Stickerlabelingmachine: improved article

2026-01-24T10:29:50Z

improved article

>Unknown person man at 15:54, 24 May 2021

2021-05-24T15:54:54Z

New page

{{Short description|Subspecies of mammal}}
{{subspeciesbox
| name = Himalayan brown bear
| status = CR
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=McLellan, B.N. |author2=Proctor, M.F. |author3=Huber, D. |author4=Michel, S. |name-list-style=amp |title=''Ursus arctos'' |volume=2017 |page= e.T41688A121229971 |date=2017 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T41688A121229971.en}}</ref>
| image = Medvěd plavý (Ursus arctos isabellinus).jpg
| image_caption =
| genus = Ursus
| species = arctos
| species_link = Brown bear
| subspecies = isabellinus
| authority = [[Thomas Horsfield|Horsfield]], 1826
| range_map = Himalayan brown bear area.jpg
| range_map_caption = Himalayan brown bear range
}}

The '''Himalayan brown bear''' (''Ursus arctos isabellinus''), also known as the '''Himalayan red bear''', '''isabelline bear''' or '''Dzu-Teh''', is a [[subspecies]] of the [[brown bear]] and is known from northern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, northern India, west China and Nepal. It is the largest mammal in the region, males reaching up to {{convert|2.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long, while females are a little smaller. The bears are [[Omnivore|omnivorous]] and [[Hibernation|hibernate]] in dens during the winter. While the brown bear as a species is classified as [[Least Concern]] by the [[IUCN]], this subspecies is highly endangered and populations are dwindling.

==Description==
Himalayan brown bears exhibit [[sexual dimorphism]]. Males range from {{cvt|1.5|to|2.2|m|ftin}} long, while females are {{cvt|1.37|to|1.83|m|ftin}} long. They are the largest animals in the [[Himalayas]] and are usually sandy or reddish-brown in colour.

==Distribution==
The bears are found in [[Nepal]], Tibet, west [[China]], north [[India]], north [[Pakistan]], Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, entire [[Kyrgyzstan]] and south-east [[Kazakhstan]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336167935_Conservation_Distribution_and_Conservation_Status_of_Tien-Shan_Brown_Bear_in_the_Kyrgyz_Republic|title=Conservation Distribution and Conservation Status of Tien-Shan Brown Bear in the Kyrgyz Republic|last=Anarbaev|display-authors=etal|date=2019|website=www.researchgate.net}}</ref> They are already speculated to have become extinct in Bhutan.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Phylogenetic analysis has shown that the [[Gobi bear]] clusters with the Himalayan brown bear and may represent a relict population of this subspecies.<ref name="lan">{{cite journal | author1= Lan T. | author2=Gill S. | author3=Bellemain E. | author4=Bischof R. | author5=Zawaz M.A. | author6=Lindqvist C. | year = 2017 | title = Evolutionary history of enigmatic bears in the Tibetan Plateau–Himalaya region and the identity of the yeti | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 284 | issue = 1868| page = 20171804 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2017.1804| pmid = 29187630 | pmc = 5740279 }}</ref>

==Phylogenetics and evolution==
The Himalayan brown bear consists of a single clade that is the sister group to all other brown bears (and polar bears). The dating of the branching event, estimated at 658,000 years ago, corresponds to the period of a [[Middle Pleistocene]] episode of glaciation on the Tibetan plateau, suggesting that during this Nyanyaxungla glaciation the lineage that would give rise to the Himalayan brown bear became isolated in a distinct refuge, leading to its divergence.<ref name="lan" />

==Behaviour and ecology==
The bears go into [[hibernation]] around October and emerge during April and May. Hibernation usually occurs in a den or cave made by the bear.

[[File:Two Cubs playing with Mother Himalayan Brown Bear.JPG|thumb|Himalayan brown bear with cubs on the trek from Gangotri to Gaumukh in Uttarakhand, India.]]

===Feeding===
Himalayan brown bears are [[omnivore]]s and will eat grasses, roots and other plants as well as insects and small mammals; they also like fruits and berries. They will also prey on large mammals, including [[sheep]] and [[domestic goat|goats]]. Adults will eat before sunrise and later during the afternoon.

