Animal of the Week: Kamchatka Brown Bear
Kamchatka brown bear (Ursus arctos beringianus)
Great place to see it: Kamchatka, Russia
In the far east, let your heart go out for this heartbreakingly adorable brown furry ball of a thing called the brown bear. Kamchatka is known to have some of the best habitat for the brown bear in the world and this is why you need to be there in flesh and blood to see this largest bear in Eurasia with all its 700 kilograms (typical weight of a male) of cuteness!
The Kamchatka brown bear feeds mainly on humpback salmons, pine nuts, steelheads (rainbow trouts), blueberries and cranberries and crowberries in summer. It feeds mainly on nuts during autumn, and on dead fish and small marine mammals, berries and graminoid vegetation if there is famine. Cubs of the brown bear is born in the dead of the winter season in dens where the female bear is hibernating. This bear is not considered dangerous to humans, relatively harmless compared to the Siberian bears. Another interesting fact (maybe not so pleasant) is that the bear is one of the most prized trophies for the hunting industry in Russia.
Feeding on rich food sources is of utmost significance to this bear as it needs to maintain its body weight in order to survive the long period in its den in winter, sleeping for up to 6 months! And for this unusual but amazing (non)activity, the Kamchatka brown bear is our Animal of the Week!
See this amazing whale on our Kamchatka Photography Expedition: