Interesting facts about polar bears. And one of the many meetings with hares. Pets in the Arctic. For example cats and dogs

Here you can read about the birds and animals of the Arctic, see their photographs, and find out our impressions of meeting them in real conditions. I will talk about polar and (oddly enough) brown bears, walruses, arctic foxes, seals, deer, foxes, hares, ducks, geese, terns and many others.

The Arctic is home to a huge number of different animals and birds. Of course, the most important ones are polar bears. We met bears twice. Both times there were no casualties and excesses. True, a lot of nerves were spent :)

Polar bears are the most famous animals in the Arctic

As soon as the bear is not called: white, and polar, and northern, and sea ... Once upon a time the white and brown bear had one common ancestor. But, about 600 thousand years ago, they split. It is believed that until recently, the habitats of polar and brown bears did not overlap. However, their rapprochement is already underway.

I am not a scientist, the reasons for this rapprochement are not known to me - maybe it is the melting of the ice, maybe the fact that polar bears have greatly multiplied recently and in search of food have to explore new territories, maybe for some other reason, however, on the same territory there can be both brown and polar bears. If they meet each other, what will be the further development of events?

Personally, we had the opportunity to meet both polar and brown bears in almost the same place. While they do not seem to intersect, but it seems that this is not for long. For example, if polar bears reach Varandey, and we met brown bears on the Korotaikha River, not far from the sea, it turns out that in the territory between Varandey and Karataika, brown and polar bears can intersect, and this is literally a hundred kilometers, which is not for them distance. Most likely, they will simply disperse. But in any case, it would be very exciting to watch.

You can read more about the polar bear on Wikipedia, however, I want to warn you - even there the information may not be entirely correct. For example, according to the encyclopedia, polar bear inhabits drifting and fast ice sea ​​ice, where it hunts its main prey: ringed seal, bearded seal, walrus and other marine animals of the Arctic.

However, I would say that the bear predominantly lives on sea ice. In fact, the bear can very easily live both on the coast of the Barents Sea and on the nearby islands, where there is no smell of ice in summer. In summer, flowers, mushrooms, berries grow there, and a huge number of different animals and birds live there. So to think that polar bears live only on ice would be a huge delusion.

Again, Wikipedia says that the polar bear “Makes seasonal migrations in accordance with annual changes in the boundary of the polar ice: in summer it retreats with them closer to the pole, in winter it moves to the south, entering the mainland. Although the polar bear predominantly keeps on the coast and ice, in winter it can lie in a den on the mainland or on islands, sometimes 50 km from the sea. "

In fact, polar bears can be found on the mainland in summer as well. Actually, what happened to us. We were not ready for this, thinking that bears come here only in winter, and even then rarely. As you can see, we were wrong.

While we live in a civilized city, bears seem like nice white fluffs, which are very pleasant to look at and which must be protected from the evil Chukchi and Nenets. When you find yourself in the north, when you meet bears, they turn out to be terrible monsters, from which it is almost impossible to get rid of. When you look at him, it seems that such a colossus is completely impossible to kill with one rifle bullet, and this makes it especially unpleasant. After all, these are the largest land predators that have no natural enemies. They are not afraid of anyone and behave accordingly.

But what are bears really? Maybe they are not fluffy, and not aggressive evil predators? Maybe they have nothing to do with our ideas about them at all?

For example, when we were traveling in the Kara Sea and unexpectedly met a bear, we experienced a real shock. We can say that from the moment we met the bear, the latent fear did not leave us for a minute. The same was told by our comrade who visited Novaya Zemlya this year. Having met a polar bear, his comrades could no longer calm down: he saw a bear in every snowdrift, on every ice floe, throughout the journey.

Needless to say, neither they, nor we, after that did not part with the weapon, and even went out of necessity together, with a loaded gun. In general, the feeling of a weapon constantly hanging on the shoulder or lying along the sleeping bag almost instantly became so familiar to us that the rare moments of safety, when the gun could simply be unloaded and put aside, seemed to be something unusual and very pleasant.

Arriving in Amderma and talking with the locals, we heard a lot of horror stories about bears and about meeting them. No sooner had we disembarked than the divers, who were cleaning the approach to the port, said that just yesterday a polar bear walked here, in this very place. Having scared away the workers, he wandered among the containers and equipment, and then, having his fill of admiring the frightened people, jumped into the water and swam away. By the way, he jumped almost to the very place where the diver was working at that moment (he apparently, having seen the animal that came to the port, preferred to stay under water).

BUT! Do you know what is the most interesting? The woman, who has lived in Amderma since her birth and was happy to entertain us with amazing bear tales, remembered only one case of a person's death from the paws and teeth of a polar bear. It happened in the bloody Soviet times, when 15,000 people lived in Amderma and there were a large number of children among them. The children were taken to school by bus, but a couple of children fell behind the bus and went home on foot. It was then that the bear met them.

In addition to this story, the Amderman woman did not remember anything terrible. Yes, she talked about numerous meetings with predators, about how they sat a few meters away from people, how they walked around the city and even licked the heels of some local fisherman who fell asleep in a gully. But all these stories ended peacefully enough, and not a single person was hurt.

