What did the old brown bear Balu do? Baribal bear

Scary and stupid, or sweet and wise?
(the moral character of the bear in culture)

It must be said that the initial ideas about the character of the bear were far from the soft and ennobled image that dominates modern fairy tales and cartoons.

Still from the film "Masha and the Bear".

Take the Russians for example folk tales, where this animal looks quite scary (“Linden Leg Bear”), but at the same time not very smart (for example, it tries to climb into a small tower). Not only the Fox ("The Cat and the Fox") and the peasant ("Tops and Roots"), but even a little girl ("Masha and the Bear") can carry it out.
In addition, the word “bear” was used to describe a clumsy or rude person. For example, in N. Nekrasov’s poem “General Toptygin” the bear was mistaken for a general.

Or take the uncouth landowner from A. Chekhov’s play “The Bear,” based on which a film of the same name was made in 1938.

Well, the most common fairy tale on a “bear” theme is probably the story of three bears, whose house was visited by an uninvited guest.

It is believed that this plot gained popularity in the 1830s, when it was published by the English poet Robert Southey. In this arrangement, the uninvited guest was an old woman - I must say, extremely hooligan. Southey's acquaintance, Eleanor Muir, even brought this story to enchanting absurdity. In her version, it takes place in Rome, so at the end the mischievous old woman jumps out of the window of a multi-story building and... stumbles upon the spire of St. Paul's Cathedral!
Only in 1850, thanks to Joseph Kandell, the fairy tale takes on a familiar form, and a little girl takes the place of the old woman (later the fairy tale will be called “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”). In Russia, the story of the three bears was “promoted” by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. True, in his retelling the girl remained nameless, but all the bears received names - Mikhail Ivanovich, Nastasya Petrovna and Mishutka...

The first - frankly cute - image of a bear appeared in 1894 in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. We are, of course, talking about Baloo - the wise teacher of the Law of the Jungle and the good-natured (albeit grumpy) guardian of the adopted Mowgli.

The second cute fairy-tale bear appeared 30 years later. However, he owes his appearance not only to the writer, but also to a sick girl Margaret Steiff from the German town of Gingen.
Chained by polio to wheelchair, she did not lose heart and began making children's toys. Soon there was a demand for them, and the girl opened a workshop, and then an entire factory under the Steiff brand. It was from its assembly line in 1902 that the famous Teddy bear, stuffed with sawdust, and able to move its paws. The toy received an award at an exhibition in Leipzig, after which one of Margaret’s relatives decided to conquer the American market.

He succeeded in this. Moreover, it was in the USA that the bear received its world-famous nickname - Teddy Bear - "Teddy Bear" - in honor of... American President Theodore Roosevelt. Why exactly in honor of him is still unknown exactly.
Some suggest that there were a lot of teddy bears at Roosevelt's daughter's wedding, and the president liked them. According to another version, it was all to blame for the well-publicized story about how, during a hunt, Roosevelt took pity on a bear driven by dogs and considered it unsporting to kill a half-dead animal. True, the press kept silent about the fact that the bear was eventually shot - so as not to suffer. But they inflated a touching story where a bear cub took the place of an adult predator. It was also rumored that the bear cub softened the heart of the experienced hunter, and after that the president became a great defender of nature. There were even postcards with Roosevelt and the bear cubs, where the latter said: “Thank you, Teddy!”

Political cartoon of Roosevelt and the Teddy Bear in the Washington Post, 1902.

The popularity of teddy bears is also evidenced by the fact that after the sinking of the Titanic, the factory produced a special series of “mourning” toys - black.

Christopher Robin, the son of the English writer Alexander Alan Milne, also had his own teddy bear. It is to this trinity that we should be grateful for the appearance of fairy tales about Winnie the Pooh. This slow-witted poet with a penchant for poetry first appeared in Milne's children's poems. Back then he was still called by the pompously ironic name Edward. The bear cub received its new name thanks to two inhabitants of the London Zoo - the bear Winnie (from Winnipeg, Canada) and the swan nicknamed Pooh (in fact, the English “Pooh” sounds like “Pu-yu” - an imitation of exhalation).

Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh.

From that moment on, cute bears and cubs simply filled books and screens. Soviet animators did their best. Thanks to them, even adult bears have practically gotten rid of negative traits. Yes, these animals could be simple-minded and clumsy, but for the most part they were calm, reasonable, good-natured people. Often the fairytale bear acted as a kind of arbiter or protector of the weak and offended. However, it was not recommended to anger him in any case...

