Syrian Brown Bear

[brobear]

Syrian Brown Bear - Ursus arctos syriacus.  

[Deleted]

The brown bear is certainly the most adaptable bear in the world. They used to exist in most parts of the world. Sadly many sub species have gone extinct.

[King Kodiak]

Habitat

the syrian brown bear hibernates in caves and hollow trees found in mountainous areas. Historically, the Syrian brown bear could be found in Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, northwestern Pakistan, and parts of the former Soviet Union. However, their number continues to decline and fragment because of habitat loss and poaching. They can no longer be found in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, nor Syria.

CHARACTERISTICS
The Syrian brown bear weighs up to
550 pounds and measures anywhere from 40 to 55 inches from nose to tail. It is overall the smallest bear of the Ursus arctos species. The most common color is a very light greyish brown. The lighter colors usually appear at higher altitudes. They may have a dark brown patch on atop their heads, a white collar, and a dark stripe down the back. Their legs are commonly darker than the rest of their body. It is the only known bear in the world to have white claws.

There are some bears farther to the north that are believed to be a cross between Eurasian brown bears and Syrian brown bears. They are larger in size than the Syrain brown bears and have reddish brown fur.

Syrian Brown Bear
DIET
Syrian brown bears are omnivorous creatures. They search for food in forests, grasslands, and meadows. They will eat almost any kind of food that is available to them such as meat, grass, nuts, and fruits. If they become hungery enough, they have been known to visit mountain villages. In search of food, they will attack livestock

BREEDING
Birth takes place during hibernation during the winter. Cubs are very small at birth, but grow quickly.

STATUS
The population of the Syrian brown bear continues to decline. It is already extinct in Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, due to habitat loss and poaching. It may be close to extinction in the wild.

www.bearsoftheworld.net/syrian_brown_bear.asp

[King Kodiak]

(VIDEO INSIDE)
SYRIAN BROWN BEARS GIVE OWNER HUGS
Wednesday, February 28, 2018 04:41PM

Two Syrian brown bears named Amy and Jenny enjoy playing with Jim Kowalczik, one of the founders of OrphanedWildlife.org.


Two Syrian brown bears named Amy and Jenny enjoy playing with Jim Kowalczik, one of the founders of OrphanedWildlife.org.

The bears are both 15 years old and were part of a failed breeding program set up to save their endangered breed. When the program failed, Jim and Susan Kowalczik took Amy and Jenny into their wildlife animal sanctuary, according to Kerry Clair, who recorded the video.


The Syrian brown bear population is diminishing due to habitat loss and poaching. The bears are native to the Middle East.

The Orphaned Wildlife Center, located in Otisville, New York, is home to eleven different types of bears:

6abc.com/amp/pets-animals/syrian-brown-bears-give-owner-hugs-/3155071/

[King Kodiak]

Wojtek (1942–1963; Polish pronunciation: [ˈvɔjtɛk]; in English, sometimes spelled Voytek and so pronounced) was a Syrian brown bear bought, as a young cub, at a railway station in Hamadan, Iran, by Polish II Corps soldiers who had been evacuated from the Soviet Union. In order to provide for his rations and transportation, he was eventually enlisted officially as a soldier with the rank of private, and was subsequently promoted to corporal.[1]

Wojtek
the Soldier Bear
Wojtek the bear.jpg
Wojtek (right) with a Polish soldier in 1942
Born
1942
near Hamadan, Iran
Died
2 December 1963 (aged 21)
Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland
Service/branch
Flag of the Polish Land Forces.svg Polish Land Forces
Years of service
1943–45
Rank
Kapral.png Kapral
Unit
3522, 22nd Artillery Supply Company, II Corps (Poland)
Battles/wars
World War II
Battle of Monte Cassino
Memorials
Wojtek Memorial Trust
Website
thesoldierbear.com
He accompanied the bulk of the II Corps to Italy, serving with the 22nd Artillery Supply Company. During the Battle of Monte Cassino, in Italy in 1944, Wojtek helped move crates of ammunition and became a celebrity with visiting Allied generals and statesmen. After the war, mustered out of the Polish Army, he was billeted and lived out the rest of his life at the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wojtek_(bear)

[King Kodiak]

[King Kodiak]

WOJTEK THE BEAR.

[King Kodiak]

WOJTEK-THE MOST FAMOUS SYRIAN BROWN BEAR OF ALL TIME.

[King Kodiak]

[King Kodiak]

[Shoulder development.]

It is truly despicable IMO, that even the most circumspect of the U-arctos breed
cannot keep a place in its ancient habitats, places which humans do not truly value,
except to cruelly deny them both to their own kind, and by base extention, bears.

[brobear]

Jan 28, 2019 1:03:54 GMT -5 Shoulder development. said:

It is truly despicable IMO, that even the most circumspect of the U-arctos breed
cannot keep a place in its ancient habitats, places which humans do not truly value,
except to cruelly deny them both to their own kind, and by base extention, bears.

