Braunbär

Brown Bear, used caves as sleeping and dying places during the Ice Age, when it was already hunted by man. Was very common during the Middle Ages and until the 18^th century, as proved by numerous names of villages and towns in Lower Austria, Styria and Carinthia. The last brown bear in Lower Austria was killed in 1816 near Lilienfeld (hide is kept at Lilienfeld monastery). In the Central Alps, the last brown bear was killed in North Tirol in 1904. Since the 1980s, a new brown bear population has been steadily growing: In 1985, a brown bear was discovered in the Ötscher mountain region, and the WWF released three bears in 1989. Some brown bears came to Austria from Slovenia. There are currently about 20-25 brown bears living in Austria in an area stretching from Carinthia and Styria up to the region of the Ötscher and Hochschwab mountains in Lower Austria. The brown bear is the largest predatory animal in Austria. It is an omnivore; the male bear is considerably larger than the female. Brown bears can live to the age of 40.