Tuesday, 14 June 2011

Kronotsky Nature Reserve



Today we”ll revisit the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and its inhabitants.




No Kronotsky reserve without bears. This bear rubbed against a marked tree in order to leave its own individual smell on it. It is a bear’s way of communication within its population and of informational transmission to other individuals. Zoologists call this the marking activity.

Very often such marking objects are trees. It could also be rocks and stones and even human constructions. Even if there are people, animals come to pay their marking “debt”. At that time flimsy houses shake as during an earthquake.

Different bears use for marking the same trees. Scientists compare these trees with a house register, where  bears living in this place voluntarily registered themselves. And the animals are constantly updating their notes.  How do they make their “notes”? A beast approaches, carefully sniffs marks standing on four or two legs. Then the bear turns his back to a tree, and standing or sitting on hind legs, begins to rub its neck and cheeks (apparently, these places have special glands) with the force against the bark.

Some animals bite a tree trunk and branches. Bears approach to marking trees with “walking” steps, terribly driving legs into the ground, leaving distinctive holes. Each bear that comes up to this tree tends to get its paws into the holes, constantly deepening them. The marking behavior reaches its eak intensity right now, in May and June, during the mating season. This phenomenon is inherent only for male individuals. However, there’re may be some exceptions.

Here visitors can meet this little red cheat.

At the end of the hair shedding reds have a very poor look.

This fox nibbled some grass, then found a float and carried it to its burrow.

Its cute cubs have still lacklustre eyes.


The rain turned a sad brown tundra into a summer one.








Green grass occupies large areas in the mountains, and many bears left the coastal tundra and went to slopes of volcanoes.



Traces of bear claws.

Willows in bloom.






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