AuthorYuri Linov
Photos: A.Esipov

The bear is probably the largest of the wild animals in the Central Asian mountains. A fully grown bear (100-200 kg and over) can compete in weight with tuskers. The transformation of pastureland and poaching caused the number of bears to diminish and a reduction of their territory. An increase in protection is exerting a positive influence; this large animal can quickly restore its numbers. An example is in the Chatkalski reserve, where they number up to 1.4-1.75 animal units per 1,000 ha. In the Central Asian mountains the bear has been singled out into one particular subspecies, namely the Tien Shan, or white-clawed, brown bear. It has been entered in the Red Books of rare and endangered animals in a number of states.

At first sight a bear looks like a sluggish bumpkin. Laziness is in its nature, caused by the 'excessive' weight; it uses men's paths, it will happily eat the wolf's leftovers, it often stays in the wild boar dens and even drinks from the boars' rutting pits. But when the need arises it shows speed and nimbleness: it can catch a fast gofer, overtake a prancing horse. Once we were travelling along a river path in quite a large group. We had a horse with us loaded with our belongings and were generally making quite a noise. All of a sudden ten meters away a huge bear fell down from an apple tree. In a panic it galloped up the slope in about 2-3 minutes, which, in our opinion, would have taken a trained man over half an hour. As a rule, a bear runs away from a man even when encountering him face to face. Very seldom does a bear attempt to frighten a man: pishkaniye, scraping with the front paws, and jumping before leaving. Even with bear-cubs, a she-bear encountering a man more often runs away, without taking care of her cubs. A wounded bear, of course, is dangerous. It is worth mentioning an episode in an American movie in which several men (townsfolk) were stranded in the Canadian taiga and managed, after a week of starvation, to 'nail' with a thin pointed pole a big (American bears are much bigger than Asian ones) beast that had already tasted human meat. Which is greater here: ignorance of the subject or mockery of the audience?! In the Chatkal reserve no cases of this animal attacking a man have been recorded for almost sixty years, even though encounters with a she-bear with cubs or an animal feasting on carrion is an ordinary occurrence. There is no explanation for the case that happened some dozen years ago in the Chimghan area, when a bear rolled a geologist in his sleeping bag to his death: the animal had probably been wounded. Bears are excellent rock climbers. The impression is that they do it willingly although what nutrition is there in the stones?! In their spring excursions an animal often jumps down from the snow cornices of 3-5 meters high. In summer the bears bathe in water or lie on the dense snowfields, the aftermath of avalanches.

In the overwhelming majority of encounters a bear is engaged in feeding. This is no surprise: an animal needs to store enough fat for a prolonged winter (the proportion of fat can be up to 25-35% of its weight). It is thought that bears suffer stress related to the two types of feeding: gluttony in summer, and hunger in winter. In the second case it has no particular sensations since the animal is in hibernation, more precisely in a deep sleep. The gluttony is necessary; firstly, all feeding is mainly vegetarian and low-calorie; secondly, its dental structure (dental formula) and short bowel, like in all other beasts, do not facilitate the full intestinal uptake of the rough grass, fruits, and seeds. Occasionally, looking over 'signs of a bear's functioning' the conclusion is that the gaining of all those kilograms is only for taste, with berries unbroken even after passing through the bowel. In spring the animals dig out roots and feed also on Maksimovich rhubarb leaves; in summer they proceed to the trees and bush fruits, preferring apples, cherry-plums, ashberries, nuts, hops, mahaleb, and honeysuckle. A bear waits impatiently for the first berries: it will pick up the early Altman's honeysuckle berry by berry, but the high-yield mahaleb they break from the twigs together with the leaves, bending it to the earth or breaking its flexible stems. A couple of weeks before the apples ripen the bear will climb the trees (up to 3-5 meters), break off branches, gather the fruit, then put all the unwanted bits under him, making a 'nest'. The leaves once dry are preserved for a long time, and a 'nest' is easily observed also in winter. The animal makes similar perches on the apricot, cherry-plum, honeysuckle, and rowan trees.

Being a predator, a bear is aware of animals' feeding habits. He will watch the nectariferous bees' flights for hours to discover their nest, and if it is in the juniper's hollow, will use all his exceptional strength to get to the honey. He does not scorn the smaller items either, digging out paper wasps' and field-voles' nests, turning over stones, taking stoney hills to pieces in search of insect larvae. In our mountains it is rare for a bear to destroy an anthill beyond the ants' ability to repair it. A bear shows a special predilection for carrion and can sense its presence from several kilometers away. Having discovered carrion, a bear loses caution. A dead horse could be pulled half a kilometer away from a camp. The night noise, songs, lights and smells of the bonfire, nothing would stop a bear, the carrion-fancier; he would come every night until all that was left of the corpse was a skeleton. A bear benefits greatly from devouring carrion.

