Brown bears are one of those animals that seem scary but are actually very good at avoiding people. In the wild they spend most of their time looking for food — they are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and meat, but their favourite things are berries, fruits, nuts, honey, and fish. A bear will spend many hours every day eating to build up enough fat for its long winter sleep.
In autumn, when the days get shorter and food becomes harder to find, a bear finds or digs a den — a sheltered hollow under a tree root, in a cave, or dug into a hillside. It then enters a deep sleep called hibernation that can last four to six months. During this time its heartbeat slows right down, it stops eating, and it lives off the fat it stored up in autumn.
North Macedonia's forests are one of the few places in Europe where brown bears still live in significant numbers. They prefer old, thick forests where there are few roads and not many people. Mavrovo National Park and the mountains along the country's borders are their favourite strongholds, where they can roam enormous territories in peace.