Brown bear

The forest giant that sleeps all winter

The Tian Shan brown bear with white claws lives in Uzbekistan's mountains! In winter a bear sleeps for 5 months — it doesn't eat or drink. Before sleeping, in autumn, it eats 20 kg of food a day to fatten up. Cubs are born in winter while the mother sleeps — as small as kittens! Big as it is, a bear runs at 50 km/h and climbs trees.

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) ranges across Eurasia and North America; in Uzbekistan the white-clawed Tian Shan subspecies (U. a. isabellinus) lives in the Ugam-Chatkal, Hisor and Zaamin mountains and is in the Red Book (a few hundred animals). Winter sleep is not true hibernation but torpor: body temperature drops 4–5 °C, the heart beats 8 times a minute, and for 5–7 months the bear lives on fat and doesn't urinate. Cubs (1–3) are born in January weighing 500 g. Omnivore: 80% plants (roots, berries, nuts), fish, insects. Its sense of smell is 7 times keener than a dog's. Kamchatka and Alaskan (Kodiak) bears reach 600 kg.

Fun facts

• A bear sleeps for 5 months without eating or going to the toilet!
• Uzbekistan's bears have white claws — other bears' claws are black.
• A bear's nose is 7 times keener than a dog's — it smells food 30 km away.