Yes, this, of course, does not prove anything and does not say that bears are safe. However, having already returned home, we met with one of the Amderma divers and once again heard from him a story about bears and a dead walrus carcass lying on the beach near the airport for several days (we were told literally everything about this in Amderma).

The fragrant corpse, of course, like a magnet, attracted polar bears who came here from the leeward side of the coast. While one of the bears was eating, the locals, instead of hiding in terror in the airport building, went ashore and took pictures with the predator in the background. From the photo, you can estimate how close they were.

Or, for example, there is one photographer in Amderma: judging by his photographs, he pursues the unfortunate fuzzies every time, in general, on the heels - just doesn't get on their heads. And nothing, he is still alive.

Well and what is it? What does it mean? Silly recklessness? Or something that we don't know, but the locals know? Maybe the bear, in fact, is not as dangerous as we see it? Maybe he's just being overconfident, and that's why he scares us so? We are accustomed to the fact that any animal, be it a wild deer or a brown bear, prefers to hide from us as quickly as possible, and the polar bear just stands and looks with curiosity as a person shooting into the air and swearing comes to shit in front of him. Looks like fear's eyes are big.

Brown bears

Yes, brown ones are also found in the Arctic. We met brown bears only once. And even then it can be considered - lucky, since they are cautious, they avoid people.

Brown bear sounds like Ursus arctos in Latin. It would seem that there is a direct reference to the Arctic :) Moreover, brown bears are really found there.

However, the Internet often disagrees with this. In the public consciousness, only the white (polar bear) and period are associated with the Arctic. For example, it seems unfair to me. It's a shame even somehow for the poor brown bear.

It even comes to ridiculous. For example, there is such a game: "Bear Bound" - "Brown bear in the Arctic".

Description of the game: By the will of fate or in some incredible way, this happened, and our brown bear ended up in the north. His body, and he himself, is not accustomed to such bitter frosts. Therefore, during a storm, which is warned by a special signal, he has to seek shelter and climb into the walrus houses. Moreover, one must be wary of meeting scouts, a ski devil or people - who are not averse to making fun of a bear, eating it or launching it into space.

Those. the creators of the game do not even assume that there is nothing extraordinary here and brown bears really live in the north and can really meet walruses. Yes, we saw walruses and brown bears practically in one place, on the mainland, by the sea. Those. theoretically, they may well overlap. And practically, perhaps, too.

Fortunately, you can still find grains of information on the Internet about brown bears in the Arctic:

In summer, especially with an abundance of murine rodents and berries, it is often found in the mainland tundra. It feeds on a variety of animal and plant foods, the composition of which varies depending on the area and season. From plants it eats stems, leaves, rhizomes of various herbaceous plants, tree leaves, berries and wild fruits. From animals - fish, insects and their larvae, small rodents, carrion. Sometimes, especially in spring and autumn, it attacks large animals (elk, deer).

It just so happened that the wind was blowing in our direction and the bears did not smell us. And their eyesight is not good enough for them to see us. So we can say that we were lucky with this meeting. Otherwise, the animals simply bypassed us, and we would not even have guessed that a bear with two cubs was passing by.

It all happened like this: having landed on the shore in the evening, we pitched a tent and prepared to make a fire. While Petya kept the fire going, I looked around and suddenly noticed some movement. My eyesight is poor, so I did not understand who was walking there. Then I called Petka and asked to see who it was. Petka looked closely and at the first moment decided that they were dogs, but then it dawned on him that it was a bear with cubs. We knew that bears most often prefer to avoid contact and bypass people, but a bear, protecting her cubs, is capable of anything.

The bears had not noticed us yet, but wandered across the tundra, turning over stones and looking for ants. We started to fuss, afraid that they might come to our tent. And then - who knows what will come into their heads.

Petka grabbed his gun and stood ready. First, he loaded buckshot, but then, on reflection, threw out a buckshot cartridge and loaded a shot, so that, if something happened, he first shot into the air and thus scare off the animals. And I, in the absence of binoculars, looked into the camera, watched the direction of movement of the bears and took pictures of them along the way.

Apparently at that moment we were talking quite loudly, rushing from the tent to the fire and waving our arms, therefore, the bear noticed us and immediately ran away. Having moved away a decent distance, she stood up to her full height and began to examine us. Realizing that there were people nearby, she, without delay, fled to the tundra. The cubs, naturally, followed her, not lagging behind a single step.

Realizing that the bears were gone, we went to dinner, but, nevertheless, the whole next night we slept rather restlessly. Yet this was our first encounter with bears.

And bears, of course, are handsome. Despite the fact that they are called "clubfoot", they run very fast, smoothly and gracefully.

Deer

Deer are cute. Very nice and useful animals. They have such cool, fluffy horns. It feels like they are as delicate as a kitten's skin. And they are also nice to touch.

We meet reindeer on every trip to the Arctic in the last 4-5 years. For example, here is the first meeting on the Tersk coast of the White Sea, which especially impressed us. Then this business became more common.

