Sleeping bear
What to do?
Winter is cruel– no food ! Berries, ants and plant roots are buried and the bear moves poorly in deep snow. The bear sleeps away the problem. A winter lair is dug under boulders, beneath an uprooted tree or in an old anthill. The bed is made with twigs and moss.
Energy-saving
In northern Sweden, the bear sleeps maybe more than half the year, from October to April. Body temperature sinks four degrees and resting pulse from 40 to only ten beats per minute. About 70% of its energy is saved.
Slim for spring
The bear may have lost nearly half of its body weight when the spring comes. Stored fat is consumed, as well as some of its muscle protein. A nursing female requires double rations of energy.
Bear cubs
Two or three cubs are usually born in January or February. They are hairless, blind and no larger than squirrels at the time. They weigh around half a kilo, as compared with the female´s 150 kilograms.