The true appearance of the owner of the taiga

How does the “cultural” appearance of bears correspond to their natural nature?
Let's start with the fact that today there are 7 species of these animals in nature, which are united in the family Ursidae - from lat. Ursus - "bear" (hence female name- Ursula).

Despite the differences between bear species, they are difficult to confuse with other predators. All bears are rather densely built animals with thick fur, a massive head, short tail and powerful clawed paws. They walk, leaning on their entire foot and waddling (for which they are nicknamed “clubfooted”). However, apparent clumsiness is very deceptive - if necessary, bears can run briskly, picking up speeds of up to 60 km per hour.

The most famous bear is the brown bear, common in forests almost everywhere. Northern Hemisphere. It is not always pure brown - some individuals are lighter (reddish), some are darker (almost black). And old bears even show noble gray hair.

By the way, this is exactly how the name “grizzly”, one of the largest subspecies of the brown bear, is translated - “gray-haired, greyish”. However, its Latin name “horribilis” (“terrible”) is much more impressive.

Grizzly bear paw print.

Another subspecies is even larger - the Kodiak, which received its name from the island of the same name and lives in the very north of Canada and Alaska. The weight of Kodiaks can reach 750 kg, and their height is 3 meters.

Kodiak bear.

It’s not hard to guess that with such dimensions, the bear is not at all the good-natured bumpkin that he is portrayed in cartoons. Meeting face to face with this predator is not particularly pleasant, because its behavior is unpredictable. Usually, when meeting a person, a bear retreats, but if the animal is hungry and (God forbid) wounded, it can easily attack. Everything is in progress - mighty force, supported by weight, huge fangs and 12-centimeter claws.

So, in 1823, a huge grizzly attacked Captain Smith - first he lifted up his horse under him, and then grabbed the rider by the head. Although they were able to shoot the beast, he managed to tear off the captain’s ear and almost took the scalp from his head. Smith had to sew the rags of skin to the head right on the spot with an ordinary needle and thread...

Another grizzly bear, nicknamed Old Moses, was luckier and scared the state of Colorado for 25 years - from 1869 to 1914. During this time, he managed to kill eight hundred cows and kill five people (though only those who tried to shoot him). He left even more people stuttering, because he often liked to organize “actions of intimidation” - he would creep up to the fire, suddenly jump out and rush around the camp with a roar.

The fearlessness of bears is quite justified - because in nature they have practically no natural enemies. Often, predators are “corrupted” by people themselves: for example, despite the ban, they feed them in national parks. And then they wonder why the bears themselves visit their tents or beg, stopping cars right on the highway.
They say that in the state of Alaska there is even a law prohibiting waking up a bear in order to take a photo with it (I would like to see the “hero” who created such a precedent). Quite eloquent posters can be found in populated areas Canada, where not only brown but also polar bears often visit: “Don’t become an object of statistics. Don't walk around the beast. Don't tease him. Keep your distance."

There are plenty of cretins in Russia too. Literally while writing this article, a video appeared on the Internet, filmed by some bastards from the Sakhalin region who tried to run over a bear with an SUV, eight times in a row. True, the wounded beast managed not only to escape from under the wheels of his tormentors, but also tore the wheel in rage. The hooligans seem to have been caught, and now they are looking for the poor bear, who may well take revenge on people - and completely innocent ones at that...

I must say that we are already lucky that the bear is not a pure predator. He rarely hunts large game like deer and wild boar. It is much easier to take advantage of less frisky prey - find carrion, watch for fish near the river during the spawning season, find larvae in a rotten tree, destroy a bee’s nest or “thin out” an anthill (several kilograms of ants were found in the stomach of one of these “gourmets”). A bear's diet also contains a lot of plants - leaves, berries, fruits, nuts...

It’s not easy for a bear to sort through food given its size. After all, by autumn you need to have time to build up a solid layer of fat, which will “feed” the animal during the long winter in the den. Bears make dens wherever necessary - under a windbreak, in a cave or a hole dug in the ground. In October-November, the clubfoot will climb there and go to sleep.
It’s difficult to call this full-fledged hibernation - the animal’s body temperature drops by only 3-5 degrees. Therefore, a bear can easily wake up from a strong irritant, unlike the gopher, which sleeps like a petrified corpse. If an awakened bear fails to fall asleep again, then it turns into a “connecting rod” - nervous, hungry and therefore especially dangerous.

Surprisingly, female bears give birth in the same winter. In fact, they represent only a small “break” in the middle of bear dreams. Once born, the cubs bear little resemblance to the future owners of the taiga - compared to their mother, they are extremely small (500-800 grams) and, in addition, are blind and deaf. In the medieval “Bestiaries” they even wrote that newborn cubs are born shapeless, like a piece of clay, and the female gives them shape by licking them with her tongue.