Reindeer herds range from several hundred to several thousand heads. For example, a reindeer breeder he met in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra said that there were about 2,000 individuals in his herd. And the Nenets met on Kanin claimed that they generally have about 5,000 animals.

This is how the process of managing a reindeer looks like:

"A minute ago, the reindeer were grazing on the sandy littoral, but now the time has come to drive them further. The shepherds brigade leader, walking on bent legs (he seemed to have frostbitten toes, so he walked with great difficulty) went to the beach, stood not far from the herd, looked at the reindeer and suddenly he began to make special passes with his hands and shout out special sounds.

"Hoooo, Heei, Heihooo" he shouted in a hoarse, rough voice for a couple of minutes and suddenly the deer began to stir and slowly flowed in the right direction, gradually switching to a gallop.

One of the workers of the brigade, famously forcing a shallow channel on his sleigh, went to correct the movement of the animals. Literally in a few minutes the beach was empty, and only a deer, who had strayed from the herd, fearfully ran past us and disappeared into the tundra. "

For an unprepared person, this looks like real witchcraft - well, how can one reindeer breeder control thousands of reindeer? Boggles the mind. Meanwhile, they do it every single day. I think the secret is that they are engaged in reindeer husbandry almost from the cradle, they know each reindeer "by sight" (honestly - they remember each of their 5,000 reindeer), and they studied the tundra like the back of their fingers (I will not argue, that all of them have five pieces - sometimes less, because they very much "like" to freeze their limbs).

Why does it all look like shamanism? Yes, because they control all these deer with the help of a chorea (an ordinary long stick), a lasso (an ordinary long rope) and a pair of dogs. And the herd is raised in general with the help of the usual cry. Well, how do they do it at all?)

Someone might think that there are tame deer in the herd, so it is easy to "lead" them. But no. The deer there are practically wild, they are very afraid of people and only think about how to get away somewhere. What they do periodically.

Interestingly, reindeer herders graze reindeer in different ways. For example, the Kola deer graze themselves in the summer. They run wild herds, gaining strength and fat. In autumn, reindeer herders simply catch the required number of reindeer and keep them in their villages throughout the winter. Reindeer herders live in wooden houses, just like in most villages in Russia. Mostly reindeer herders Kola Peninsula- Komi. The specificity of their activities is that they do not need to watch the reindeer all year round. After all, animals will not go anywhere, they will run along the coast Of the White Sea, and they will not leave Kola. In autumn, some of the reindeer are slaughtered, and some are kept with them until next spring.

Nenets reindeer herders live in a completely different way: not in houses, but in tents. They change their parking place every two to three days. Each brigade has its own path, which they go in search of food for the deer. Each brigade has its own herd, which they follow very closely. As soon as the reindeer eat up the moss and grass in a certain area, the reindeer herders gather and move on. So, over the summer they cover several hundred kilometers. In winter, they are less mobile; in one place they can stand for several weeks.

Here is another short excerpt from Petya's story about how he once managed to ride a reindeer sleigh and what he experienced at the same time.

The path to the coveted corral was not close. Mikhail, understanding my worries and uncertainty, as well as the fact that I could simply get lost (there were at least twelve kilometers to the goal), offered to take me on his team - "you weigh nothing, we'll get there!" he said, "Get ready!"

My joy knew no bounds, a stone fell from my heart, we emerged from the chum and headed towards Mikhail's sleigh, harnessed by five deer. A reindeer team, in general, is a rather complex structure. As a rule, five bulls are harnessed to it, probably, this has some special meaning.

The team is driven by a choir and one reins, moreover, the "leading" is the extreme deer, and he knows how to turn, as I understand it, only in one direction. The other four bulls are pulling in the other direction. And the direction chosen by the rider is kept when the balance and equilibrium between the "leading" and "slaves" are achieved. The turns are carried out by violating that balance, that is, the reins are either tightened or loosened, and due to this, the whole team turns in the right direction. At the parking lot, the reins in a special way hooks onto the sleds so that the deer turn out to be sharply turned in one direction. Thanks to this, they do not go anywhere, but only move slowly in circles, looking for food on the ground for themselves. Sleighs, they are sleds, are also not simple. They usually accommodate one person with a small load. This openwork construction made of wood and rope ties has two massive runners and a platform connected to the runners by oblique posts.

When I a little earlier, seeing how someone from the Taleevs tightens the ties of their sleds and adjusts something, asked why not make them from some duralumin and plywood so that they were tough and durable, they looked at me as if they were unreasonable a child who froze utter nonsense. “Your duralumin will fall apart!” Mikhail explained, “This design has been verified for millennia. Our ancestors drove them, and we do. There is nothing to change here. "

And in fact, upon closer examination and comprehension of the principle by which the sledges work, it became clear that it was impossible to think of anything better. They have an elastic construction that absorbs any shock and overload. Due to its elasticity, such sleds can serve for a very long time without breaking or loosening, since the backlash and freedom of parts relative to each other are inherent in them from the very beginning. A person sitting on them can ride with comfort, since the suspension function here is performed by oblique struts, standing at an angle on the runners.

