with sex, and thats why water, sex and bear share similarities for the native since these three are strong symbols of land fertilty: perfect for well crop growth. The bear's connection with water and sex gives him a very good symbolism among native indians.
Since the Spectacled bear was a very revered animal in the andes, so their worship is also seen in many areas. From Panama to Bolivia, Spectacled bears are been worshipped for their strength, divine features and spiritual powers. Bear-worship is more oftenly seen in Bolivia than other countries. It is observed in both Andes and Amazons. Scholars and chronicles describes that indians worshipped serpents, bears and felines. Sometimes they would worship bears for strength gaining but they sometimes would also throw themselves to be eaten by the sacred bear. In bolivia, the natives of Apolobamba worshipped Spectacled bears, however the natives of Tomebamba were described as only "Bear worshippers", and they also had a sacred place associated with bears. The Amazonians of the Matsiguenga also worshipped Spectacled bears, despite of the fact that bears were not native at that region. The spectacled bear is sometimes a God-like creature but is sometimes a God its ownself; as some studies reveal some ancient pre-columbian gods as bears. In the Chavin civilization the cheif diety of fertility, El Lanzon, is described as an andean bear due to its striking resemblence with the bear. Similarly, another principle diety in Peru called Lambayeque, is a Spectacled bear. The matsiguenga also see Spectacled bears as a god of creation called Maeni. The spectacled bear is also an important creature in Andes and Amazonian cosmology and iconography. In indian mythology, the Spectacled bear was one of the nine animals present before the creation of the universe. And, in the constellation of Chique Chinay, the spectacled bear was the head of generations. The Aymara civilization considered the andean bear as a demonic creature rising from the underworld. The spectacled bear also stood as a primary animal in Panama's art, cosmology and iconography like in those of Cocle people.
Another great reverence about the Spectacled bear is seen when considering the fact that the natives worshipped it as a "Grand mediator" among many abstract, spiritual and material things. While the condor represents the heaven, the cougar represent the earth and the snake represent the underworld in Incan trilogy; the connector between these three layer of universe in no other animal except the Spectacled bear! The bear serves as a great mediator or connector between the heavens, earth and the underworld snd since these three are very important parts of native american cosmolgy so the bear's mediation role between these not only makes him a very important in Andean mythology but also a supreme animal in in cosmology as he serves as a great linker between these three. It is taken from the fact that the bear lives in caves and lands, and since caves are openings to underworlds so does the bear connects the two; and whilst the high mountains, where the bear dwells, represent the heavens, clearly show that why the bear is chosen with this mediation. His colour may also show the same as the lower black colour is the darkness of Peruvian forest and the upper chest mark is the coming light from the heavens. Apart from this, the Spectacled bear also served as a great mediator between light and darkness, good and evil, crop and harvest, childhood and adulthood, nature and culture, order abd chaos, one year to the next, man and god, living and dead, sickness and health, and human and animal etc which shows that what a large role this bear occupies in the native religion. All these aspects had a great influence on Peruvian civilization. It may be noted that the bear can be a symbol of shaman as it mediates between sickness and health, a symbol of time as a connector of years, a symbol of fertile agriculture as a linker of crop and harvest, a symbol of metaphysical change as a mediator of life and death and a symbol of cosmos travelling as a supreme mediator between the andean universe's main layers: Skies, Earth and Underworld, etc. The bear is also believed to guide the soul of the dead to the afterlife which again gives it a great role in religion since afterlife is one of the most significant belief in incan and pre-incan religions. The andean bear is also seen as a totemic animal. It is also seen as an ancestor, elder brother or even a powerful man in parts of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The incas other other natives of Peru and Colombia saw them as protectors of nature and the Columbian natives, the Tuma, believed bears were "guardians of nature". The bear also seen as a herder of wild animals. The people of Ecuador saw bears as "powerful legendary super-humam men" of the high mountains.