In fact, after birth, the cubs themselves crawl to their mother’s nipples, after which the entire family continues to sleep blissfully until spring. Moreover, during hibernation, bears do not even defecate, so as not to dirty the den. They have a peculiar safety valve- anal plug, and the accumulated feces are processed again.
In the spring, the mother bear comes out into the world with already half-meter-long cubs. Often this brood (young yearlings) is joined by last year’s brood (parents), who help the mother look after the younger ones.

Should we be afraid of the “Russian bear”?

"They are afraid - that means they respect." Not a very pleasant principle, but very effective - especially in politics. No one negotiates with the weak or conducts a conversation on equal terms. As soon as little North Korea hinted at having its own nuclear weapons, as the United States immediately eased sanctions on her. What can we say about more powerful countries. It’s no secret that the world doesn’t particularly like the United States, but they understand that not respecting a state is the most strong army- dearer to yourself...
And even though the bear, as a symbol of Russia, was invented by its enemies, the Russians eventually accepted this symbol as their own. Although they put a slightly different content into it...

I. Shishkin "Morning in a pine forest."

The idea of ​​Russia as a “country of bears” did not develop by chance. The fact is that by the end of the Middle Ages, clubfooted people from the densely populated Western Europe, for the most part, knocked out. The last individuals were crushed in order and took refuge in difficult mountain forests.
But in the vast expanses of Russia, the bear felt quite comfortable, and was considered a familiar animal. These animals were used for a variety of purposes: sometimes for amusement, sometimes for intimidation, and sometimes for both at once.

Thus, according to the testimony of the English diplomat Jerome Horsey, Tsar Ivan the Terrible loved to organize demonstration executions in the spirit of the Roman emperors, using live bears as executioners. To make the spectacle more dramatic, rebel monks were given " by the great mercy of the sovereign"long pikes for defense. This helped, though not for long...

However, fights with bears were not only the lot of the doomed. For many, it was, albeit dangerous, but a sport (or, as they said then, “good fun”). For example, under Tsar Mikhail Romanov, the huntsman Kondraty Korchmin especially distinguished himself, who amused the public for more than 10 years by fighting bears.

Bear fun was also popular during the time of Peter I. Thus, Prince F. Yu. Razumovsky loved to drive around St. Petersburg hugging bears or in a cart drawn by them. All this disgrace reached such proportions that in 1750, the daughter of Peter I - Empress Elizabeth - even had to issue a decree prohibiting the keeping of these animals in Moscow and St. Petersburg. However, ferocious predator continued to be used cheerful companies for low-key and cruel jokes.

Bears have been tamed in Rus' for quite some time now. Sometimes they were even used in rituals related to fertility - for example, they were taken through fields, or forced to step over a lying woman (if she could not get pregnant for a long time). In Ukraine, pregnant women pointed a finger at a clubfoot: if he was silent, it means a boy will be born, if he growled, it means a girl...

Lubok "A bear and a goat are cooling off." XVIII century.

But, of course, the main duty of the tame bear was to amuse the respectable public - often together with a goat (although the role of the goat was always played by a man in a mask).
The buffoon led the animal by the ring in its nose, forced it to walk on its hind legs, tumble, dance, and - after the performance - collect money in its hat. The bear was sometimes trained in a very cruel way. For example, bear cubs were placed in a cage with a copper bottom, after which the bottom was slowly heated until the unfortunate animal rose on its hind legs and began to dance in pain.
Over time, “mummers” in the guise of a goat and a bear became regular participants in Christmastide and Maslenitsa celebrations.

Not all Christians liked the “demonic” buffoon performances. For example, the famous archpriest Avvakum once beat and drove away not only the buffoons, but also their... bears (as you can see, the leader of the Old Believers was in excellent physical shape).

In the West, for a long time it was believed that there are so many bears in Russia that they roam the streets of cities unhindered. These rumors began with the “Notes on Muscovy” by the Austrian diplomat Herberstein, where he described the famine that broke out in Russia in the winter of 1526 in the style of a real “horror”.

Therefore, even circus performers in Western Europe always insisted that their bears were the most “Russian” from the “distant northern forests.”
The reputation of Russia as the patrimony of bears was once again strengthened by the Moscow circus, which showed real miracles of training. In the 1920s, these predators were taught to ride bicycles (remember Korney Chukovsky - “Bears were riding a bicycle...”?), in the 1950s - on motorcycles, and then - bears learned to ride horses, tumble on uneven bars and even play hockey.