Mikhail prepared his vehicle, explained to me what to do: “The deer will go, and we will have to jump on the way. Hold on tight! ”, Then, with a special sound and jab of a trochee, he touched the reindeer, they ran, and I fell on the already rushing sleds, clinging to the poles with all my might. At the same hour, Mikhail flopped down next to him.

I must say that I was fully prepared for the fact that on the first bump I would fall off this sleigh, but no! We drove quickly and smoothly, I did not feel a single blow, although stones and holes rushed under my feet. The deer with their bodies pushed and crushed a high elfin tree, through which a pedestrian could hardly crawl; swamp slurry squelched under their hooves; we were moving forward at a speed of at least fifteen or twenty kilometers per hour.

Right now I understood the meaning of the famous song (by the Nenets, by the way) about the fact that, they say, "an all-terrain vehicle is good, but deer are better." The all-terrain vehicle, of course, carries incomparably more cargo and does not need rest, however, it moves at roughly the same speed over rough and difficult terrain. The all-terrain vehicle requires a huge amount of fuel and spare parts, and you don't even need to feed the reindeer, as they eat themselves, you just have to stop the team in a suitable place ...

Elk

We met elk only once. It happened on the Kanin Peninsula. Here is what Petya wrote about it:

There was no hunting here, however, one morning two moose came to our tent. I was just getting out into the street, waking up, and barely sticking my head out from under the canopy, froze when I saw the animals thirty meters away from us. The moose also looked at me spellbound.

At first, my hunting instinct twitched: just next to my sleeping bag was a "Bekas" with a magazine full of bullet cartridges. But then I thought that, for sure, while I was climbing for the gun, the moose would run away. And if they do not run away, then I risk simply wounding one of them, and that would be very bad. Then I drove away all these stupid thoughts, realizing that we just do not need so much meat, and moose have enough enemies even without me - let them live. The moose, in turn, also realized something of their own, and sharply turned around, fled into the fog ...

Walruses - animals of the Arctic

Another of the most famous animals in the Arctic is the walrus. According to Wikipedia, these huge, clumsy on land animals live mainly off the coast and rarely undertake significant travel.

Walruses are sociable and are mostly found in herds; courageously defend each other.

In general, walruses in the water are dangerous opponents, as they can overturn or break a boat with their fangs. But they themselves rarely attack boats.

The sense of smell is well developed in walruses, and they sense a person at a considerable distance. Noticing the danger, the hour's roar (which in walruses is a cross between a cow's mooing and rough barking) or jerks wakes up the rest, the animals rush into the sea, almost simultaneously go under the water and can stay there without air for up to 10 minutes.

Here are a few interesting facts about walruses:

• In Latin, the name of the walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, can be translated as "a sea horse walking with its teeth". When a walrus uses its protruding tusks to haul its heavy body out of the water onto an ice floe, it looks like it is "walking" with its tusks, hence the name.
• Walrus skin usually makes up about 20 percent of their total body weight. Under the skin is a layer of fat about 15 centimeters thick, which allows the animals to keep warm in the ice-cold water.
• Walruses are able to slow down their heart rate in order to withstand the cold temperatures of the icy waters of the Arctic.
• Walrus whiskers are not hair, but very sensitive tactile organs, somewhat reminiscent of a cat's whiskers. Animals use them to find food underwater.
• Walruses have only two natural enemies: the killer whale and the polar bear. These predators mainly prey on baby walruses.
• Females begin to produce offspring at the age of 7-8 years and usually give birth to only one cub every 3 years. Pregnancy lasts 15 months, and after birth, the baby needs help from the mother for another 2 years. In the wild, walruses live for about 30 years.

We met with walruses several times. The first - in 2010, the second in 2011. This year, too, we saw one, but it happened so quickly and imperceptibly that you can not even count.

Local residents are very afraid of walruses. Well, at least, when we met, they described all sorts of "horrors". They told how walruses swam up to the boats, and fishermen had to pour solarium into the water in order to scare away the animals with at least something. The fishermen did not have a motor, and they took a solarium just for such an occasion. Although, the stories never featured stories that walruses overturned or punched a boat. Maybe the animals were just curious, and people were already afraid of the fact that next to them there was an uncontrollable giant carcass.

In 2011, Ukrainian tourists met walruses near Matveyev Island, and the walrus, according to their stories, tried to pierce their balloon, and even slid his fang on PVC. They scared off the walrus, but they were terrified at the same time.

We ended up on this island just a couple of weeks after them. Walruses calmly sailed past us, looked at us with interest, but did not come close. I don’t know if it’s our luck, or if our fear has eyes that are not so big, but the sea animals did not seem to us either aggressive or dangerous.

Although, maybe they didn't scare us because we saw them at that moment for the second time in our life and already had some experience of "communication". The first time, of course, we were shocked when we noticed a walrus head a couple of meters from the kayak. You should have seen how our oars flashed, and we rushed to the shore, fearing that right now we were somewhere right here and a kiln. And the walrus watched us with surprise and "twisted his finger at his temple" :)

We tried to ask experts about walruses. We were mainly interested in whether it is true that a sea animal can harm a person by turning the boat over. However, in conversations, everyone agreed that walruses can be dangerous only during the mating period, when the males are covered with passion and in every living creature they see a competitor.