Wojtek was bought at a railway station as a young cub. If these soldiers had released him into the wild, he would not have survived. As it turned out, the bear enjoyed his life. 

[King Kodiak]

Wojtek is probably one of the most famous and respected individual bears in history. I mean he intervened in a battle against the nazis. In Poland they have statues and symbols all over.

[brobear]

From the third post down from top: The Syrian brown bear weighs up to
550 pounds and measures anywhere from 40 to 55 inches from nose to tail. It is overall the smallest bear of the Ursus arctos species.

Note: This is one of several subspecies of brown bear to claim being the smallest. Consider though with a head-and-body length of less than six feet, a brown bear weighs 550 pounds ( 250 kg ). Most lions and tigers measuring over seven feet in head-and-body length weigh less. Wojtek stood six feet tall and weighed 500 pounds.
As for the smallest of the brown bears, I would give that award to the Himalayan brown bear ( red bear ).

[King Kodiak]

Yes brobear. The Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus) is actually smaller than the Syrian brown bear. The largest specimens just reach over 200 kg (440 lbs).

[King Kodiak]

First Syrian brown bear in 60 years caught on camera in Lebanon

The Syrian brown bear has long been considered extinct in Lebanon. That's why a recent, exceptionally rare sighting has conservationists and the Lebanese public so excited.

In late December, a group of men in the Beqaa Valley in the eastern part of the country, near the Syrian border, reportedly filmed the female bear ambling along in the snow with a young cub in tow.

The footage was sent along to the Society for the Protection of Nature Lebanon (SPNL), who verified that the animals were, in fact, Syrian brown bears. SPNL director general Assad Serhal told The Independent that the "historic" discovery was a "positive development".

"What is unusual about this finding is that no bear has been recorded in Lebanon for over 60 years and the closest big population would probably be more than 500km away in Turkey. Also, brown bears would usually be hibernating or tucked in their dens during this time of the year," adds an update on the SPNL website.

Though it can still be found in the Caucasus Mountains of Russia and in countries like Georgia, Armenia and Iran, the Syrian brown bear (Ursus arctos syriacus) has been considered extinct in Israel and Lebanon for decades. Even its namesake country, Syria, classified the bears as extinct in 2009 (and the subspecies had not been seen there for decades before that).

Populations have been declining for some time. In Lebanon, the bear was first identified in 1828, and it steadily lost ground to habitat destruction and overhunting over the next 130 years.

The SPNL is not certain of the circumstances surrounding the sighting, and it's unclear at this stage whether the Beqaa Valley appearance is a sign of an ursine comeback here – the bears may simply have been passing through. The fact that they were spotted in the winter, when would normally be hibernating, suggests this pair may have been fleeing danger or conflict elsewhere.

For the SPNL, the rare footage has raised many questions. "Could there really be a Syrian brown bear, subsisting on human-grown fruits and possibly wild juniper, roaming the hills on the Syria-Lebanon border? Was this a stray bear, perhaps wandering over from Syria or even Turkey or Iraq? Did the war in Syria make it cross the border?" writes the group.

This isn't the only fairly recent evidence of the presence of wild Syrian brown bears in the region – paw prints likely belonging to the subspecies were found in Syria in 2004. Other tracks have been documented in the years since.

The unusual sighting has sparked much public interest, and according to The Independent, there have been calls for the Lebanese Ministry of the Environment to protect the immediate area in order to keep the roaming bears safe from hunters.

www.earthtouchnews.com/conservation/human-impact/first-syrian-brown-bear-in-60-years-caught-on-camera-in-lebanon

[King Kodiak]

SYRIAN BROWN BEAR RANGE. (URSUS ARCTOS SYRIACUS).

[King Kodiak]

[brobear]

In 2012, I visited "Tiger World" in North Carolina. Lots of tigers, several lions, and ligers. Also, a pair of Syrian brown bears. I remember the male's name was Brutus. ( the sort of name that comes naturally ). Now, like any other non-expert, my estimation might be far from accurate, but I would guess easily 500 pounds. The boar Syrian grizzly was so-much thicker built than any big cat on the property. Both had that creamy-sandy color.

[BruteStrength]

Mar 4, 2019 7:55:18 GMT -5 brobear said:

In 2012, I visited "Tiger World" in North Carolina. Lots of tigers, several lions, and ligers. Also, a pair of Syrian brown bears. I remember the male's name was Brutus. ( the sort of name that comes naturally ). Now, like any other non-expert, my estimation might be far from accurate, but I would guess easily 500 pounds. The boar Syrian grizzly was so-much thicker built than any big cat on the property. Both had that creamy-sandy color.

Lucky. One day I hope to see these bears up close. Did the bears look friendly?