Hunting the Spectacled bear was not much uncommon in the Andes, but not always. Unlike the northern areas, most argentinians and chileans considered these bears as very dangerous and would kill it to secure themselves. However, the Incas and other natives would sometimes capture andean bears for special rituals and festivals and then would release them since bears were highly revered in religion and killing one might bring bear's black curse on people. Nevertheless, killing bears did not end with this belief since many other beliefs enocourage for gaining bear parts for magical and ritual uses. Specracled bears were killed for their magical body parts and their skin with other animal skins was used in festivals of the Incas which shows that bear skins had great place in Incan religion. The spectacled bear is more frequently killed in some regions for its medical purposes; like in bolivia, the skull, bones, fur and fat carry a great importance in native medicine. The baculum is used to cure sexual disease or defect by putting its little piece into the drink called "Seven roots". If a person wants to gain the bear's strength, the he would have to drink the whole penis or eat the fat of bear. The bear scats are fed to cattle. When a spectacled bear is consumed, so it followed by many strict ceremonial rituals and aftet the feast, the shaman hangs the bear's skull with tree and keep it is motion which have some spiritial meanings.
Since ancient times, bear have remained a symbol of strength and courage due to their size, fighting abilities, strength and fierceness. The Spectacled bear is also widely admired for his strength and bravery and so was a perfect totem for an elite warrior. In ancient PerĂş, some warriors were believed to transform into Spectacled bears (JukumarĂŹ) duting battlefield. In moche civilization, bears were depicted as powerful warriors and warriors with bear association were believed to have supernatural strength to capture and take down enemies. In Venenzula, some elite warrior also used to wore Spectacled bear skins.
In the end, it is clear that the Spectacled bear is one of the most widely revered animal in the various cultures and civilizations of the Andes and Amazons since ancient times. Although there are only a few studies of bear-human inteteaction which have disclosed a great respect for the Spectacled bear as shown above yet the theory that the bear is an unrevered animal in Andes is sharpely falsified. The knowledge about Spectacled bear is recent, which would improve and increase in the coming decades and open more mysteries of the Spectacled bear's reverence.
(It took me 6 days to first think and write this on my bear-notebook. Everything is taken from the data from the above thread. Hope everybody like my effort. đ)
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Post by brobear on Aug 6, 2022 3:02:58 GMT -5
Last of the great short-faced bears
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Post by Montezuma on Sept 7, 2022 8:13:23 GMT -5
Please enlarge this map.
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Post by brobear on Sept 7, 2022 9:32:31 GMT -5
Done:
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Post by Montezuma on Nov 29, 2022 17:37:52 GMT -5
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Post by Montezuma on Dec 4, 2022 16:17:02 GMT -5
I have just updated the Spectacled bear in cultute thread with more information. Check that out!
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Post by Montezuma on Dec 14, 2022 13:16:01 GMT -5
After reading about bears in ancient culture, it is to be pointed out that two kind of bears, The Brown bear and Spectacled Bears, became a target for early christians in Europe and invading christians in South America. Both these bears were viewed as "Symbol of pagans" or "Devils". Lets discuss about the Spectacled bear and Christianity a bit here; since the Brown Bear and Christianity as been discussed in Original King of the Beasts thread.
Before starting, i would say that everybody should be aware the its the "Christians" who tried to demonize and erase the bear, not "Christianity". Christianity always emphasize to care for every God's creature including animals. There is no mention in the religion of Holy Jesus that bears are bad and evil creature or something like that; even, bears in Old testament and New testament are also sometimes showed as playing good roles, like the two bears avenging Holy Prophet Elisha's mocking by childern (See Syrian brown bear importance in middle eastern cultures thread). Its the priests and missonaries who are real responsible for such acts. As Paisley pointed out, even many traditional concerned archeologists in South America still try to conceal the evidences showing Spectacled bear's respect in native art or myths.
So all this starts as that in Latin American Andean mountains, the Spectacled bear occupied a large and god-like role in native american Incan and Pre-incan mythologies. When the Spanish invaders arrived so the reason that they started to view abdean bears as devils or pagan symbols is due to these reasons:
1. As brown bear occupied a very central role in Old norse, Celtic and Slavic religion; so did the Spectacled bear was in religions of andean cultures.
2. The missionaries sought it very difficult to convert natives unless they don't see this bear as a devil's icon rather than god's symbol.
3. Bear's rape with women was spread in all over Europe with enraged the priest. And so, the legend Bear's rape with a young women was found throughout the Andeans which made the priest to react same as they did earlier.
With such things, the bear's artifacts weren't just even distorted and destroyed but also the bears were killed mercilessly. The spanish reacted so vigorously against this creature that this animal that was once a part of many native lands and cultures became as rare as a mystery. And it would be well-known until the 1970s. So the European brown bear's history in 500s a.d is very much similar of that of the Andean Bear in 1500s a.d. but the bruin wasn't as badly treated as was the andean bear.
