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Ussuri brown bear

Ussuri brown bear
のぼりべつクマ牧場8.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Ursidae
Genus: Ursus
Species: U. arctos
Subspecies: U. arctos lasiotus
Trinomial name
Ursus arctos lasiotus
Gray, 1867
Synonyms

baikalensis Ognev, 1924
cavifrons (Heude, 1901)
ferox Temminck, 1844
macneilli Lydekker, 1909
melanarctos Heude, 1898
yesoensis Lydekker, 1897


baikalensis Ognev, 1924
cavifrons (Heude, 1901)
ferox Temminck, 1844
macneilli Lydekker, 1909
melanarctos Heude, 1898
yesoensis Lydekker, 1897

The Ussuri brown bear (Ursus arctos lasiotus), also known as the black grizzly is a population of the brown bear. One of the largest brown bears, Ussuri brown bears approach the Kodiak brown bear in size.

It is very similar to the Kamchatka brown bear, though it has a more elongated skull, a less elevated forehead, somewhat longer nasal bones and less separated zygomatic arches, and is somewhat darker in color, with some individuals being completely black, a fact which once led to the now refuted speculation that black individuals were hybrids of brown bears and Asian black bears. Adult males have skulls measuring 38.7 cm (15.2 in) long and 23.5 cm (9.3 in) wide. They can occasionally reach greater sizes than their Kamchatka counterparts: the largest skull measured by Sergej Ognew (1931) was only slightly smaller than that of the largest Kodiak brown bear (the largest subspecies of brown bears) on record at the time.

On Shiretoko Peninsula, especially in the area called "Banya", many females with cubs often approach fishermen and spend time near people. This unique behavior was firstly noted more than a half century ago, with no casualties or accidents ever recorded. It is speculated that females take cubs and approach fishermen to avoid encountering adult males.

In Sikhote Alin, Ussuri brown bears den mostly in burrows excavated into hillsides, though they will on rare occasions den in rock outcroppings or build ground nests. These brown bears rarely encounter Asian black bears, as they den at higher elevations and on steeper slopes than the latter species. They may on rare occasions attack their smaller black cousins.

In middle Sakhalin in spring, brown bears feed on the previous year's red bilberry, ants and flotsam, and at the end of the season, they concentrate on the shoots and rhizomes of tall grasses. On the southern part of the island, they feed primarily on flotsam, as well as insects and maple twigs. In springtime in Sikhote Alin, they feed on acorns, Manchurian walnuts and Korean nut pine seeds. In times of scarcity, in addition to bilberries and nuts, they capture larvae, wood-boring ants and lily roots. In early summer, they will strip bark from white-barked fir trees and feed on their cambium and sap. They will also eat berries from honeysuckle, yew, Amur grapevine and buckthorn. In southern Sakhalin, their summer diet consists of currants and chokeberries are eaten. In the August period in the middle part of the island, fish comprise 28% of their diet.


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