The mating period for walruses occurs in the spring - in April, May. At this time, the sea, as a rule, is frozen, and boats simply do not go there. Navigation usually starts at the beginning of June, and somewhere even at the end. And walruses do not swim anywhere, and they are not interested in people. Quite the opposite.

For most of the year, females and males live in separate herds, meeting only for mating. Many male walruses keep away from females and cubs in every season, especially in summer. They migrate to different sectors or males do not migrate at all. So if someone meets walruses on the water, then with a high degree of probability they will be males who have mated a long time ago and are completely calm at the moment.

No, of course, you can never be sure of the safety of a wild animal. Primitive precautions should not be neglected. Well, for example, having seen a walrus, you can turn on the engine and scare him with a menacing sound and gurgle and try to move away from the rookery. However, you shouldn't panic once again. Why panic? It's better to just admire the unusual animals and calmly go further, about your business :)

Seals / bearded seal / seals

During our travels, we repeatedly met a certain pinniped that we could not identify. In general, we understand little about the animals of the Arctic, therefore, we can not always understand exactly who we see in front of us. We have to navigate by photographs.

So, even when looking at the photos of this sea animal, someone said that it was a sea hare, someone said that it was a seal, and someone suggested other options. In the end, I decided to find out this issue on the Internet and what turned out to be?

It turned out that the seal, sea hare and bearded seal are one and the same animal. It just has different names. So it looks like we just saw a hare.

Seals- the official name denoting - a family of carnivorous mammals from the suborder of the canine, previously referred to as pinnipeds.

Name " sea ​​hare"Was allegedly given to this seal by Russian hypericum because of its shy habits. Or for the semblance of "jumps" that he makes when moving on land and ice.

But with the word bearded seal- the plug came out. Everywhere they write that this is the same as "sea hare", but almost nowhere do they explain where such a word, in principle, came from. However, on one of the sites it was possible to suddenly read that the name "lakhtak" is Kamchatka, and "hare" is Pomor. The truth, again, is not known what kind of "language" this is - "Kamchatka". Well, at least something. We don't have a Pomeranian language either))

And here, by the way, and he:

A very cool animal. Curious to the point. He, of course, is afraid of people, but at the same time he is very interested in us and will never miss an opportunity to gawk at who is hanging around on his territory.

Arctic foxes (polar foxes)

Arctic fox is a small predatory animal that lives in the Arctic and resembles a fox. By color, they distinguish between ordinary white (in winter - pure white, in summer - dirty brown) and blue fox.

Typical habitats of the Arctic fox are open tundra with hilly relief. On sandy hills and coastal terraces, he digs holes, complex underground labyrinths with many (up to 60-80) entrances. The fox digs a burrow in soft soil surrounded by stones (they protect the entrance from digging up by large predators) to the level of permafrost, deepening it as the soil thaws.

Burrows are never more than half a kilometer from the water. There are few suitable places for building burrows in the tundra, so Arctic foxes use them for years, sometimes for 15-20 years in a row, and intermittently for hundreds and even thousands of years, so that some hills are completely dug up. Less often, Arctic foxes settle among placers of stones or in piles of fin on the coast. In winter, the Arctic fox is often content with a simple den in the snow.

Arctic fox is omnivorous. However, it is based on small rodents, especially lemmings, as well as birds. It feeds on both washed ashore and caught fish, as well as plant foods: berries (blueberries, cloudberries), herbs, algae (seaweed). Doesn't refuse to fall. On the coast, the Arctic fox often accompanies polar bears, and he gets some of the meat of the killed seals. Finally, he eats animals trapped in traps, making no exception even for other Arctic foxes. In summer, it stores surplus food in the den for the winter.

It is rather difficult to meet a polar fox - it hides in burrows, but our dogs somehow drove a couple of animals out of there. One of the arctic foxes even began to snap at the dogs and attack them. We were afraid that the animals might turn out to be mad and drove them away. In fact, it is known about Arctic foxes (and foxes) that many of them can be sick with rabies.

Foxes and hares

Our meeting with the fox:

Somewhere in the distance I suddenly heard Sevkin barking, took a gun, a rope, and went to see what happened there. By barking, I quickly found him: the dog was running around a freestanding bush and frantically barking at someone lurking there. I sent in a cartridge and carefully peered into the thicket. There, someone was hissing and stirring angrily. Looking closely, I realized that it was a fox. "Shoot or not shoot?" I thought, and finally decided that there was no need to kill her; I unloaded the gun and went after Natasha to take a picture of the animal. As soon as she approached and tried to examine the animal, the fox slipped almost at her feet, and briskly rushed into the distance. Sevka, naturally, could not resist, and dashed after her, pulling the leash out of my hands. Fortunately, however, he never caught up with the fox. But he ran a lot.

And one of the many meetings with hares:

The local hares, in contrast to those that are usually found in other places, were somehow especially swift and careful. Even Seva, barely chasing the animal, lost it very quickly, and I could only see them for a fraction of a second, and then, in the distance.

