Post #15088

Pestun: Cycle failure. Why does a teenage bear stay with his mother for another year? Since ancient times, foresters and hunters have said that sometimes a bear cannot cope with her role as a single mother. And then she calls for help from the nurse - a young bear from the previous brood, who is not yet ready to have his own children, but is already experienced enough to help his mother. But scientists did not believe in their existence for a very long time. Back in the 50-60s of the last century, Soviet zoologists wrote that they could not find a single strong evidence of the existence of pestuns, that this is another hunting myth that the earth is full of. So which one was right in the end? Oddly enough, both sides are right in their own way. Today, thanks to camera traps and GPS trackers, we know that nesting bears really do exist, it’s just a very rare phenomenon - less than 0.5% of female bears acquire helpers. Therefore, it is not surprising that not a single scientific expedition recorded them - the chances were too small. The hunters, however, were also not completely right. They believed that the female deliberately leaves the bear cub with her in order to ease the hardship of motherhood. But in fact, strong maternal instincts, coupled with a happy accident, are to blame for everything. The same chain of unlikely events leads to the appearance of a pestling bear. First, a mother bear must lose her baby over one year of age. And it doesn’t matter whether he fell behind during the campaign or was driven away by an overly aggressive male. It is important that the female decided that her baby was dead. Then, she must mate with the male a few days after the loss. And finally - after a few days or even weeks - a happy reunion of mother and child should occur. Usually, the female drives away her cubs when they are 1.5-2 years old, but in this case, powerful hormonal changes associated with pregnancy cause an increase in maternal instinct, and therefore yesterday’s baby still remains close to its mother. They even lie down in the den together! And in the spring, a whole family is selected from it: a mother, 1-3 bear cubs and a teenager, who is close in size to the mother. But here’s what’s interesting: the nurse actually helps the mother in caring for the children. A childishly active and spontaneous teenager happily plays with the kids, spending a lot of time with them and relieving the mother of the heavy burden of entertaining the offspring. And, at the same time, he is old enough to limit his strength and not cause injury to them. In addition, the pestun is already strong enough to protect them from a lone wolf or wolverine. But all good things come to an end: at the age of three or four years, the parent still leaves his mother. Not because she drives him away, as usually happens, but because he becomes an adult and feels close to his mother. Their paths diverge forever. Единственное лицензированное Telegram-казино 🏆