LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Brown Bear: Brown Bears
built 658 days ago
Brown bears inhabit less than 2% of their original range. Furthermore, the current population is less than 2% of its original level. Today, there are between 40,000 and 50,000 brown bears left in the wild. This drop in numbers can be partially attributed to habitat loss and hunting. Fear and ignorance of bears has led to their extermination. An increase in the poaching of bears has ... greatly affected bear populations.
Source:
Brown bears eat just about anything they can find, and their diet, like most bears, changes according to the seasons. Vegetable matter, such as roots, tubers, grasses, herbaceous plants, corns, berries, fruits, and nuts comprise 60 - 90 % of their diet. Common animal matter consumed is insects, rodents, hoofed mammals, fish and carcasses of dead sea mammals. Brown bears will occasionally prey upon the smaller black bear. Brown bears that live along the coastal regions of Alaska, British Columbia, and Kamchatka enjoy a feast of salmon during the salmon's spawning season. In some areas they have become predators of elk, deer, moose and caribou.
Source:
Brown bears were long the dominant species in North America. They have developed behaviours and reproductive limits to control their numbers, and they do not have their first young before five to seven years of age. Two cubs are a normal litter, and females leave three to four years between litters. They can reproduce until almost 30 years of age, but few survive beyond 20, leaving females barely able to replace themselves in a population.
Source:
Brown bears have a large hump of muscle on top of their shoulders and long front claws that make them powerful diggers. They dig large, cozy dens for their winter home. The bears spend four to six months a year curled deep in sleep in a den. That's one-third to one-half of their lifetime! This sleep is commonly called hibernation, but unlike true hibernation, the bears' body temperature does not drop drastically. However, the bears' heart rate slows from up to 70 beats per minute to only 10 beats per minute, their metabolism slows, and they do not urinate or defecate all winter!
Source:
Brown bears are listed as an endangered species in the countries of Bhutan, Mongolia and China.** The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife ... lists the brown bear as endangered. Brown bears are considered threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states. They are not protected in Alaska.
Source:
Anyone walking in a forest where there are bears should carry an air horn because 'bear bells' tend to provoke a bear's curiosity and a brown bear's natural instinct is to run away from humans. When traveling in groups trail songs are ... effective. If camping, do not bring food into the tent and clean up all garbage. Bears have a fantastic sense of smell and will eat anything people eat. If one meets a bear, one should remain calm and slowly walk in the opposite direction. Running humans trigger the bear's chasing instinct and bears can outrun humans.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Brown Bears