Syrian brown bear

Syrian brown bear
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Ursidae
Genus:	Ursus
Species:	U. arctos
Subspecies:	U. a. syriacus
Trinomial name
Ursus arctos syriacus Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1828
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Synonyms
caucasicus Smirnov, 1919 dinniki Smirnov, 1919 lasistanicus Satunin, 1913 meridionalis Middendorff, 1851 persicus Lönnberg, 1925 schmitzi Matschie, 1917 smirnovi Lönnberg, 1925

The Syrian brown bear (Ursus arctos syriacus) is a relatively small subspecies of brown bear native to the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Distribution

File:A brown bear in Mount Damavand.jpg

A Syrian brown bear in Lar National Park, north east of Mount Damavand, Iran.

File:Caucasusbears.png

This silver commemorative coin depicting Trans-Caucasian grey bear has been issued by the Central Bank of Armenia under the International Program "Wild World of Caucasus".

Within the former Soviet Union, it occurs in Transcaucasia, notably in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan. However, a genetic study shows that all brown bears occurring in the Caucasus at least matrilineally are monophyletic and belong to Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos). Outside the ex-USSR, it occurs in Iran, Iraq and Turkey. It is extinct in Israel, Lebanon and, more recently, in Syria.

Like many large mammals, the Syrian brown bear population is declining due to habitat loss, and poaching. They are a popular target for big game hunters in the Middle East and in Asia. In addition, bear bile (ursodeoxycholic acid) is a valuable commodity because of its use in traditional Chinese medicine as an assumed cure for rheumatism, poor eyesight and gall stones.

Description

It is one of the smaller subspecies of brown bears, although brown bears as a group are among the largest type of bears, second only to polar bears. Adult males have skulls measuring approximately 30–40 cm. Fur color is usually very light brown and straw coloured. The hair on the withers is longer with a grey-brown base and is often a different shade then the rest of the body, seen in some individuals as a dark stripe running across the back. Individuals from the middle and Western Caucasus, whose ranges overlap those of Eurasian brown bears, are darker in colour, and larger in size, leading some naturalists to propose that they are in fact hybrid populations of Eurasian and Syrian brown bears. It is thought that these mixed bears originated during the Holocene when Syrian bears migrated Northward and interbred with the larger Northern bears. These populations have skulls measuring 37–40 cm in length, and their fur colour is reddish brown with no mixture of black and brown tones.

Habitat

Generally found in the mountainous areas throughout its home range, the Syrian brown bears seem to den and hibernate in caves and tree hollows of the birch forests, which are found at higher elevations than pine and other trees. Outside of hibernation these bears tend to forage for food in grasslands, meadows, forests and have been known to enter mountain villages to feed on grains and nuts.

Culture

Wojtek

Among the huge variety of troops serving at Monte Cassino, probably the strangest was a bear from Iran, called Wojtek. Raised by and enlisted into the 22nd Artillery Supply Company of the Polish II Corps, he carried artillery shells during battle.

External links

• Syrian brown bear camera trap footage in the Caucasus Wildlife refuge, Armenia from World Land Trust