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NOW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE…
OLD / VINTAGE PORCELAIN BEAR & CUBS
"URSULA, ULF and UNGER"
FIGURINE IS HALLMARK
"GDR" with a BLUE CROWN
for GRENTHAL, GERMANY
A MOLD IMPRESSION #12095
MEASURES ABOUT 7" X 6" X 5"
GLOSS GLAZE FINISH
NO CHIPS OR CRACKS
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FYI
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found in the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
Common characteristics of modern bears include a large body with stocky legs, a long snout, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and a short tail. While the polar bear is mostly carnivorous and the giant panda feeds almost entirely on bamboo, the remaining six species are omnivorous, with largely varied diets including both plants and animals.
With the exceptions of courting individuals and mothers with their young, bears are typically solitary animals. They are generally diurnal, but may be active during the night (nocturnal) or twilight (crepuscular), particularly around humans. Bears are aided by an excellent sense of smell, and despite their heavy build and awkward gait, they can run quickly and are adept climbers and swimmers. In autumn some bear species forage large amounts of fermented fruits which affects their behaviour. Bears use shelters such as caves and burrows as their dens, which are occupied by most species during the winter for a long period of sleep similar to hibernation.
Bears have been hunted since prehistoric times for their meat and fur. To this day, they play a prominent role in the arts, mythology, and other cultural aspects of various human societies. In modern times, the bear's existence has been pressured through the encroachment on its habitats and the illegal trade of bears and bear parts, including the Asian bile bear market. The IUCN lists six bear species as vulnerable or endangered, and even least concern species such as the brown bear are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations is prohibited, but still ongoing.
The English word "bear" comes from Old English bera and belongs to a family of names for the bear in Germanic languages, in origin from an adjective meaning "brown". In Scandinavia the word for bear is bjorn (or bjorn), and is a relatively common given name for males. The use of this name is ancient and has been found mentioned in several runestone inscriptions. In Germanic culture, the bear was a symbol of the warrior, as evident from the Old English term beorn which can take the meaning of both "bear" and "warrior".
The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European name of the bear is *h2r?t?os, whence Sanskrit r?k?a, Avestan arša, Greek ?ρκτος, Latin ursus, Welsh arth (whence perhaps the given name "Arthur"). Also compared is Hittite ?artagga-, the name of a monster or predator. In the binomial name of the brown bear, Ursus arctos, Linne simply combined the Latin and Greek names.
In addition, the Proto-Indo-European word for bear, *h2r?t?os (ancestral to the Greek arktos, Latin ursus, Welsh arth (cf. Arthur), Albanian ari, Armenian arj, Sanskrit ?k?a, Hittite ?artagga) seems to have been subject to taboo deformation or replacement in some languages (as was the word for wolf, wlkwos), resulting in the use of numerous unrelated words with meanings like "brown one" (English bruin) and "honey-eater" (Slavic medved). Thus some Indo-European language groups do not share the same PIE root. The theory of the bear taboo is taught to almost all beginning students of Indo-European and historical linguistics; the putative original PIE word for bear is itself descriptive, because a cognate word in Sanskrit is rak?as, meaning "harm, injury".
The female first name "Ursula", originally derived from a Christian saint's name and common in English- and German-speaking countries, means "little she-bear" (dimunitive of Latin ursa). In Switzerland the male first name "Urs" is especially popular, whereas the name of the canton and city of Bern is derived from bar, German for bear.
In Russian and other Slavic languages, the word for bear, "Medved", and variants or derivatives such as Medvedev are common surnames.
The Irish family name "McMahon" means "Son of Bear" in Irish.
In East European Jewish communities, the name "Ber" — Yiddish cognate of "Bear" — has been attested as a common male first name, at least since the 18th century, and was among others the name of several prominent Rabbis. The Yiddish "Ber" is still in use among Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel, the US and other countries.
With the transition from Yiddish to Hebrew under the influence of Zionism, the Hebrew word for "bear", "Dov" (??), was taken up in contemporary Israel and is at present among the commonly used male first names in that country.
"Ten Bears" (Paruasemana) was the name of a well-known 19th Century chieftain among the Comanche. Also among other Native American tribes, bear-related names are attested.
There is evidence of prehistoric bear worship, see Arctic, Arcturus, Great Bear, Berserker, Kalevala. Anthropologists such as Joseph Campbell have regarded this as a common feature in most of the fishing and hunting-tribes. The prehistoric Finns, along with most Finno-Ugric peoples, considered the bear as the spirit of one's forefathers. This is why the bear (karhu) was a greatly respected animal, with several euphemistic names (such as otso, mesikammen and kontio). The bear is the national animal of Finland.
This kind of attitude is reflected in the traditional Russian fairy tale "Morozko", whose arrogant protagonist Ivan tries to kill a mother bear and her cubs — and is punished and humbled by having his own head turned magically into a bear's head and being subsequently shunned by human society.
"The Brown Bear of Norway" is a Scottish fairy tale telling the adventures of a girl who married a prince magically turned into a bear, and who managed to get him back into a human form by the force of her love and after many trials and difficulties.
There has been evidence about early bear worship in China and among the Ainu culture as well (see Iomante). Korean people in their mythology identify the bear as their ancestor and symbolic animal. According to the Korean legend, a god imposed a difficult test on a she-bear, and when she passed it the god turned her into a woman and married her.
The saddled "bear of St. Corbinian" the emblem of Freising, here incorporated in the arms of Pope Benedict XVILegends of saints taming bears are common in the Alpine zone. In the arms of the bishopric of Freising (see illustration) the bear is the dangerous totem animal tamed by St. Corbinian and made to carry his civilised baggage over the mountains. A bear also features prominently in the legend of St. Romedius, who is also said to have tamed one of these animals and had the same bear carry him from his hermitage in the mountains to the city of Trento.
Similar stories are told of Saint Gall and Saint Columbanus.
This recurrent motif was used by the Church as a symbol of the victory of Christianity over Paganism. In the Norse settlements of northern England during the tenth century a type of "hogback" grave cover of a long narrow block of stone with a shaped apex like the roof beam of a long house, is carved with a muzzled, thus Christianised, bear clasping each gable end. Though the best collection of these is in the church at Brompton, North Yorkshire, their distribution ranges across northern England and southern Scotland, with a scattered few in the north Midlands and single survivals in Wales, Cornwall and Ireland; a late group is found in the Orkneys.
Bears are a popular feature of many children's stories including Goldilocks and The Story of the Three Bears, the Berenstein Bears, and Winnie the Pooh.
The constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor represent bears.
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