A bear's behavior and its relation to the other wild animals is considered as neutral. Animals can pasture at the same meadow or take turns at one and the same carrion. Preying on Mezibar marmot in the pastures' reserves is only an occasional occurrence. At the same time a bear, even when fully grown, can become a prey of the well-coordinated wolf pack: sometimes in the excrements of the latter one can find bear's wool. Occasionally there are cases of the theft of a sheep from a flock, or beehives with bees from an apiary. Such 'specialists', as a rule, are old and enfeebled, for whom life is not a pleasure at all.

The period of a bears' time in their dens varies greatly with regard to the years, sex and age as well as the altitude and weather: last traces have been registered at the end of October and late November to early December (exceptionally on December 30). The end of hibernation is also extended: in the middle mountain area the first bears have been encountered in early March (exceptionally on February 23) and in the high mountain area only a month. Bears prefer to spend winter in dens high in the mountains. The majority of dens are dug out on the slope under juniper roots. Caves are less appropriate for our bears due to the moisture, and only once did a bear spend winter in an abandoned gallery. The metabolism and body temperature decrease, the respiration becomes less frequent, but an animal's sleep is light. Summer lairs are simple hollows under juniper, which a bear covers with strips of juniper bark.

When on heat bears lose their caution; as is the case with many animals. At the height of the hot season at the end of May-early June, a record of animals is made in the reserve; all the bear stock is there to see. In the fall during the secondary record the observers tend to see under 30% of the grown-up and young bears. The passive phase of the heat with the crowding of the adult units is observed from late April. The dam and mate, sometimes two or three mates, feed on the same meadow within sight, 30-100 meters away from one another. An attempt to approach a dam meets with blows. The active heat phase lasts from late May till early July. A pair of bears, standing apart, behaves anxiously; they stop feeding, move quickly; at the rest places they roll big circles of grass. During the hot period cubs move away, holding together, but without eye contact. After the heat, last year's (1.5 years old) cub finds his mother and the family is restored. Cubs are very afraid of the grown-up bear's mate, and even stepping on the track of the grown-up they get frightened and start whimpering. One to two cubs (very seldom three) are born in the middle of winter under 0.5 kg and underdeveloped. During the first 2-3 months, being in the den, the cubs put on very little weight. Once in early June we noticed a bear with a cub as large as a lamb. The mother gripped twigs with her paws and picked the rare berries of the early ripening Altman's honeysuckle with her teeth, a cub rolled nearby, and impeded her. An adult animal boxed the youngster's ears, but there was no calming him.

It seems that only adult mates aggressively secure areas for themselves, which in the reserve conditions are equal to 500-800 ha. The 'master' marking, including excrement, tracks, tears, scrapes, and bites of forage plants, informs the other bears that this plot is occupied. The 'owners' turn bear mates of equal rank out of their plots, but put up with the young and family ones. Once we had an occasion to see six bears feeding together on a small bushy meadow: a she-bear with two cubs and three big bears of different ages, probably the other she-bear with a pair of last year's cubs. Some separate bears feel the inclination to migrate. The first of the seasonal migrations are connected with temporary fodder concentration. In spring non-territorial bears (with no fixed living space) move to the high hill areas to feed on grasses and in July they descend to the mid-range hills to the ripening trees and bush fruits, then in the late fall again move up to search for convenient places for their dens. In the nut-wood at night from one place you can hear the simultaneous 'work' of 2-3 bears. The newly arrived bears are usually active by day also: their beds are found in occasional places. Sometimes seasonal migration turns into a daily one. One adult bear used to move down to the middle hills each night to his favorite apple-trees, and in the morning return up to the subalpine plants (500 m) to his other favorite bed. It lasted long enough for a 'staircase' in some areas of the climb to be trodden out by the bear following his own tracks. The bear, remarkable for its easy disposition and for being mainly vegetarian, has no enemies in its native habitat. It is also not subject to diseases as is, for example, the Caucasian goat or wild boar. In the natural biocenoses it presents no real competition either to animals or plants. The only constraint is poaching. People easily fabricate fictions regarding the healing power of the rhinoceros horn or bear bile, which actually turn out to be an exaggeration of their powers or simply hot air. Against man, the king of nature, with his improvidence, indifference, and sometimes rapaciousness, the bear, this large animal, has no insurance. Big animals are generally considered the crowning glory of nature protection. Having developed a nature management strategy as well as everyday habits, man should not forget this.