One can also recall the famous Wojtek bear, who became a kind of “son of the regiment” in the Polish army.

Either the soldiers turned out to be excellent trainers, or Wojtek himself was naturally capable, but he soon learned very clever tricks. For example, salute or... help bring ammunition. The latter happened naturally for the bear - one day he approached the car with shells, stood on his hind legs, and the soldier, taking advantage of the moment, thrust a box into his front paws. The bear soon became a regular loader and helped greatly in 1944 during the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy. As a result, the 22nd Company even chose a new emblem for itself, which depicted Wojtek carrying a shell. And once the bear even managed to drive an Arab spy working for the Germans onto a palm tree...

Training bears is not as easy as it might seem. Their facial expressions are poorly developed, so it is not easy to guess what is on a predator’s mind at one time or another. Bears are especially dangerous at the “turning point” of adolescence, when they begin to row, do not listen well, and can unexpectedly attack.

But let’s return to the cliche called “Russian bear”...
Since the 16th century, the clubfoot began to appear more and more often on maps as a symbol of Russia. However main role British cartoonists played a role in cementing this association. Since the middle of the 19th century, the interests of the British and Russia constantly collided - sometimes in Central Asia(this confrontation was called " Big game"), now in the Crimea, now in Europe, now in the Far East. The English lion and the Russian bear constantly became heroes of cartoons.

Take, for example, the cartoons from the Great Game. Here is the Afghan Emir standing between the Bear and the Lion, and below is the signature: "Save me from my friends!".

Here the Bear sits on the Cat (Persia), and the Lion is watching with displeasure (the caption is also ironic “Between Friends”).

And here is a French caricature from 1893 about Franco-Russian Union. It shows a naked France girl in the same bed, insidiously caressing the Russian Bear. Signature: “Tell me, darling, I will give you my heart, but will I get your fur coat in winter?”.

It would seem that what’s wrong with the image of a bear? However, the British interpreted it in a completely certain way: Russia is a wild, uncivilized country, not very smart, clumsy, trusting and submissive if kept on a leash, but dangerous if angered or not restrained.

In this regard, R. Kipling's poem "World with the Bear" is very indicative. It told the story of a crippled Kashmiri hunter who once took pity on a bear begging him and did not shoot - for which he immediately paid cruelly. In my youth, I did not see any background in this verse, however, it was there and very specific.
"Peace with the Bear" was written in August 1898. This year, Russia was involved in the conflict in Manchuria and asked Britain to withdraw its troops from Port Arthur. The British initially agreed, until they learned that Russia was secretly planning to purchase ships from Germany, Britain's worst enemy. In addition, in the same August 1898, Emperor Nicholas II proposed convening the first “peace” conference in The Hague in order to adopt more humane rules for warfare, as well as ban the most inhumane types of weapons (like explosive bullets or gases).

So the faithful “singer of the British Empire” - Kipling - tried with his poem to warn Europe against being too trusting of Russia. He said that although the poems are based on real facts, they are, first of all, “an allegory of Russia’s entry into civilized Europe”. Sending “World with a Bear” to The Times, he asked to publish the verse not in a literary, but in a political column. Kipling wrote: “I need a column in the Times to reach decent people who believe that Russia can behave in a civilized manner.”.

However, Kipling’s opinion about Russia was well expressed in the story “The Former”: “Don't get me wrong: every Russian is a nice person until he gets drunk. As an Asian he is charming. And only when it insists that the Russians be treated not as the most Western of the Eastern peoples, but, on the contrary, as the most Eastern of the Western, it turns into an ethnic misunderstanding, which, really, is not easy to deal with.”.

Interestingly, in 1911, Yakov Priluker, who emigrated from Russia to Britain, published a picture book in which he tried to reconcile the English lion with the Russian bear. True, in a rather peculiar manner - according to the plot, it is the lion who helps the bear free himself from the cage (one must understand, the cages of “barbaric totalitarianism...”).

The image of the “Russian bear” - wild and stupid - was also perfectly used by other “European partners”. For example, in a German magazine from 1942, there was a cartoon depicting the loss of Soviet Union in the form of a bear roaring in pain, having lost its paw, which symbolized Sevastopol, captured by the Nazis.

And here is a Latvian cartoon from 1991, gloating about the collapse of the USSR: in it, a bear in a cap comes to the doctor with a complaint: “ Doctor, I think I'm slowly falling apart" It is interesting that the bear in both drawings is not scary, but pitiful, moreover, pig-like features are clearly visible in him...

