5 interesting facts about the Brown Bear

A Brown Bear searching for Salmon – Image: Thor Mark

1- The brown bear family is spread all over the lovely planet.  The brown bear inhabits generally in dense forests, in mountains, valleys and meadows and their population is found in the North America, Europe and some parts of Asia. The Brown Bear remains listed as a least concern species by the IUCN with a total population of approximately 200,000.

A Brown Bear in a dense alpine forest – Image: Daniele Colombo

2- Brown bear is a powerful beast which has a phenomenal shoulder hump.  This interesting and mighty shoulder muscles help the brown bear to dig up roots and tear apart logs to find food. Brown bears can move rocks and logs and dig through hard soil and rocky ground using their long sharp claws when making their dens.

A Kodiak Brown Bear Mom with her cub – Image: patrickmoody

3- Brown bears are considered as solitary mammals and they are rarely observed together or in form of a group, especially when thy feed themselves at salmon-rich fishing spots. The cubs remain with the mother brown bear till the age of 30 months until the cubs become  independent. The mother brown bear protects her cubs not only from brown bears but also from many other predators.

A Brown Bear Couple – Image: Brian Digital

4- The biologists classify the brown bears in many sub-species. Some of the more commonly recognized subspecies include the grizzly bear, Kodiak bear, Alaskan bear, Eurasian brown bear, Syrian brown bear, Hokkaido bear, Sibierian brown bear, Tibetan blue bear and Himalayan brown bear. The diet of the brown bear includes grass, fruit, insects, roots and bulbs of plants along with carrion and sometimes the brown bears also hunt small animals.

A Brown Bear busy in feeding himself, Image: Daniele Colombo

5- Brown bears reach sexual maturity at an average age of 5 years. The bears locate potential mates primarily by scent, with mating season generally lasting from early May through mid-July. A female usually mates once every 2 to 4 years, and males vigorously compete for the chance to mate with her. In addition, because females mate with several males throughout the season, a male may attempt to guard a female from other males for a period of 1 to 3 weeks after mating.

A busy Brown Bear family in fishing – Image: RayMorris1

Pakistan is a real wonder land. Some of her gifts of nature are though discovered but are still unknown to most of the world. When we talk about the largest glaciers of the world we think about the Polar Regions but many of them are also situated in Pakistan. One of those is Biafo, the third largest glacier on earth which is located in Gilgit Baltistan. This 63 KM long frozen mass is a part of Karakorum Mountains of Pakistan.

Biafo-Glacier-Pakistan

This whole area where Biafo Glacier is located is a cluster of many mountain peaks and huge glaciers. The views and sceneries of surrounding area are so breathtaking and consist of many natural wonders. For trekking the Biafo Glacier is not an easy destination. It requires very hard toil of several days with delirious boulder leaping. The trek towards Biafo Glacier is rocky and snowy having dangerous chasms most of the times. But apart from this the whole trek is just magnificent where splendid lakes of shimmering blue waters are existed. These lakes are appeared due to the continuous movement of Ice bergs resulting from depressions. Many lush green spots with spectacular species of wild flowers are also found on this trek. The wildlife of this wonder land consists of the Ibex , Markhor , Brown bears and Snow Leopards.

Biafo-Glacier-Gilgit Baltistan-Pakistan

The Biafo Glacier meets Hispar Glacier at an altitude of 5,128 m (16,824 ft) at Hispar La (Pass) and thus they both create the world’s longest glacial system outside the Polar Regions. Similarly they are also connected with the spectacular valleys of Nagar and Hunza. Biafo, third largest glacier on earth is so beautiful and wonderful which offers a real adventure for the mountaineers , trekkers and nature lovers.