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Post by Montezuma on Dec 29, 2022 18:26:39 GMT -5
The book Cult of the serpent by bajila mundurk.books.google.com.pk/books?id=PDkuiPhZJr0C&pg=PR18&dq=Balaji+Mundkur&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimkZ_y-p38AhUgWqQEHZvyByAQ6AF6BAgEEAM&authuser=2#v=onepage&q=Balaji%20Mundkur&f=falseAbstract1. In ancient semetic religion bears weren't revered creature in babylonian or assyrians cultures. 2. In india, bear stands a symbol for only a female diety. Bears arn't viewed divine like other animals. 3. In south asia and southeast asia, bears arn't venerated culturally. 4. In southwestern america, bear are not much revered and even in Aztec mythology. 5. In andes, bears arn't important much culturally. Analysis
(1)In ancient semitic religions, like those of Mesopotamians bears are absent. However, it has been prosoped that it should be blamed to the 'unhabitation' of bears in those regions. Bears weren't naturally native to egypt and many scholars have also concluded the absence of them even in the fertile cresent. Arabian peninsula even composed to bear either. redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=6716665&u=http%3A//beargorillarealm.proboards.com/thread/175/syrian-brown-importance-eastern-cultures So thats why unlike bulls, lions or rams, bears were inducted in most semite cultures and rituals. Nevertheless, the prominent role of bear in Old testaments can give us an appraisal of bear's symbolism in ancient palestine or syrian cultures. Even the most striking fact is that of bear's depiction as a royal and strong creature in egyptian land, which is not much but interesting when considering of egypt not being a bear occupied land. Its a forte that shows how deeply can the bear impact on Ancient egyptian culture if present. Same can be applied to mesopotamia or some other semite cultures. (2) In India, above board, it should be accepted that bears arn't revered. In sri lanka bear's baculum is a symbol of fertility while in India the sloth bear is a symbol of Rambaravant and a rapist of women. Nothing much is known. Despite of resemblence with humans, puganicous behaviour and other interesting features, native havn't revered them as a sacred symbol or anything. It is difficult to explain why and even to make the slightest clue. Monkeys carry a profilic symbolism but not the bear, whilst the chinese had propitiartory and very spiritual beliefs relating both the bears and monkeys. I think that the reason can be basically a natural mindset of indian people that prevented the bear's induction in their religion. (3) Well in South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Himalayans are the only place were bears indeed occupy a special place in religion and culture of the aboriginals. Deleterious to livestock but helpers in supernatural beliefs, Himalyan brown or black bears are revered. However bear reverence decrease rapidly when travelling south. Sloth bear, sun bears and black bears are no more revered as in other parts of the world which again can be thought as a fact of mindset (meaning their thinking style of nature). For example, in Mongolia the mongolian wolf has been revered as the most spiritual and essential animal to the nomads but let this canid move to China, India and Southeast asia, where is body decreases to small but its cultural value in no more charismatic as in north. Wolf inhabits Mongolia and China, where its reverence differs too much for of the basic cultural, spiritual and mindset distinguishness between the two nations. Similar explaination answers the reason about bear's. (4) I would'nt discuss about bears in mesoamerican and southwestern cultures for the thread i made regarding bears. redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=6716665&u=https%3A//beargorillarealm.proboards.com/thread/210/mexican-grizzlies-existed-mesoamerican-civilizations%3Fpage%3D1%26scrollTo%3D7261After many proofs we culminate to the sensible fact that bears weren't in Central mexico. In southwest saying bears weren't much revered is baised, since the hopi man himself urged that the Grizzly bear occupies a prominent role not only in theirs, but in other southwestern tribal ceremonies, rituals and cultures. Many Navajo, Zuni, Pueblo, Apache and hopi etc sacred doctrines of bears criticize this claim. (5) The spectacled bear played a prominent and unheraldic role in native cultures within and even without their range. I absolutely deny this statement since new research has unclosed the truth that bears were very important in South american cultures. Proof? Here. đ redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=6716665&u=http%3A//beargorillarealm.proboards.com/thread/170/andean-bear-importance-andes-cultures
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Jan 6, 2023 6:02:44 GMT -5
Montezuma, do you mind if I post some info on polar bear cultural importance here?
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Jan 6, 2023 6:04:00 GMT -5
Mine most favourite is about the Spectacled bear and Polar bear. Which onr is your most favourite?? I think your favourite bears have change to brown bear, Californian grizzly, and Spectacled bear .