==Status and conservation==
International trade is prohibited by the [[Wildlife Protection Act]] in India.{{Citation needed|date=May 2019}} Snow Leopard Foundation (SLF) in Pakistan conducts research on the current status of Himalayan brown bears in the Pamir Range in Gilgit-Baltistan, a promising habitat for the bears and a wildlife corridor connecting bear populations in Pakistan to central Asia. The project also intends to investigate the conflicts humans have with the bears, while promoting tolerance for bears in the region through environmental education. SLF received funding from the Prince Bernhard Nature Fund and Alertis.<ref name="Alertis">{{cite web|url=http://www.bearsinmind.org/Newsitem/alertis-secures-grant|title=Alertis Secures Grant|website=Bears In Mind|access-date=18 July 2013}}</ref> Unlike other brown bear subspecies, which are found in good numbers,<ref name=IUCN/> the Himalayan brown bear is critically endangered. They are poached for their fur and claws for ornamental purposes and internal organs for use in medicines. They are killed by shepherds to protect their livestock and their home is destroyed by human encroachment. In Himachal, their home is the Kugti and Tundah wildlife sanctuaries and the tribal Chamba region. Their estimated population is just 20 in Kugti and 15 in Tundah. The tree bearing the state flower of Himachal, buransh, is the favourite habitat of the bear. Due to the high value of the buransh tree, it is being commercially cut causing further destruction to the brown bear's home.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/kids/missing-snowman/article6618001.ece|title=Missing snowman|last=Tehsin|first=Arefa|date=2014-11-20|work=The Hindu|access-date=2017-11-28|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> The Himalayan brown bear is a critically endangered species in some of its range with a population of only 150–200 in Pakistan. The populations in Pakistan are slow reproducing, small, and declining because of habitat loss, fragmentation, poaching, and [[bear-baiting]].<ref name="Alertis"/> In India, brown bears are present in 23 protected areas in the northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttaranchal, but only in two of these the bears are regarded as fairly common. There are likely less than 1,000 bears, and possibly half that in India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/en|title=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|website=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|access-date=2019-10-14}}</ref>

==Association with the Yeti==
[[File:UrsusSkullSmit.jpg|thumb|Skull]]
"Dzu-Teh," a Nepalese term, has also been associated with the legend of the [[Yeti]], or Abominable Snowman, with which it has been sometimes confused or mistaken. During the [[Daily Mail]] Abominable Snowman Expedition of 1954, Tom Stobart encountered a "Dzu-Teh". This is recounted by Ralph Izzard, the ''Daily Mail'' correspondent on the expedition, in his book ''The Abominable Snowman Adventure''.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Ralph Izzard.|year=1955|title=The Abominable Snowman Adventure|journal=Hodder and Staoughton}}</ref> A 2017 analysis of DNA extracted from a mummified animal purporting to represent a Yeti was shown to have been a Himalayan brown bear.<ref name="lan" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* "Status and Affinities of the Bears of Northeastern Asia", by Ernst Schwarz Journal of Mammalogy 1940 American Society of Mammalogists.
* Ogonev, S.I. 1932, "The mammals of eastern Europe and northern Asia", vol. 2, pp. 11–118. Moscow.
* Pocock R.I, "The Black and Brown Bears of Europe and Asia" Part 1. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society., vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 772–823, figs 1-11. July 15, 1932.
* Ursus arctos, by Maria Pasitschniak, Published 23 April 1993 by "The American Society of Mammalogists"
*John A. Jackson, "More than Mountains", Chapter 10 (pp 92) & 11, "Prelude to the Snowman Expedition & The Snowman Expedition", George Harrap & Co, 1954
* Charles Stonor, "The Sherpa and the Snowman", recounts the 1955 [[Daily Mail]] "Abominable Snowman Expedition" by the scientific officer of the expedition, this is a very detailed analysis of not just the "Snowman" but the flora and fauna of the Himalaya and its people. Hollis and Carter, 1955.
*John A. Jackson, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090108143742/http://www.cabernet.demon.co.uk/JAJ/adventure_travels_in_himalaya.htm "Adventure Travels in the Himalaya"] Chapter 17, "Everest and the Elusive Snowman", 1954 updated material, Indus Publishing Company, 2005.
{{Wikispecies|Ursus arctos}}

== External links ==
* [http://video.pbs.org/video/1791007183/ Video of Himalayan brown bear and a Tibetan fox on the hunt] from PBS Video
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20121215051532/http://dinets.travel.ru/russianbears.htm Red Bear]
* [http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC051343/Nelson%20Chou/yeti.htm The Yeti]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310233806/http://www.cabernet.demon.co.uk/JAJ/snowman1954/1954-snowman-team.html Daily Mail Abominable Snowman]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060929163122/http://www.wildlifesos.com/bearreport/Bear%20species%20found%20in%20India.htm Bear species found in India]

{{Arctos}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q944893}}

[[Category:Eurasian brown bears]]
[[Category:Carnivorans of Asia]]
[[Category:Fauna of the Himalayas]]
[[Category:Mammals of Pakistan|Bear, Himalayan Brown]]
[[Category:Mammals of India|Bear, Himalayan Brown]]
[[Category:Mammals of Nepal|Bear, Himalayan Brown]]
[[Category:Mammals of Bhutan|Bear, Himalayan Brown]]
[[Category:Fauna of Jammu and Kashmir|Bear, Himalayan Brown]]
[[Category:Critically endangered biota of Asia]]

Himalayan brown bear - Revision history

Stickerlabelingmachine: improved article

>Unknown person man at 15:54, 24 May 2021