European brown bear
Ursus arctos
Did you know ... that brown bears eat a largely vegetarian diet? Grasses, herbs, buds, roots, tubers, nuts and mushrooms all form part of their diet, with berries making up a significant part of their food in summer and autumn. Their consumption of animal matter is largely made up of insects, birds and rodents.
Family
Ursidae
Distribution
European brown bears are currently found mainly in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe but have spread to Austria and northern Italy and are also occasionally spotted in Switzerland.
Habitat
Bears live in large, contiguous woodlands with refuges and winter quarters. Their territories can be up to 600 km2 in size.
Lifestyle
Brown bears are typical solitary animals. The young remain for two to three years with their mothers, who display great aggression towards other bears, as their young may be attacked and even eaten by adult male brown bears.
Reproduction
Mating takes place in May or June. The gestation period is 36 weeks and is prolonged by a dormancy period that can last five months. In winter, one to four rat-sized baby bears are born, blind and almost bald. They are born in a cave, which the young will only leave for the first time in May. A female bear generally gives birth every three years.
Diet
Brown bears are omnivores. Depending on availability, they will eat plants or animal matter. In our latitudes, their diet consists mainly of herbivorous foodstuffs: bears feast on berries and fruits to gain weight before entering hibernation, during which they may lose up to a third of their body weight.
Senses
Brown bears have an excellent sense of smell and have very good hearing, but their vision is less well-developed.
The brown bear in Langenberg
Since 1914. Bear keeping has evolved from keeping them in chains over a bear pit up to today’s large forested enclosure. The bears have dug their own caves within the enclosure and hibernate within them. Seasonal foodstuffs are distributed around the enclosure so that the beers have to search for them. The male was born in 1996 and is the oldest animal in the park. It was born in Zurich Wilderness Park, while the female comes from Denmark.
