(Irregular plural: grouches).
A bad-tempered person; SYN. grump, crank, churl, crosspatch.

(Homonym: bare).
Massive plantigrade carnivorous or omnivorous mammals with long shaggy coats and strong claws SYN. grizzly, .
Large mammal with a heavily built body, short powerful limbs, and a very short tail. Bears breed once a year, producing one to four cubs. In northern regions they hibernate, and the young are born in the winter den. They are found mainly in North America and N Asia. The skin of the polar bear is black to conserve 80–90% of the solar energy trapped and channeled down the hollow hairs of its fur.
Bears walk on the soles of the feet and have long, nonretractable claws. The bear family, Ursidae, is related to carnivores such as dogs and weasels, and all are capable of killing prey. (The panda is probably related to both bears and raccoons.).
species.
There are seven species of bear, including the brown bear Ursus arctos, formerly ranging across most of Europe, N Asia, and North America, but now reduced in number. It varies in size from under 2 m/7 ft long in parts of the Old World to 2.8 m/9 ft long and 780 kg/1,700 lb in Alaska. The grizzly bear is a North American variety of this species, and another subspecies, the Kodiak bear of Alaska, is the largest living land carnivore. The white polar bear Thalarctos maritimus is up to 2.5 m/8 ft long, has furry undersides to the feet, and feeds mainly on seals. It is found in the north polar region. The North American black bear Euarctos americanus and the Asian black bear Selenarctos thibetanus are smaller, only about 1.6 m/5 ft long. The latter has a white V-mark on its chest. The spectacled bear Tremarctos ornatus of the Andes is similarly sized, as is the sloth bear Melursus ursinus of India and Sri Lanka, which has a shaggy coat and uses its claws and protrusile lips to obtain termites, one of its preferred foods. The smallest bear is the Malaysian sun bear Helarctos malayanus, rarely more than 1.2 m/4 ft long, a good climber, whose favorite food is honey.
threat of extinction.
Of the seven species of bear, five are currently reckoned to be endangered and all apart from the polar bear and the American black bear are in decline. The population of brown bears in the Pyrenees was estimated at eight in 1994. They will be extinct in 20 years unless new bears are introduced.
In 1992, American black bears were upgraded to Appendix 2 of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) to stem the trade in their gall bladders, which are used in Asian traditional medicine to treat liver disease. The gall bladders do contain an active substance, ursodiol, a synthetic version of which is available and inexpensive. However, many people still prefer to pay thousands of dollars for a bear gall bladder. Trade in Asian black bears and their parts is illegal. + prikaži više