general info about Theriologia Ukrainica

Novitates Theriologicae

ISSN 2709-491X (print) • ISSN 2709-4928 (online)

2025 • Vol. 17 • Contents of volume >>>


 

bibliography

download pdfZagorodniuk, I., I. Merzlikin. 2025. The brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the Eastern Polissia in Ukraine: evidence of the species' recovery in the region. Novitates Theriologicae, 17: 63–66. https://doi.org/10.53452/nt1712

   

title

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) in the Eastern Polissia in Ukraine: evidence of the species' recovery in the region

author(s)

Igor Zagorodniuk (National Museum of Natural History, NAS of Ukraine, Kyiv)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0523-133X
Igor Merzlikin (Mykhailivska Tsilyna Nature Reserve, Sumy), Sumy State Pedagogical University, Sumy)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8209-9144

abstract

The article describes a new record of the species in Sumy Oblast, in the zone of dense forests near the state border of Ukraine. The information was obtained from military colleagues who observed a female bear with a cub in a thermal imaging camera, which is evidence of not only of the species' presence, but also its reproduction and successful wintering. The observation was made on 4 May 2025 in Shostka Raion, in the area between Khutir-Mykhailivskyi and the state border. Other records of the species east of the Dnipro River are analysed, including the discovery of two skulls from the Starohutsky forestry (1960), a find of bear excrements near Stara Huta (1990), hunted bears in the north of Sumy Oblast on the border with Bryansk Oblast (2002–2003), the occurrence of a female with a cub in Novopskov Raion of Luhansk Oblast (2004), the discovery of tracks in the snow in the Desniansko-Starohutsky National Nature Park (2012), and a video recording of a bear in a felling in the same national park (2020). All finds are associated with uninhabited areas and indicate constant ‘attempts’ of the species to restore its range in this region.

language

Ukrainian, with English summary

   

references

Gashchak, S., Y. Gulyaichenko, N. A. Beresford, M. D. Wood. 2016. Brown bear (Ursus arctos L.) in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Proceedings of the Theriological School, 14: 71–84. https://doi.org/10.15407/ptt2016.14.071
Kliuev, V. E., M. O. Kolesnikov, O. V. Kondratenko. 2004. A new record of the brown bear (Ursus actor [sic]) in Eastern Ukraine. Vestnik zoologii, 38 (6): 82. [Ukrainian]
Merzlikin, I. R. 2003. Some remarks on the regional list of animals subject to special protection in the Sumy region. In: Problems of Conservation of Landscape, Coenotic and Species Diversity of the Dnipro Basin. Sumy State Pedagogical University, Sumy, 144–150. [Russian]
Shevchenko, L. S. 2007. Mammals. Issue 3. Carnivores. Lagomorphs (addendum). Zool. Mus. of the National Museum of Natural History of Ukraine. Kyiv, 1–80. [Russian]
Zhyla, S. M. 1997. Brown bear (Ursus arctos L.) in Ukrainian Polissia. Vestnik zoologii, 31 (3): 77. [Ukrainian]
Zhyla, S. 2024. Population dynamics of bats of the Ivankivtsi adits (Central Podillia, Ukraine): results of long-term monitoring of winter aggregations. Theriologia Ukrainica, 27: 78–89. [Ukrainian] https://doi.org/10.53452/TU2709

date

online: 15.05.2025; print: 15.05.2025


 


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created: 15.05.2025
updated: 16.05.2025

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