Over time, the hare habits, which were due to the local landscape, became a little clearer to me. The relief of this place consisted of several parallel ridges of sandy hills; closer to the sea there was sand and sparse bushes, and behind the ridges began a wet grassy tundra, completely covered with bushes. Hares, of course, took refuge in this bush, and, as usual, went out to graze on the sand, to the rare bushes. To keep the situation under control, as well as, in which case, to escape from their enemies, they crossed the hills across, looking around from the very ridge. But if a predator or hunter caught them below, then they very quickly left, using the folds of the terrain, and neither man, nor dog, nor fox could catch up with them.

Barely eared was hiding behind a sandy hummock - at once all hopes of overtaking him melted, because, cleverly entangling his tracks, he went to the other side of the ridge, and there he dissolved in the bushes. Then he could also imperceptibly leave these bushes, and while the dogs, all in foam, tried in vain to find him, the hare calmly ran again to the other side of the ridge, and there it disappeared completely ...

Pets in the Arctic. For example, cats and dogs.

Almost everyone has dogs in the Arctic. Especially, of course, among hunters and fishermen. Interestingly, very often, if someone has two dogs, then almost certainly one will be black and the other white. Here's an interesting feature.

Many also have cats, but of course there are fewer of them. Basically, they are established where people live permanently - both in summer and in winter, and not just come to the hut for a few days.

Polar sharks

For me, it was a huge surprise, but it turns out that sharks are found in the Arctic.

Recently, a polar shark was found even near the Franz Josef Land archipelago, which is located less than 1000 km from the North Pole. Unfortunately, we do not have photos of the shark.

Polar shark - the ruler of the Arctic

The polar shark (Somniosus microcephalus), long regarded by scientists as the "gravedigger of the Arctic" for its predilection for carrion, has proven to be an excellent hunter. The polar bear now has a rival in the struggle for the throne of the king of the Arctic - the polar shark, reaching a length of seven meters and capable of "devouring" even the polar bear itself. A marine biologist from Norway made an unusual find in her laboratory. She discovered the jaw bones of a polar bear (Ursus maritimus) in the stomach of a polar shark. Until now, researchers believed that polar bears have no natural enemies. However, it is not yet clear whether the shark attacked a live bear, or ate its remains. Arthropods (Arthropoda), arthropods that feed on corpses, were not found in the stomach, along with bear bones, which means that a shark could attack a live bear.

Polar shark menu: seals and polar bears

Previously, deep-sea polar sharks were considered lazy and capable of feeding only on carrion. Since they live mainly at a depth of 2200 meters, scientists have not been able to study this species. However, several years ago, American biologists were able to trace the movement of sharks and found out that these animals swim in surface waters too, and also feed on the ringed seal. It has not yet been possible to establish how actively polar sharks hunt, but their diet is very rich. It includes both fresh meat and carrion: halibut, salmon, herring, narwhals, as well as mammals: beluga whales, seals.

Sharks appeared near Kolguev island

The people are lost in conjecture, where did they come from? Is global warming to blame for this, and these the most dangerous predators start to explore new sea areas for themselves? After the famous horror movie "Jaws" people began to be wary of the shark tribe. It is clear that these toothy and eternally hungry creatures did not arouse sympathy before, and only after the events of last summer, when "jaws" of different sizes began to maim our fellow citizens in Egypt, then in United Arab Emirates or even in Primorsk, in their native Far East, they began to treat them accordingly.

Residents of Kolguev ask each other - will their island soon turn into a place of pilgrimage for toothy predators? Only recently there have already been three encounters with sharks. They swim very close to the shore, circle around the fishing boats. Recently, one of the local residents caught a baby shark, judging by the "jaw" standards. But, as you can see in the picture, it was also rather big.

As soon as he was dragged ashore, a large fin of an adult individual appeared not far away. Apparently, the shark mother tried to free her baby, but she failed. She swam several times past shark catchers and disappeared into the depths of the sea. According to the islanders, local dogs flatly refused to eat shark meat, so the whole carcass had to be disposed of. Local residents are at a loss as to where this family came from near the island, whether the ecology is to blame for this, whether this is due to the beginning of various geological works on the shelf of the Barents Sea, or there is some other reason.

They say that during the war, beluga whales, stingrays and sharks were butchered at Shoyna's berths, then this "good" was used for processing and as food for the population of the belligerent country. There were enough sharks in the White Sea, only they never swam so close to people. And the White Sea sharks did not differ in large size, a little more than a meter. Here, the islanders encountered a huge individual. The mother shark still swims near the island, creating some discomfort for Kolguev's fishermen and hunters. Moreover, according to the information of ichthyologists, sharks are vindictive and vindictive creatures, they remember offenders, so the people are warned of the danger. I don't want to think that the "arctic jaws" can start hunting people.

P.S. We contacted ichthyologists, and they said that there is nothing unusual in the meeting of Kolguev fishermen with a shark. In our northern latitudes, there are three species of sharks safely. The rarest of them is a giant shark, the size of this monster is from one and a half to 15 meters. Prefers the seas off the coast of Northern Norway with their warm currents where there is enough food for these whoppers. Well, and from there to us - a stone's throw. I could have gotten lost.

