Post by brobear on Jun 14, 2022 1:08:19 GMT -5
Ever since I first began posting on wild animal forums, back in the year 2000, I have been researching the brown bear (Ursus arctos). I have read well over 70 books, mostly about the American brown bear better known as the grizzly. The more I learned, the more my respect for this magnificent animal was obtained. He is a master of adapting to new environments. When compared at equal size (HB length) the bear just might be the strongest terrestrial mammal on earth, as has been claimed by some animal "experts" and the brown bear is pound-for-pound the strongest of living bears.
But it is not just his great herculean strength that I admire. Bears are at the top of the ladder when it comes to intelligence. Measuring intelligence is not an exact science, but the bear just might be on an equal level of intelligence with the great apes, whales and dolphins, elephants, and crows and ravens. Of these animals, just how they might line-up in order of who is the smartest cannot be accurately determined.
Bears are known for their keen sense of smell. It is possible that bears just might have the best nose in the animal kingdom. His greatest competitor being the elephant.
Bears are also masters of adapting to new environments. Brown bears can be found in swamps and marshes, high up on mountains, deserts, taiga, and on the arctic tundra. All brown bears live in the Northern hemisphere.
Bears are omnivores. Of all living bears, the brown bears indulge in the widest range of food variety from vegetation and mushrooms to insects, shell fish, fish, carrion, and fresh-killed meat. When there are other predators living within the domain of the brown bear, the great bear benefits. Brown bears are kleptoparasites, which simply means that he will displace the other predators from their kills. He is both a hunter and a scavenger.
A full-grown male brown bear has only two adversaries to be wary of, a bigger bear or a man with a rifle. In the Asian taiga, adolescent brown bears and adult female brown bears are sometimes ambushed and killed by large male tigers. Otherwise, the great bear has no predators.
Historically, no other animal has been viewed as being supernatural more so than the bear. The brown bear has been worshiped as a god, feared as a devil, thought to be ancestral to mankind, or to be the reincarnation of people. Bears were viewed by primitive peoples as anything but just mere animals.
But it is not just his great herculean strength that I admire. Bears are at the top of the ladder when it comes to intelligence. Measuring intelligence is not an exact science, but the bear just might be on an equal level of intelligence with the great apes, whales and dolphins, elephants, and crows and ravens. Of these animals, just how they might line-up in order of who is the smartest cannot be accurately determined.
Bears are known for their keen sense of smell. It is possible that bears just might have the best nose in the animal kingdom. His greatest competitor being the elephant.
Bears are also masters of adapting to new environments. Brown bears can be found in swamps and marshes, high up on mountains, deserts, taiga, and on the arctic tundra. All brown bears live in the Northern hemisphere.
Bears are omnivores. Of all living bears, the brown bears indulge in the widest range of food variety from vegetation and mushrooms to insects, shell fish, fish, carrion, and fresh-killed meat. When there are other predators living within the domain of the brown bear, the great bear benefits. Brown bears are kleptoparasites, which simply means that he will displace the other predators from their kills. He is both a hunter and a scavenger.
A full-grown male brown bear has only two adversaries to be wary of, a bigger bear or a man with a rifle. In the Asian taiga, adolescent brown bears and adult female brown bears are sometimes ambushed and killed by large male tigers. Otherwise, the great bear has no predators.
Historically, no other animal has been viewed as being supernatural more so than the bear. The brown bear has been worshiped as a god, feared as a devil, thought to be ancestral to mankind, or to be the reincarnation of people. Bears were viewed by primitive peoples as anything but just mere animals.