We want to "introduce" you to another predator of our route, the brown Tianshan bear. The Tianshan brown bear is one of the smallest subspecies of the brown bear. It lives in the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains. A medium-sized bear: body length up to one and a half meters, and weight up to 300 kg. Rarely, but there are also larger individuals. A distinctive feature of the Tianshan brown bear is the claws on the paws of yellow, almost white, for which he was given the second name white-footed. Their fur is more often of light tones, various shades from light yellow-fawn to dark brown. The coat is coarse and tough. Perhaps you will see some of their fur on the route, if you are careful enough.
The Tianshan brown bear was first described in 1873 by the Russian zoologist and traveler N. A. Severtsov, who gave it the name "white-footed". At that time, the Tianshan brown bear was a common animal in the mountain systems of the Tien Shan and Pamir. Today, the Tianshan subspecies of the brown bear is a rather rare animal, over the past 50 years their number has significantly decreased, and in many places of their former habitat this animal has disappeared altogether.
The number of Tianshan brown bears is about 5 thousand individuals, of which about 700-1000 heads are in Tajikistan.
The main habitats of Tianshan brown bears are at an altitude of 4.5-5 thousand meters above sea level, they are not afraid of mountain slopes, steeps and piles of stones on which they briskly move when hunting. They can also be found at the foot of the mountains. In almost all of these countries, their shooting is prohibited. The subspecies of Tianshan brown bears is included in the Red Book of the IUCN and our republic.
Tianshan brown bears lead a solitary lifestyle, securing areas of several tens of square kilometers. They mark the boundaries of their plots and try not to violate other people's possessions. Active only in summer. Most of the time they are busy searching for food, trying to eat thoroughly in the fall by accumulating fat, and in winter they hibernate.
In general, the Tianshan brown bear is a predator, but the predator is quite passive, animal food is of secondary importance for it. The basis of its nutrition in the annual diet is 99% vegetable feed. It is due to the high-calorie autumn feed that the bear accumulates fat necessary for hibernation.
In the bear diet, most of the fruits are apple, honeysuckle, rosehip, dogwood, raspberry. apricots, hawthorn, juniper, walnuts, cherry plum, pistachios, grapes are also eaten.
He resorts to hunting animals as a last resort when there is nothing else to eat. These are mainly small invertebrates, rodents and carrion. Less often ungulates and small predators.
The behavior of Tianshan brown bears is quite calm, not aggressive. They move slowly, usually with their heads down, looking in front of them, occasionally looking around. Therefore, if you see a bear from afar, do not show aggression towards him and he will go his own way without paying attention to you.