The cartoons, of course, are offensive, but the Russians did not treat the bear any worse. On the contrary, they accepted this symbol, putting only positive things into it. Yes, we are huge, but we are by no means stupid. We ourselves will figure out how to live in our “taiga,” but there’s really no point in making us angry... It’s not for nothing that the bear has become a symbol of the pro-presidential party.” United Russia"Her competitors - A Just Russia - immediately took the tiger as their emblem - the only serious rival of the brown bear in nature.

But probably the cutest “Russian bear” was the symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The State Committee decided to choose the “native” bear for the role of the Olympic symbol back in 1977. Soviet artists were asked to prepare sketches in which Mishka embodied strength, daring and kindness.
As a result, the sketch of Viktor Chizhikov, who was nicknamed Misha the Bear, won, although according to the artist the full name of the hero was Mikhailo Potapych Toptygin. The only unresolved problem was the traditional Olympic symbols, which had to be present on the character. Chizhikov recalled that the idea came to him literally in a dream - and Misha wore the famous belt in the colors of the five parts of the world and with a clasp in the shape of the Olympic rings.

The Olympic bear cub was replicated everywhere - on badges, mugs and postcards, in cartoons and in the form of toys...

But Misha performed especially impressively at the closing ceremony of the Olympics. One of the “features” of the ceremony was a huge “screen” of four and a half thousand living people who raised colored shields in the right order, forming a certain picture - including the Little Bear. When the Olympic flame went out, a touching tear ran down Misha’s cheek. This creative idea came about by accident when, during one of the rehearsals, someone forgot to raise his shield.

However, the most touching moment came later, when a large rubber Teddy Bear doll filled with helium rose above the stadium and flew into the sky to the sounds of Pakhmutova and Dobronravov’s song “Goodbye, our affectionate Misha.” By the way, the doll learned to fly vertically only when its legs were weighted down and balloons were tied to its paws...

Having completed his farewell flight, Misha landed on Vorobyovy Gory. For some time the doll stood at VDNKh, and then it was placed in a warehouse, where the kindest “Russian bear” was symbolically eaten by rats...

Bear in names, sayings and popular expressions

Berne

Although many linguists are convinced that the name of the Swiss capital contains a different root than the German word "Bar" ("bear"), popular rumor I don't agree with this. This is what is shown on the city’s coat of arms, as well as in the accompanying legend.
According to the latter, the founder of Bern, Berthold von Zähringen, a duke and an avid hunter, decided to name the city after the first animal he would kill in the surrounding forests. Judging by the result, bears were still abundant in Switzerland in the 12th century...

Coats of arms of Bern and Yaroslavl.

A similar legend explains the appearance of Toptygin on the coat of arms of Yaroslavl, where the beast, “standing up, holds a golden ax in its left paw.” This time Yaroslav the Wise encountered a bear - however, not of his own free will. The bear herself attacked the prince in deep forests along the Volga, but he contrived and hit the beast with an ax. It is believed that it was in memory of this incident that Yaroslav built a chapel at the site of the attack, and later founded the city. Interestingly, nearby there was a village with the eloquent name “Bear Corner”.

"Bear Corner"

Since bears rarely walk the streets, but rather hide in dense forests, the expression “Bear Corner” over time began to mean a remote outback - far from the turbulent flow of life. The expression gained particular popularity after the story of the same name by P. I. Melnikov-Pechersky.

"Suck Paw"

Of course, in order to survive the winter, a bear does not need to suck anything at all. Accumulated over the summer subcutaneous fat It is perfectly processed in the body without external manipulation.

Despite its unscientific nature, the expression has survived to this day. But, if the proverb recorded in Dahl’s Dictionary says: “A bear sucks one paw and lives well all winter,” then the modern expression “suck a paw” means, on the contrary, living from hand to mouth.

"Lead by the nose"

In order to make it easier to control a tame bear, the guides threaded a ring into one of the most painful places of the animal - its nose. For which the animal was led, at the same time tempting with handouts for performing various tricks. As a result, the expression “Lead by the nose” has come to mean “to deceive, manipulate, not fulfill a promise.”

However, the human nose is also a rather fragile organ. Suffice it to remember the faces of boxers or the cruel school fun - “cream”, when you twisted the tip of someone else’s nose with your fingers...

“The bear stepped on my ear...”

Since the bear is a heavy animal, and also not very melodic, this expression began to be used in relation to people who are completely deprived of an ear for music.

"Sharing the skin of an unkilled bear"

The proverb came into use after the fable “The Bear and the Two Hunters” was translated into Russian. French writer XVII century - Lafontaine. The heroes of the fable are arrogant hunters who took a deposit for the skin of an unkilled bear, drank and ate with this money, and then went into the forest with a light heart. However, as a result, they themselves almost fell from the bear’s paws...