But it is most likely that the fishermen encountered a polar shark, an inhabitant of almost all the seas of the Arctic Ocean. Sharks of this species grow up to six meters. The polar shark hunts for fish, seals, walruses. Not a single case of their attack on people was noted. This shark belongs to the edible species. In the XX century, Russian, Norwegian, Icelandic fishermen were actively fishing for it. The most common of the three species is the small prickly shark, which the White Sea fishermen call the butler, and the inhabitants of the Black Sea countries call the kat-run. Its length is no more than 120 centimeters; all over the world, it is one of the main commercial shark species. In the Barents Sea, it was practically not seen, but in the White Sea it is still common. It is not dangerous for a person.

Geese in the Arctic

Geese are funny, intelligent birds and although they are not very attractive outwardly, they take care of their chicks very touchingly and attentively.

According to my personal observations, geese, after their chicks acquire the ability to move independently, prefer to stay in groups, several "families". The family, in my understanding, is a goose, a goose, and a few chicks. Sometimes there is only one chick.

Geese spend most of their lives on land, but on land they also raise their chicks. However, in case of any threat, the herd amicably leaves for the nearest reservoir, taking their chicks with them one by one in columns. Their chicks, as far as I understand, are not divided into friends and foes - they all just build up and go after the geese leading them. Males follow from the flanks of the marching herd.

If there is no water nearby, or if the water does not hide from danger, then part of the herd, mainly males, rise into the air and begin to distract the potential aggressor, flying low, screaming, and in general, in every possible way attracting attention to themselves. The females remaining on the water or on the ground, meanwhile, try to take the chicks as far as possible, gathering all the broods in large teams. And the groups of birds busy with the distraction of the enemy, apparently, are ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of saving their offspring, even if not their own.

Once, at our next meeting with geese, the same thing happened. Three geese got up and started circling around us screaming, sitting down smoothly and flapping their wings a couple of tens of meters away from us. On Sevka, this worked in the most correct way: distracting from the female with the goslings, he rushed in pursuit of the birds that teased him, but they quickly rose, and deliberately slowly and low flying, took the dog away from their offspring.

The female with the goslings, in turn, having waited for the moment when we were distracted from her, brought the chicks to the other side of the lake, and together they all walked towards the sea. Their relatives, who were in the air, seeing this, immediately flew up to them, sat on the ground, and all of them, in a common group, reached the saving open water.

And once, having noticed our kayak, they did not fly away, but stayed with their kids, trying to do everything possible to hide from us, even on foot.

The birds split into groups (four or five babies had two adult geese), lined up in a row and walked forward in a line. The kids are in the middle, and the adults are at the edges - one goose in front, the other behind.

The geese walked and, at the same time, one group separated and left towards the mainland, the other swam away on the water, and the rest of the birds continued to move forward. So the flock of geese continued to divide until all the birds scattered evenly over land and water. This is their cunning and wise organization. They knew that it was impossible to put all the eggs in one basket, but to hide from a potential enemy must be in different places - both in the sea and on the mainland.

Swans

Swans are beautiful, majestic birds, songs are composed about them, and poets urge "not to shoot white swans." But, despite the fact that people romanticize them so, other birds would hardly recognize swans as beautiful and innocent creatures.

« Among the stunted bushes, I did not come across anything interesting. Sometimes from under my feet various small birdies fluttered, I saw several ducks on the lakes, but those ducks were distant and cautious. A couple of swans were also visible in the distance. I could not get the swans with all my desire, since they used to look both ways and did not allow anyone suspicious to approach them for less than a hundred meters. I hate swans with all my heart, because from the place where these ugly birds live, all other edible birds scatter».

In the comments, we were asked an entertaining question: “ I wonder why other birds do not live near the swans. It seems that it should be the other way around: strong birds, capable of withstanding seagulls, skuas and even arctic foxes, guard the nesting area, and at the same time the nests of other, weaker birds from predators».

And, really, why? Maybe the information that swans scatter other birds in the area is just a stereotype? Yes, there is enough information about the aggressiveness of swans on the Internet. But how verified and reliable is this information? Everyone knows that you can write anything here, but is it true?

Law enforcement officials, officials, scientists, and hunters have expressed a variety of opinions about hunting swans, starting with the need to reduce their numbers, and ending with demands for a complete ban on hunting these birds.

Supporters of the first point of view argue that a pair of swans living on a reservoir "pushes" the rest of the bird out of there. Indeed, it has been noticed that when laying and breeding a swan within a radius of one hundred meters, as a rule, it creates intolerant conditions for other birds and conflicts with them. To this, ornithologists answer that in the presence of a food base, the swan coexists perfectly with other species of birds.

So what is right? At the moment, I have found a couple of more or less substantiated opinions that support our point of view that swans are more likely to harm other birds than not. But, perhaps, you can find the same well-founded opinions that will contradict us. So the question is still open.

1. Zoological work on the relationship of birds of the order Anseriformes kept on the ponds of the Kharkov zoo, V.P.Sevastyanova, zoologist of the bird department, Kharkov zoo

"Swans dominate in the community of birds of the pond. There is tension in intra- and interspecific relations. Cases of death of whooper swans, mutilation, and then the death of a male mute swan due to the fault of a dominant pair of whooper swans are registered. ...

