Despite the fact that the bear is by nature a predator, he prefers to eat plant food. Surprisingly, the brown bear loves berries, stalks and leaves of shrubs, as well as honey. Traction to the honey causes the animal to take risks and climb into the hives to wild bees, from which it often has to carry its paws.
Often, the beast in search of delicious food is taken to the feeding grounds and cereal fields, in particular, to the crops of oats and corn.
Taiga and swampy places are rich in various berries that a brown bear so loves. He does not refuse from raznotravya. And the clubfoot eats only a certain part of the plants. Feeling teddy bear most often with their leaves, stems, fruits or roots. A special time for a brown bear is spring, when it can accumulate body weight days after a long hibernation by eating vegetation.
However, plant food is only half the menu of a brown bear. The rest of it is animal food. After hibernation, the bear preys on rodents, eats all kinds of insects and their larvae. For this, the animal is not too lazy to dig a hole to pull out mice, moles, chipmunks and marmots from under the ground. Bears are reputed to destroy anthills and apiaries.
Hunting and fishing
Getting to the reservoirs, brown bears become real anglers. Especially at the time of spawning, when the fish spawn, the brown predator will not miss the moment for the sake of such a delicacy. Most of all the beast appreciates trout and salmon.
If artiodactyls graze nearby, the clubfoot does not hesitate to attack elks, wild boars or deer. Hunger drives a brown bear from the forest to the people. There, he often attacks livestock: horses, cows and sheep. There are cases when a bear attacks its relatives of another breed, as well as wolves and tigers.
Stories about a bear who loves honey very much are not fiction. Bears are really big sweet teeth, ready to climb even on the trees in search of the honey of wild bees.
If the beast is completely hungry, then it can attack its own cub. Therefore, feeling threatened, the bear with babies tends to go a safe distance until the offspring grows up. A well-fed bear does not pose a big threat even to a person, however, it’s not worth risking and looking for meetings with him.
What does a brown bear eat in summer?
In summer, the brown bear feeds on various berries and lush grass, which grows in abundance in the taiga. If there is a river in the animal’s habitat or there is a lake, the bear can catch fish. But such a delicacy comes very rarely, since the “forest owner” needs to show all the skills of a hunter. Mostly bears lead a lonely lifestyle, so they are not shown to people in the wild. But if the animal is hungry, he can find an apiary in the forest and eat honey.
What does a brown bear eat in the fall?
In the autumn, the brown bear tries to eat high-calorie food in large quantities in order to gain fat and prepare the body for hibernation. The animal feeds on hazelnuts, various fruits, tree bark, berries and herbs. But during this period the animal introduces animal food into its diet. These can be various insects that are rich in protein, bird eggs, small rodents. During this period, the brown bear eats everything that it encounters on the way. But if the bear is not hungry, he will never attack animals like that.
What does a brown bear eat in winter?
In winter, the brown bear hibernates in its den. The animal "lays" its lining with grass and leaves. In the harsh climate, the brown bear sleeps from October to May. In a warm, mild climate, it may not go to sleep at all, or it lasts a short time. Bears sleep sensitively, so they are easy to wake up, then the animal leaves its lair and wanders through the forest in search of food. They are popularly called "rods."
Bear "rod" becomes dangerous in winter. The diet consists of animals, rodents, tree bark. But if a bear is hungry in the forest, then it goes out to the people and picks up livestock. There have been cases of a brown bear attacking people.
What does a brown bear eat in spring?
In the spring, when all nature wakes up from a den, a hungry brown bear comes out. He replenishes his body with young needles and lush grass. They contain many vitamins and trace elements that are necessary to maintain the strength of the animal. It can also feed on insects, their larvae, small rodents, fish.
When meeting with the "master" of the taiga, you should try to behave calmly and quietly, if possible, climb a tree. Be vigilant and careful in the forest.
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Despite the fact that bears are traditionally attributed to predators, there is not so much meat in their diet as other animals of this order. Mostly bearish "menu" consists of plant foods. Who of this squad is “predatory” most susceptible to meat, and does the bear's diet change depending on the time of year?
The basis of the bear "menu"
The most skilled hunter of all representatives of the bear species is the polar bear. In the Arctic, there is not much vegetation, so bears often hunt seals. All other bears prefer to eat nuts, berries, mushrooms, tubers and acorns. And, of course, they love honey very much. Also bears willingly eat various small mammals. However, if you have the opportunity to raise a sheep or a wild boar - clumsy toes are unlikely to refuse such a chance.
Mostly bears are looking for food during the day, at the same time they eat. In the cold regions in the fall, bears are actively stocking up fat before hibernation (of course, this does not apply to the polar bear). For several months, the bear falls asleep, however, on a warm day, it may wake up and leave the den to search for something to eat.
Every season has its own menu
Depending on the time of year, the diet of bears varies. Having woken up from hibernation in spring, in the spring they start to eat aspen shoots, ants, bird eggs, small animals, periodically hunt for elks.
In the middle of summer, bears begin to eat various berries, and in Siberia - pine nuts. In the southern regions they regale on acorns, chestnuts and hazel. If the year turned out to be a poor harvest and there is no favorite bear food in the forest, the beast can go to the fields planted with corn or oats. In some cases, bears attack pets.
Food - for fat accumulation
As you already understood, bears are omnivorous mammals. And the most important thing for them is to get a large amount of food, which then turns into fat, which is necessary for bear wintering.
Interesting numbers: to accumulate fifty kilograms of fat, a bear needs to eat about seven hundred kilograms of berries or five hundred kilograms of nuts.
Entertaining information about the bear diet (for example, why polar bears do not eat penguins) can be found in the article What Bears Eat.
What bears eat in different regions
Bears truly eat “what God sent.” All that is in the area - vegetation, fish, eggs, various animals - are in progress. Still would! Huge mass beast from 300 to 700 kg (depending on the type) it is necessary not only to maintain the normal functioning of the body, but also to accumulate fat. By winter, it should be at least 50 kilograms.
The “menu” of bears living in different areas has its differences.
- Essential part in the diet siberian bears occupy pine nuts, acorns, hazel, chestnuts. During the season, one animal can eat up to half a ton of nuts.
- Kamchatka bears prefer fish. Avid fishermen, they wait patiently on the shore for spawning salmon.
- The inhabitants of the Arctic - polar bears - meat eaters. Preference they give seals and ringed seals. During the year an adult male can eat up to 50 individuals. And they love fish. But land animals - walruses, belugas, narwhals - become the object of a polar bear hunt at the very last.
It is interesting
And a few more facts "for a snack."
- It is bad if in clumsy years the clubfoot goes into hibernation without the necessary amount of fat. Then the probability of awakening from hunger in the middle of winter is great. Bear rod extremely aggressive. He attacks animals and people, ravages sheds, warehouses, forest huts of hunters.
- Polar bears do not disdain to use carrion - dead fish, corpses brought by the sea. However, the remains of their relatives they do not touch.
- In the spring, after waking up, bears do not eat anything for 2-3 weeks, until the body recovers from a long “fasting”.
- The cubs leave the den with a weight of about 5 kilograms, although the mass at their birth is only about 500 grams. On breast milk, babies gain more than 4 kilograms.
- Bears - famous sweets. Per year one toed eats around 700 kilograms of berries.
In general, they are eating clumsy on the principle of "everything and more!", As Winnie the Pooh, our childhood friend said.
