Russian Brown Bears

[brotherbear]

The intelligence of the bear is well known. He easily and skillfully climbs trees, mainly trees with smooth trunks; he is afraid of trees with branches, and climbs them reluctantly, probably because branches and sticks often deceive him by breaking under his enormous weight. Once I saw a cub descending from a tree head-down. I do not know whether this happens with adult bears. Some promyshlenniks are convinced that even an adult bear sometimes descends the tree with his head down, but only if the tree has many branches. If the trunk is smooth, he descends by backing down.
The bear swims very well; even biggest rivers do not make an obstacle for him, because he easily swims across them. In the summer, the bear likes to take a bath and spends a lot of time lying in the water. The bear can swim in many positions, even vertically.

It is interesting that, despite his seemingly clumsiness and size, the bear likes to have fun, doing things like rolling big rocks from high mountains and cliffs. He rolls them from high-altitude steep slopes and it is enjoyable to see him watching the rocks rolling down and bouncing, hitting other rocks, which also start rolling, further and further. Possibly he just wants to push one rock, but, further below, many rocks are falling. Such an innocent business! One must see this undetected by the bear in order to appreciate it properly. Another game of the bear begins when he finds a tree broken by the wind, with the remaining part of the trunk split high above the ground into several long pieces, especially a tree hit by lightening. This is a valuable find for a bear, and especially for a female with cubs. The bear stands upright, grabs on a piece with his front paws, and bends it almost to the ground. Then suddenly he lets it free. The resilient piece quickly returns to its original vertical position and hits the rest of them, producing a loud rattling noise. Perhaps exactly this sound is a treat for the bear's music-appreciating ear. As soon as one becomes familiar with the forest and the area, in the evening or in the morning he will see or hear such bear entertainments. Reply