Also, swans are highly aggressive during the brood driving period, and the female unmistakably recognizes her cubs, driving away, and sometimes killing other people's swans, the male can drive other people's chicks for some time.

For a number of years, the dominant pair of whoopers did not allow the pair of mutees, which nested at the opposite end of the pond, to complete the incubation of the clutch. Aggressiveness in the behavior of dominant pairs of swans of both species is typical in relation to the Canadian geese.

Mountain, gray geese, all types of ducks can successfully nest in close proximity with a nest of swans. And, nevertheless, 2 cases of death of Caroline ducks were noted, trying to nest under the nesting house of mute swans on the Small Pond. In the behavior of black swans, aggressive actions were noted towards mountain geese in their nests and towards pelicans with which they are often kept together. But this applies only to a mature, mature married couple. Immature or unpaired individuals occupy a subordinate position and do not show aggression. "

2. Swans. Myths and Reality. Russian hunting newspaper from 05.07.2006, M.D. Perovsky, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor

"The bird swan from the cradle enters the human consciousness as a symbol of purity, beauty, love, fidelity and other wonderful qualities of human nature and imagination. swims ... "- breathes out our genius Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. And the swan turns into a charming princess. The kid just claps his eyes and opens his mouth when the parent reads him this fairy tale. His untouched child's consciousness has already absorbed the charm of what he has read and captured for a lifetime. Well All this is wonderful, and the swans are really beautiful, proud and, I would add, unkind birds in relation to their neighbors and fellow feathers.

There are three types of swans in Russia: mute, whooper and small swan. The latter lives in the very Far East and is listed in the Red Data Books of the USSR and the RSFSR. The mute swan is considered the most unfriendly and aggressive, hence, probably, its snake nickname. Where these birds nest, there is no place for other species within a radius of 150-200 m, be they ducks, waders or geese. These birds are expelled from the nesting site by large, proud white-finned, who, as it were, declare: “I don’t mess with anyone and I don’t want to have any business. I don't respect anyone but myself. " They have no rivals in this, and only pood bustards can compare with them in size and strength. But, as you know, their habitats do not coincide.

Whooper swan differs little in size, color and character from mute swan, except that it has a straight neck like a stick and the absence of a black knob at the base of its beak. Aggressive behavior is about the same "...

Oystercatcher

And here is another interesting bird we met - the oystercatcher. It has red legs, a red beak, and, most surprisingly, red eyes. At first I even thought it was a photo jamb when I saw the red eyes. But no, it turned out that the way it really is.

These birds are common all over the world, but personally I see them for the first time. By the way, they also live up to 35 years old. I don't know directly - is this a feature of terns and waders, or are birds, in principle, such long-livers?

The oystercatcher has the most powerful beak among other waders. According to the method of obtaining food, individual individuals can be conditionally divided into "surgeons" and "hammer fighters". The surgeon inserts the beak between the mollusc's valves when they are open in the water and cuts the muscle that covers the valves. And the "hammerman" simply smashes the doors to smithereens with blows. Outside the nesting season, oystercatchers keep in huge flocks, most often gathering on those sea coasts where there are high tides. By the way, we met them in such places.

With the beginning of low tide, vast stretches of the beach are exposed in these places, on which a self-assembled tablecloth is always covered for birds. Oystercatchers are noisy and aggressive. During feeding, neighbors often step on top of each other with shrill screams, marking the boundaries of their lands.

And I wondered why they were yelling like that. I thought that they could warn their relatives in such a way that people were nearby. But, apparently, they just showed who is in charge here.

Their diet is based on molluscs and crustaceans, less often insects. In search of food, birds slowly roam the shallows, gazing intently into the water. Noticing a subtle stirring of the mollusk hidden in the ground, the oystercatcher sticks its beak into the sand or pebbles and pulls out the food. Hunting at night, the birds diligently comb the wet sand with their beak. To get to tasty meat, the oystercatcher grabs a shell in its beak and pounds it against a stone until a piece breaks off from the prey.

Basically, we watched them during this activity - the birds walked along the shallows or flew, looking for something in the bare sand.

And other birds of the Arctic

In the north, birds, and especially small birds, are almost not shy. On the contrary, they are very interested in people. For example, this birdie was walking in circles around me, gradually squeezing the ring, and getting closer and closer. If I sat on the grass a little longer (it did not work out due to the fact that the dogs came running), the bird could come within arm's length, or maybe even sit next to me :) It seems that she rarely sees people and there is no danger from does not feel us.

Such small birdies are not found everywhere in the north, but if you really notice them somewhere, then you can be sure that everything here is teeming with birds. They prefer sunny places, sheltered from the wind, with grass, flowers and fresh lakes. There are not many such places, for obvious reasons, therefore they are collected there in such quantities.

The list of animals in the Arctic is not exhaustive. And there was no such goal. Here I would like to write only about those whom we saw personally or about those who interested us very much (for example, sharks). Wolves, snowy owls, narwhals and many other animals, for example, have not met, so I did not mention them.