The expression “Dividing the skin of an unkilled bear” is usually used in the sense of “making unfounded calculations on anything” or “talking about the benefits of a plan that has not yet been implemented.”

"Disservice"

This expression also takes its origins from La Fontaine’s fable, known in Ivan Krylov’s adaptation as “The Hermit and the Bear.”
Here it must be said that many Christian hermits really got along with bears. For example, Seraphim of Sarov, during the period of his hermitage in the forest, became close friends with one Toptygin. The beast often came to the hermit's home, and he fed it - directly from his hands...

So... The heroes of Krylov's fable were also bosom friends, until the Bear decided to drive the flies away from the sleeping Hermit.

It is not difficult to guess that “Disservice” means a service that does more harm than good. Or, as it is written in the same fable: " A helpful fool is more dangerous than an enemy".

"Bugbear"

In thieves' jargon, a "safecracker" is a specialist who deals with opening safes and locks. Today, when a lockpicker is required to have filigree, sensitive hearing and dexterous fingers, it is difficult to understand why this sophisticated “specialty” has become associated with clumsy bear. The whole point is that before, safes were not so perfect, and opening them required remarkable “bearish” strength.

According to another version, the name “bugbear” could also come from the thieves’ L-shaped hook “bugbear,” which was used to open lever locks. True, in this case the force was not superfluous.

“Preved bear!”

This, almost, the first Russian Internet meme appeared thanks to... a painting. I drew it (or, more accurately, scribbled it) American actor and jazzman John Lournier. The picture came out simple, but quite funny. It depicted a couple having sex in the forest, and in front of her was a bear emerging from the bushes with its paws raised and the exclamation “Surprise!” ("Surprise!").
In 2006, a user under the nickname Labzz not only reposted the picture, but also Russified it, turning the English “Surprise” into the Russian “Hello.” More precisely, “Preved” in the then fashionable style of the so-called. "padon" (deliberately distorted) language.

Soon, the exclamation “Preved!” has become no less popular than “Afftar zhzhot” or “laughing”. This exclamation began to be used even “off-line”, accompanying the greeting with a characteristic raising of hands.

The expression “Preved, bear!” is especially popular. acquired in 2008, when Dmitry Medvedev was elected President of the Russian Federation.

Burning Bear

Less well known is another online meme, the origins of which lie in the following remarkable anecdote:

“A bear was walking through the forest. I saw a burning car. I sat in it and burned.”

It is impossible to explain where to laugh here - the joke is extremely absurd, so it is either “learned” the first time or not at all.

The absurdity of the joke caused a great response on the Internet, manifested in the form of a variety of imitations, parodies and demotivators. Here are just a few of them.

Arctic

Let's start with the fact that "arktos" means "bear" in Greek. However, do not rush to associate the name of the northern circumpolar region with the polar bears living there. The ancient Greeks had in mind the beasts of the heavens - namely the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Firstly, with their help they found the North Star in the sky, which, as is known, always points to the north. Secondly, the Greeks knew that the further you go to the north, the higher overhead the Big Dipper rises. No wonder on the flag itself northern state USA - Alaska - we can see the polar star, and the so-called. "bucket" of Ursa Major.

As for the name of the southern circumpolar region - “Antarctica”, everything is simpler here - it means “Anti-Arctic”.

Master of the Arctic

Polar bears are true polar nomads who rarely come to the mainland. They spend most of their lives drifting on ice floes, sometimes reaching almost the North Pole.

There are known cases when ice floes with polar bears were carried by the current all the way to the southeast of Greenland, where they melted, dooming many clubfooted animals to death. Sometimes animals were carried even further south - for example, to Japanese island Hokaido...

Polar bears set up more or less permanent “apartments” only in winter, when the time comes to have offspring. By the way, due to harsh living conditions and long periods of growing up, this happens only once every three years. Females set up their maternity dens on the northern islands ( Wrangel Island, Franz Josef Archipelago). During this period, usually unsociable animals form dense clusters - for example, 180-200 bears gather on Wrangel Island.

Having dug a den in the thick snow, the female plunges into a kind of half-sleep (this cannot be called real hibernation), during which she gives birth to a couple of tiny 600-800 gram cubs. The difference in size between newborns and parents is impressive - after all, polar bears are the largest representatives of the carnivorous order (up to 1000 kg in weight and 3 m in length).

Despite the fact that the polar bear is the closest relative of the brown bear (they can even interbreed), it is impossible to confuse them. And not just because of the color of the fur.
Unlike the brown bear, the polar bear has a relatively small head with small ears and a straight nose, as well as a rather long neck.

