OMNIVOROUS MAMMALS 



227 



with such cultivated fruits as bananas, pine-apples, and coffee- 

 berries. 



Bears. — It is, however, among Bears and their allies that 

 most of the omnivorous members of the order are found. It 

 may indeed be stated that the majority of the bear-like carnivores 

 feed on a mixed diet, though to this there are notable exceptions, 

 such as the Polar-Bear [Ursus arctos), which is almost purely 



Fig. 450. — Palm-Cat {Paradoxurus fypus) 



carnivorous. There are, on the other hand, strictly vegetarian 

 species, such as the fruit-eating Malayan Bear ( Ursus Malayanus). 

 The Brown Bear ( Ursus arctos) (see vol. i, p. 96) of the Old 

 World is a typically omnivorous species. During the warmer 

 part of the year it lives very largely upon vegetable food, including 

 honey, as well as upon small invertebrates. Its sense of smell 

 is well developed, and enables it to scent out edible underground 

 parts of plants, such as tubers and bulbs. On the approach of 

 winter, when this sort of food becomes scarce, the brown bear, 

 at any rate in Europe, takes to flesh-eating, and attacks any wild 

 or domesticated animals which happen to be available. During 

 the most rigorous part of the year, however, like many other 

 inhabitants of cold climates, this species tides over the unfavourable 

 season by hybernating in some cave or other sheltered place, 

 passing into a condition of winter sleep, by which the vital 



