Many mysteries are hidden by nature. One of them is why the bear sleeps in winter. Brown is asleep, and white is not. And not all species of brown bears sleep in winter, but only residents of cold climatic zones, where a thick layer of snow covers the vegetation.
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Why bears hibernate
This is a big animal, it needs a lot of food. The beast is omnivorous: eats plant and animal food. In winter, getting plants becomes problematic. It is impossible to live by eating small animals. Lack of proper nutrition in the cold season is the main reason for the hibernation of bears. During sleep, the beneficial substances accumulated during the active period are consumed more slowly.
Of course, they, like squirrels, could harvest nuts, roots, acorns for the winter, but for some reason they never do this. Why is unknown. And travel to the warm regions, like birds, do not commit. Perhaps it is precisely with these reasons that their ability to sleep in winter is associated.
Polar bears have a different arrangement. Seals and fish are in their diet. They can always find prey, there are no problems with food. But they also briefly and sensitively sleep in late winter and early spring. Only females with cubs hibernate, males continue to stay awake.
On a note! Bears are the largest predators on the planet. The weight of an adult is from 150 to 750 kilograms.
A brown bear hibernates in a den. The forest owner for a long time chooses a suitable place for wintering. Usually, the shelter is in a dense forest where no one will disturb it. This can be a bunch of brushwood, a depression under the twisted root of a tree, a deep hole or a cave.
The clubfoot owner warms his home with layers of moss, spruce branches, and dry grass.The height of the litter depends on the humidity inside. A narrow hole protects the bear house from intruders. Only a hunter with extensive experience will be able to find a den in impassable thickets.
The animal sleeps in various poses - on its side, on its back, curled up in a ball or sitting with its head down. There are cases when several generations of the forest owner hibernated in the same den.
What happens to the animal
Bears get ready for hibernation very seriously. From the end of summer, they begin to fatten themselves, storing a 15-centimeter layer of fat. At the same time, not only white fat is deposited, but also brown, containing unsaturated fatty acids. Fats allow the beast to do without food for a long time.
The most favorite food is cedar cones. Sometimes predators dig up the minks of chipmunks and eat up the stocks of nuts collected by the animal. They have a high fat content, so necessary in winter.
During hibernation, the following occurs in the body of a predator:
- metabolic processes are reduced due to the accumulation of tocopherol in the liver and adipose tissue;
- serotonin suppresses the functions of the central nervous and endocrine system, therefore, the processes of heat generation are slowed down, as a result of which the body temperature of the animal decreases;
- the oxygen content in the den decreases, the concentration of carbon dioxide increases, which also contributes to hibernation.
This condition with reduced functional activity, due to the external environment, is called "hypobiosis."
The frequency of heartbeat and breathing is reduced by 4-5 times. The body temperature drops by 2-7 0C. The metabolic rate is 50-70%.
What are the names of predators who do not sleep in winter
In adverse years, some predators fail to accumulate enough fat, so they do not hibernate. They stagger around the neighborhood in search of food. These clubfoot are called connecting rods. The connecting rod bear is losing fear. Hunger drives him closer to people. The predator is doomed to death from hunger or hunters.
Not all bears awake in winter are connecting rods. Sometimes you can meet an animal that someone disturbed, it ran away and is now looking for a new apartment for wintering.
Interesting facts about hibernating bears
Winter hibernation of a bear can last from 3 to 6 months.
People say that in winter he sucks his paw in a den. Which one, no one knows. In fact, he does not suck, but gnaws at her. The fact is that a bear layer underneath is covered with a thick layer of skin. This gives him the opportunity to walk on sharp stones. During hibernation, new skin begins to grow under the old skin. It causes severe itching. A predator bites through the old layer. Shedding is faster and less bothers the clubfoot.
Cubs appear in the den in the middle of winter, blind and helpless. Kids weigh about 500 g. They feed on mother’s milk and grow quite quickly. In spring, grown-ups, funny and furry, but not independent, go free. It’s very dangerous to meet a bear at this time. For the sake of the little ones, she did not stop even in front of the tiger.
The bear sleeping in the den hears well. Dog barking or howling wolves can wake him.
During sleep, the predator loses up to half its weight. Usually they sleep alone, except for females. This year's cubs are stacked with their mother.
Important! Hibernation can be called numbness, but not suspended animation.
It is also interesting that during sleep in animals the activity of many tissues remains: wounds heal, damaged hair is restored.
The brown bear is a native of Russian forests. This is a strong and dangerous predator. Previously, trained bears were shown at fairs and bazaars. Currently, you can see the owner of the forest in zoos and circuses. But in the forest, a meeting with him can end tragically.