In addition, the owner of the Arctic has larger fangs than the owner of the taiga, but the molars are less developed.
The thing is that the polar bear is a 100% predator. Actually, this is why he almost never visits the mainland tundra - it is extremely difficult for such a carcass to feed there. Even the vision of this predator is adapted to the snow and ice expanses. While polar explorers are blinded by “whiteouts,” a bear, on the contrary, sees very poorly when on ordinary land.

The Latin name of the polar bear is very eloquent - Ursus Maritimus, which translates as “sea bear.” Indeed, this predator is an excellent swimmer - some individuals have been encountered hundreds of kilometers from the nearest ice floe or land.

In addition to complete fur insulation (fur covers the entire body of the bear - even the soles and ears) from cold water the beast is saved by a solid layer of fat. The bear dives with its eyes open, but at the same time tightly squeezes its ear openings and nostrils.

Moreover, the main diet of this predator is not fish at all, but various types of seals - large, fatty and nutritious animals. When hunting pinnipeds, the bear relies not only on its power, but also on its sensitive sense of smell (it can smell burning fat 6 km away) and agility. Having smelled and noticed a seal on the shore, the clubfooted giant practically creeps up on its belly to the victim, not forgetting to cover its black eyes and nose with its paws, or pushing a “camouflage” piece of ice in front of itself.
Often a bear sits in ambush, watching for seals near the ice hole. As soon as a seal wants to take a breath of fresh air, a powerful blow from a clawed paw falls on its head. It happens that the hole is smaller than the seal itself, but this is not a hindrance for the bear. His strength is enough to pull the victim to the surface, breaking all his ribs along the way.
The bear also likes to hunt baby seals - the so-called. squirrels, which he searches for while digging out the snow.

The only pinniped that the polar predator prefers not to mess with is the walrus. Being in the same weight category as a bear, and even having solid fangs, a walrus is quite capable of finishing off a predator (especially if the battle takes place in water). Sometimes the fight ended in a “draw”, and then people found two grappling corpses. Researchers have noticed that even in rookeries, walruses do not panic when they see a bear, and the bear, in turn, usually does not dare to attack openly.

Engraving made by Chukchi carvers on a walrus tusk.

Polar bears have no natural enemies in the Arctic; they rarely see people, which is why they treat the latter without much fear. These predators are extremely curious and are not averse, on occasion, to visiting the warehouses of polar explorers. Such visits are equally dangerous for both people and bears. Although in reality tragedies rarely happen. For example, from the 1930s to 1967, only nine such precedents were recorded in the USSR (of which four were fatal).

The intelligent and armored bear Jorni Byrnisen from the fantasy film The Golden Compass.

Russian hunters began bringing the first polar bear skins or “ushkuya” (as it was called in Rus') in the 12th-13th centuries. Even earlier, the Eskimos began to hunt this predator. Despite the fact that it is not so easy to kill a bear with a knife or harpoon, the most difficult part of the hunt was considered to be finding the victim. If it was said of an Eskimo boy, “He killed his first bear,” this usually meant that the boy was the first to see it. The one who discovered the bear also got the skin.

Hunting a polar bear (drawing from 1598).

When the number of polar predators sharply declined, hunting for them began to be prohibited or limited. For example, in the Soviet Union, polar bear hunting was completely banned in 1956.

Other bears and giant panda

Let's start with the least colorful species - black bear , which in North America is called "baribal". It is not so different from its brown brother - except that it is smaller in size, has a darker skin, slimmer legs and a sharper muzzle. In addition, he climbs trees much more quickly.

Loves arboreal life even more bear Himalayan or white-breasted. It grubs in trees, hides, and even makes dens in hollows. Climbs deftly ( better than cats, who always have problems with descent). It’s especially funny to watch how he, smacking his lips, eats the foliage from a broken branch, after which for some reason he puts the branch itself under his butt. The appearance of this bear is also very memorable - in addition to the white shirtfront on the chest, it is distinguished by a narrow muzzle, flat forehead and gorgeous big ears.

Despite its name - Himalayan - the range of this bear is much wider than the forests of the Himalayas. It is found from the Amur and Primorsky taiga to the jungles of India and Indochina. It is not without reason that Soviet animators logically decided to depict the hero of “Mowgli” - Baloo - as a white-breasted bear. But Kipling himself still meant the brown bear - although it is not so typical for India. The writer states this clearly "...Baloo, the sleepy brown bear..." ("...Baloo, sleepy Brown bear") .

In the same India there lives another wonderful bear nicknamed sponger . He is extremely shaggy, and the hairiness of his ears can rival the poodle itself. His claws are huge - and this is no coincidence.

