ENDANGERED SPECIES - BROWN BEARID92920052
COIN A.P.E. CANTABRIAN BROWN BEAR
For the year 2022, being aware of the importance of conserving the integrity and diversity of nature by ensuring the equitable and sustainable use of natural resources, the FNMT-RCM is issuing a collection of 16 coins dedicated to a selection of endangered animals catalogued as Critically Endangered (CR) and included in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
The complete collection consists of sixteen coins, issued in the year 2022, and an album-case in which to store them in an orderly fashion.
On the obverse, in a central circular area, an image of a Cantabrian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) is reproduced in colour, an image belonging to the Brown Bear Foundation. At the bottom, in ascending circular direction and in capitals, the legend OSO PARDO CANTÁBRICO (Cantabrian Brown Bear). At the bottom, in a circular direction and in capitals, the legend ESPAÑA (SPAIN) and the year of issue 2022.
On the reverse (common to all the coins), inside a central circle at the top, the legend ANIMALS IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION appears in a circular shape and in capitals; below it, the value of the coin 1.5 EURO, in two lines and in capitals; and, below it, the mint mark .
| Series | Endangered Species |
| Year | 2022 |
| Colour | Yes |
| Diameter (mm) | 33 |
| Face Value (Euro) | 1.5 |
| Metal | Cupronickel |
| Weight (g) | 15 |
| Maximum Mintage (units) | 5,000 |
CANTABRIAN BROWN BEAR (Ursus arctos arctos)
The largest terrestrial carnivore on the Iberian Peninsula lives in the mountains of the Cantabrian Mountains, between the autonomous regions of Castilla y León, Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia. This plantigrade mammal, a subspecies of the European brown bear, can weigh up to 200 kg and can live for 25 to 30 years in the wild.
The Cantabrian brown bear normally lives in sparsely inhabited areas of northern Spain, at an altitude of between 1,000 and 1,800 metres above sea level, above areas with agricultural and livestock activity. Beech, oak and birch forests, meadows, scrubland and pastures, and rocky areas are its preferred habitats. It is one of the longest reproductive cycle ursids, with periods of 3-4 years between each reproductive season, which does not help the proliferation of this species in environments that are already limited by humans.
Their diet is mainly vegetarian, although they are omnivorous animals, with a highly developed sense of smell, which allows them to locate all types of food, whether ants, honey or carcasses of other animals, a diet that is occasionally complemented by hunting other large vertebrates, such as domestic livestock and wild ungulates.
Like other bears in the northern regions of the Earth, Cantabrian brown bears hibernate in winter. However, there are already numerous cases of bears that do not hibernate - or hibernate only briefly - due both to the increase in average land temperatures year after year, and to the increasingly frequent human presence in hibernation areas.
Poaching of the bear as a hunting trophy and the shrinking of its feeding and sheltering area are ever-present threats. In addition, an increasing human presence in their natural habitat will lead to an increase in conflict situations, which will have a negative impact on the survival of the few hundred brown bears living in our mountains of the Cantabrian Cordillera. Catalogued by the IUCN as a critically endangered species and included in the Spanish Red List of Endangered Species.