Syrian brown bear

Appearance

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.

Distribution

Within the former Soviet Union, it occurs in Transcaucasia, in Azerbaijan Talysh and Karabakh regions, Northern Armenia, Abkhazia and Kopet Dag. Outside the ex-USSR, it occurs in Iran, Iraq and Turkey. It is extinct in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, 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 is a valuable commodity because of its use in traditional Chinese medicine as an assumed cure for rheumatism, poor eyesight and gall stones.

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.