One of the most famous representatives of the animal world in Russia is the brown bear. Few of ordinary people saw him in wildlife, but, nevertheless, information about his habits is quite widespread through popular literature and TV shows. And one of the questions that a person interested in the behavior of bears may have is why do they suck their paws?
The behavior of a bear, like any other animal, is primarily determined by its habitat. In particular, the brown bear lives in a rather harsh continental and sharply continental climate, which creates problems for him in finding food in winter. Therefore, over time, nature has created a mechanism that helps the bear to survive the hungry time - this is hibernation. In the fall, a wild animal accumulates subcutaneous fat with the help of increased nutrition, and then finds a suitable place to hibernate.
Hibernation cannot be equated with ordinary sleep. At this time, the bear is in a kind of half-sleep. And just to this period, popular rumor refers the so-called "paw sucking". This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the bear supposedly sucks nutrients out of it.
Modern scholars have refuted such views. Nevertheless, rumors that the bear sucks its paw in winter have a real basis. The fact is that in the cold season, this type of animal undergoes a kind of "molting" - the top layer of skin on the soles of the paws dies off to be replaced by a new one. This makes the bear uncomfortable and licks its paws, which helps relieve itching and get rid of dead skin. The hunters of earlier times could have mistaken this process for paw sucking.
In fact, the notion that a bear sucks a paw can be refuted without scientific observation, simply by using common sense. After all, an animal cannot thus provide itself with food.
Nevertheless, very small cubs, which still have similar reflexes, can suck their paws. They do it in their sleep. Like human babies, cubs soothe themselves in this way. In some cases, for example, if a bear is fed by people, in this way it compensates for the lack of contact with the mother-bear.
