bibliography |
Zagorodniuk, 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
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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 |
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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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