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Post by Montezuma on Jan 7, 2023 5:20:25 GMT -5
Montezuma , do you mind if I post some info on polar bear cultural importance here? I wouldn't mind bro. Go on. Its a thread dedicated to bears in human cultures so i would love to have more information here.
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Post by brobear on Jan 7, 2023 5:50:26 GMT -5
Montezuma , do you mind if I post some info on polar bear cultural importance here? Grizzly Bears on Ice Aklak vs. Nanook: A Tale of Two Bears Like most scientists, the Inuit view Aklak, the grizzly bear, and Nanook, the polar bear, as two very different creatures. Their traditional tales of polar bears almost always portray these animals as powerful, keen-witted and worthy of great esteem. The grizzly, on the other hand, is seen as a more sinister beast, one that is likely to charge unexpectedly in an explosive manner.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Jan 7, 2023 7:19:07 GMT -5
/\ I just realise that the inutes also acknowledge the barren ground grizzly.
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Post by brobear on Jan 8, 2023 4:45:31 GMT -5
Culture "The Story of the Three Bears", illustration from Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories www.gbif.org/species/113276597 Brown bears often figure into the literature of Europe and North America, in particular that which is written for children. "The Brown Bear of Norway" is a Scottish fairy tale telling the adventures of a girl who married a prince magically turned into a bear and who managed to get him back into a human form by the force of her love and after many trials and difficulties. With "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", a story from England, the Three Bears are usually depicted as brown bears. In German-speaking countries, children are often told the fairytale of "Snow White and Rose Red"; the handsome prince in this tale has been transfigured into a brown bear. In the United States, parents often read their preschool age children the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to teach them their colors and how they are associated with different animals. The Russian bear is a common national personification for Russia (as well as the former Soviet Union), despite the country having no appointed national animal. The brown bear is Finland's national animal. The grizzly bear is the state animal of Montana. The California golden bear is the state animal of California. Both animals are subspecies of the brown bear and the species was extirpated from the latter state. The coat of arms of Madrid depicts a bear reaching up into a madroĂąo or strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) to eat some of its fruit, whereas the Swiss city of Bern's coat of arms also depicts a bear and the city's name is popularly thought to derive from the German word for bear. The brown bear is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 5 kuna coin, minted since 1993. The Bundesliga club Bayern Munich has a brown bear mascot named Berni. The Chicago National Football League (NFL) franchise is named the Bears. In this context, no differentiation between American black and brown bears is needed. The school mascot for Bob Jones University, Brown University, Cornell University, George Fox University, the University of Alberta, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Riverside, and numerous American high schools is the brown bear. In the town of Prats de MollĂł, in Vallespir, French Catalonia, a "bear festival" (festa de l'Ăłs) is celebrated annually at the beginning of spring, in which the locals dress up as bears, cover themselves with soot or coal and oil and "attack" the onlookers, attempting to get everyone dirty. The festival ends with the ball de l'Ăłs (bear dance).
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Post by Montezuma on Jan 8, 2023 19:41:14 GMT -5
Artemis, greek goddess, is one of the most prominent and importance diety of Greeks just like Apollo or Zeus. She played a great role in Greek mythology, "In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (/ËÉËrtÉŞmÉŞs/; Greek: áźĎĎξΟΚĎ) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children,and chastity. She was heavily identified with Selene, the Moon, and Hecate, another Moon goddess, and was thus regarded as one of the most prominent lunar deities in mythology,"en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArtemisAs her role suggests, she was basically a nature and feminine deity, and to some extent to moon giving her a lunar mythology importance to. She was asdociayed to wild boars and deers etc but the most symbolic animal to her was a bear. Bears were used in rituals and sacrifices to her and even in her Temple (Artemis temple is one of the seven wonders of the world). This shows the bear's importance in Greek civilization as a symbolic animal of diety, nature and women. Here is some infotmation about bear legend to Artemis. "The sacrifice of a bear for Artemis started with the Brauron cult. Every year a girl between five and ten years of age was sent to Artemis' temple at Brauron. The Byzantine writer Suidos relayed the legend in Arktos e Brauroniois. A bear was tamed by Artemis and introduced to the people of Athens. They touched it and played with it until one day a group of girls poked the bear until it attacked them. A brother of one of the girls killed the bear, so Artemis sent a plague in revenge. The Athenians consulted an oracle to understand how to end the plague. The oracle suggested that, in payment for the bear's blood, no Athenian virgin should be allowed to marry until she had served Artemis in her temple ('played the bear for the goddess')".
