Ussuri Black Bear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussuri_black_bear
The Ussuri black bear (Ursus thibetanus ussuricus), also known as the Manchurian black bear, is a large subspecies of the Asian black bear. The subspecies is named after the Ussuri River. Also known as the Manchurian black bear (in South Korea).
Distribution
Native to the Far East, including the Korean Peninsula. The subspecies is named after the Ussuri River. Named for the Ussuri River in the far east of Russia. Central and eastern Asia; specifically Southern Siberia, northeastern China and the Korean peninsula. Mountains of North and South Korea.
Habitat
Found in small numbers in the mountains of North and South Korea (at one time less than thirty bears remained in South Korea but a reintroduction program is underway). In northeast China mainly found in conifer forests and in Siberia in broad-leaved forests.
Description
The largest of the Asiatic black bear subspecies. They have the characteristic cream or white “moon” collar of Asiatic black bears but have larger ears compared to the other subspecies. Likely to be 20 to 25 years in the wild. Up to 30 years in captivity. Descriptive notes. Head-body 110 - 190 cm, tail less than 12 cm; adult males are heavier (60 - 200 kg; rarely to 250 kg) than adult females (35 - 140 kg; rarely to 170 kg). Maximum weights occur in autumn, prior to hibernation. Island populations (Japan, Taiwan) tend to be smaller-bodied than mainland populations. Ears are rounded and relatively large compared to other bears. Coat color black, typically with prominent white marking on the chest, often in the shape of a V or crescent (from which the common name “ moon bear ” derives), and white chin patch. However, white markings vary in size and color, sometimes being small or absent. Uncommonly the coat color is brown (gedrosianus) or blond (rare color phase in South-east Asia). Muzzle color varies from light to dark. Typically there are long, coarse hairs around the neck, sometimes also extending to the cheeks; the extent and frequency of these characteristics varies regionally, as does overall hair length and density of underfur. Some subspecies were differentiated largely by the degree of shagginess of pelts from collected specimens. Proportional length of legs to body also varies considerably, with some individuals being quite short and squat. Both front and rear foot pads have hair separating the toes from the plantar pad, but unlike other Ursus species, the front carpal pad (corny protuberance) is connected with the plantar pad by bare skin. Front claws are about 5 cm long, slightly longer than the rear claws, and curved. N39 54.353 W080 12.782
Size
The largest of the Asiatic black bear subspecies. Males typically weigh up to 200 kilograms, females up to about 140 kilograms. Their head-body measure 110 - 190 cm.
Diet
The bears are omnivorous although predominately herbivorous feeding on grasses, herbs, fruits, nuts including acorns, pine nuts, larvae, invertebrates, termites, small mammals, eggs, bees and honey. They will also eat carrion when available and take grain from areas of cultivation. Although the diet of an Ussuri brown bear is mainly vegetarian, being a large predator it is able to kill any prey in its habitat [citation needed]. They may, on rare occasions, attack their smaller black relatives. 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 feed on larvae, wood-boring ants, and lily roots. In early summer, they strip bark from white-barked fir trees and feed on the cambium and sap.[citation needed] They also eat berries from honeysuckle, yew, Amur grape, and buckthorn. In southern Sakhalin, their summer diet consists of currants and chokeberries. In August on the middle part of the island, fish comprise 28% of their diet. In Hokkaido, the brown bears' diet includes small and large mammals, fish, birds, and insects such as ants. They can now feed on crops. Foods often include succulent vegetation (shoots, roots, forbs and leaves) in spring, insects and a variety of tree and shrub-borne fruits in summer, and nuts (hard mast) in autumn. In some areas, mammalian ungulates (especially small bodied species) may compose a sizeable portion of the diet; however, these bears rarely eat fish. Asiatic Black Bears regularly climb trees to obtain fruits, because most fruits in their range are tree-borne. In tropical regions fruit diversity is especially high. For example, in Thailand their diet includes over 80 species of tree-borne fruits, commonly including those in the cinnamon (Lauraceae), pea-bean (Leguminosae), mahogany (Meliaceae), and oak-beech-chestnut (Fagaceae) families. In temperate regions, where they must store fat for hibernation, hard mast, such as oak acorns, beechnuts, walnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and pine nuts, is a key fall dietary component. When feeding in hard mast trees they often break branches inward toward the trunk and pile them up in the canopy forming a platform or “ nest ” upon which they sit. When natural forest foods are lacking, they feed in agricultural fields (corn, oats, millet, barley, buckwheat) and fruit orchards. In plantations, when food supplies are short, they strip bark and eat cambium of conifer trees, damaging the trees.
Hibernation
Ussuri black bears generally spend the winter in dens. They are mainly nocturnal when in the vicinity of humans but are more naturally diurnal spending about half their time in trees, often on platforms made from branches and vegetation. In Sikhote Alin, Ussuri brown bears den mostly in burrows excavated into hillsides, though they, on rare occasions, den in rock outcroppings or build ground nests.
Reproduction and development
During mating and for females with cubs they are solitary. Mating occurs in June and July with litters of from one to three, exceptionally four, cubs being born in January and February in the winter den. Cubs remain with their mother for around eighteen months.
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