The fact is that the sloth fish is not so much a predatory animal (in the usual sense) as an insectivorous one. He needs his claws to hunt... insects and their larvae. The bear uses its paws to break rotten trees and termite mounds, after which it uses its long muzzle and very mobile bare lips. He pulls them into a tube and begins, like a vacuum cleaner, to suck up all the small living creatures (which is also facilitated by the absence of a pair of upper incisors). At the same time, the beast sucks so hard that it can be heard throughout the entire area...

Lives next to the sloth fish - on the Indochina Peninsula Malayan bear , is also quite remarkable. Firstly, it is the smallest of the bears (length - 110-140 cm, weight - up to 65 kg). Secondly, it is the least shaggy - its fur is short, smooth and shiny (even skin folds appear through it). In addition, this bear's face is decorated with an orangeish spot, and its chest is decorated with the same orangeish shirtfront. The very “neat” image is broken only by the solid hooked claws necessary for climbing trees.

Bears do not live in Australia, Africa and Antarctica. Went as far south as possible spectacled bear - the only representative of the bear family in South America. By the way, it is South America that is the birthplace of Paddington Bear, the hero of the British film of the same name.... of the year. But they portrayed Paddington more like a brown bear than a spectacled one. A spectacled bear is spectacled because it has white stripes around its eyes.
But when describing Paddington’s lifestyle, the directors were not far from the truth. The spectacled bear actually lives in nests in trees. In addition, it is a very herbivorous animal. Its main diet is leaves, roots and fruits.

However, the spectacled bear is far from being a convinced vegetarian - big panda . This is probably one of the cutest animals in the world, rivaled only by the Australian marsupial “false bear” - the koala. The coloring of the giant panda alone was touching - it seemed as if the polar bear had been sewn with black paws, ears and glasses around the eyes. In addition, this is one of the rarest and most expensive (literally) animals on the planet.

For a long time, the panda managed to hide from civilized humanity in the remote mountain provinces of China. Until in 1869, the French missionary and naturalist - Jean-Pierre Armand David - was sold in China the skin of an amazing animal, which they themselves local residents called "bei-shung" (polar bear). At first, the skin seemed to be a fake, sewn from black and white scraps. However, they soon managed to get hold of a whole (albeit killed) “bei-shung”.

True, the scientific debate did not end there. Scientists wondered which family to include the new kind and what to call it? At first he was nicknamed the bamboo bear. However, having delved into the study of the skeleton, they found many similarities with another animal - the red panda. Although outwardly bamboo bear did not resemble her at all, he was urgently renamed a giant panda and brought into the raccoon family. In Soviet books (until the early 1990s), both pandas were considered relatives for a long time, until scientists changed their minds and decided that the giant panda still has more bear features than raccoon ones.

The first living giant panda was captured in 1916, but died soon after. Only in 1936, the American fashion designer Ruth Harknes managed to fulfill the wish of her late zoologist husband and safely deliver a female panda to San Francisco, who was named Su-Lin (“a small piece of enormous value”).
At the end of the 1950s, two male pandas appeared at the Moscow Zoo: first, Pin-Ping, then An-An. Breeding problem rare species in captivity it was always sharp. Therefore, in 1966, the British proposed to “marry” their female Chi-Chi to our An-An. Unexpectedly, it turned out that cute pandas are very picky in choosing a partner. Chi-Chi was taken to Moscow, then An-An was taken to London, but “love” never happened between the pandas (moreover, it came to fights).
But at the Beijing Zoo everything turned out differently. Already in 1963, the first little panther was born there, and a year later - another one...

Watching pandas from the side is a sheer pleasure, because by nature they are born circus performers: they will stand on their heads, somersault, or sit with their backs leaning on a stone, like your dad in a chair. They say that in nature they often escape from enemies in a rather amusing way - they close their eyes with their paws and roll head over heels down the mountain.
True, with age, giant pandas lose their playfulness and turn into slow sloths. Actually, that’s why the name of the famous cartoon “Kung Fu Panda” initially contained a certain amount of irony and sounded the same as “The Hero Hare.”

As is known, plant food less nutritious than an animal, therefore, in order to satisfy the needs of its 100-140 kg carcass, a giant panda has to spend almost half a day eating. By the way, unlike other bears, pandas have well-developed paw motor skills, which allows them to deftly manipulate a bamboo stem.

Even after the Second World War, China declared the habitats of the Bei Shung as protected areas, and then completely banned the export of these animals from the country. No wonder this rare and cute animal has become a symbol World Fund wildlife.