topostext.org/work/240#al.3958 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suda
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Post by brobear on Jan 11, 2023 14:36:11 GMT -5
The Most Russian of All Beasts scfh.ru/en/papers/the-most-russian-of-all-beasts/ A bear has been Russia's long-standing national symbol: in all political caricatures, Russia is shown as a bear. The association holds not only because Russian politics has always been in line with the bears' nature but also because our country does have a record number of these animals. Today, our readers are having an opportunity to get a closer look on this remarkable animal thanks to a series of photos accompanied with exciting facts of bears' "biography". The authors of this material have had a chance to travel extensively about the most difficult to access "bears' land" â the Kamchatka Peninsular â and to observe young bears reaching adulthood in the conditions very similar to natural The land where âbears walk along the streetsâ â for the Westerners, such has been the symbol of this country for ages. The image of a bear has always emerged in propaganda when it came to controversy between Russia and the West, both before 1917 or at the time of nuclear confrontation during the cold war. âRussian bearsâ is the nickname of our boxers and fighters, and the famous Russian bomber TU-95 is referred to as âBearâ by its NATO designation. Ancient Slavic and Scandinavian peoples avoided calling this animal by name in order not to summon its dangerous owner. The Russian for âbearâ, medved (possibly, âhe who knows where honey isâ) and other similar names common in everyday speech like Kosolapyi (âclub-footedâ) replaced the real taboo name of the animal, which was with time forgotten. This powerful animal has been our long-standing national symbol: in all political caricatures, Russia is shown as a bear. The association holds not only because Russian politics has always been in line with the bearsâ nature but also because our country does have a record number of these animals. Today, our readers are having an opportunity to get a closer look on this remarkable animal thanks to a series of photos accompanied with exciting facts of bearsâ âbiographyâ. The authors of this material have had a chance to travel extensively about the most difficult to access âbearsâ landâ â the Kamchatka Peninsular â and to observe young bears reaching adulthood in the conditions very similar to natural. The authors had a unique chance to observe young Siberian bears growing up in an environment similar to natural and take shots in the process. The legendary North American grizzly, the giant Kodiak bear of Alaska, the small Mazaalai living in deserts, and the inhabitant of Mid-Russian forests are all subspecies of the same species, brown bear (Ursus arctos), the most common of large land predators. Brown bears inhabit vast areas from the steppes to the highlands, mainly in the Northern hemisphere: Alaska, Canada, Tibet, Himalayas, north-eastern China, Korea, Mongolia, and Japan (Hokkaido)... A small number of brown bears have survived in Europe, predominantly in mountainous regions like the Tatra Mountains, Pyrenees, and Balkan Peninsular. In Russia, brown bears occur everywhere where there are forests: from the western border to the Bering Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, and Sea of Japan. In the Russian north-east, one can come across these animals as far to the north as the tundra, up to the Arctic Ocean shore. The largest animals live in the east, along the coastlines of the Pacific Ocean seas, from Kamchatka to the Russian Far East. All in all, there are about 200,000 brown bears in the world; 120,000 of them are in Russia, 33,000 in the USA, 21,000 in Canada, and 14,000 in Europe. The large number of bears and their wide range can be attributed to their omnivorism and ability to get along with people. The latter is especially surprising taken the animalsâ size: ordinary forest bears weigh up to six, and Kamchatka and Kodiak bears up to eight or ten hundredweights. The record-holder Kodiak caught for the Berlin Zoo weighed over a ton! In summer 2009, a grizzly was shot on Alaska, which had killed and eaten two tourists. It weighed 726 kilograms. When it stood on its hind legs, it was over 4 meters tall, that is, the head of an adult man would just reach the lower part of its abdomen. And yet the brown bearsâ cannibalism is an exception rather than a rule. It is not without reason that the great connoisseur of animals Alfred Brehm noted that bears are of âchivalrous nature devoid of any cunningness or deception. Incapable of cheating, they work their way by force and, unlike wolves, do not resort to unreasonable cruelty. At the heart of the bearsâ temper is sluggishness and love for calmnessâ. The brown bear, dispassionate by nature, is known to go into a rage only if it is teased; distrustful and whole-hearted in her courage is a she-bear protecting her cubs.
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