In and around Banff National Park, grizzly bears have been documented eating more than 200,000 buffalo berries in a single day. Late in July or early in August, with the first ripening of huckleberries, blueberries and other berries, bears devote most of their attention to exploiting this high-energy food. As summer progresses, they spend a significant amount of time grubbing for ants and beetle larvae in fallen logs. Bears that live near human development are often found grazing on the grasses of golf courses, ski runs, parks and other urban green spaces. In early summer, bears search for pockets of greenery in wet meadows and along creeks and rivers, on avalanche slopes, in aspen forests and along marsh edges. Because food is relatively scarce during spring, bears continue to lose weight until well into June.Īs the snowpack diminishes and the days lengthen, new greenery begins to sprout. They feed on the roots of skunk cabbage and sedges, or where they can find them, the well-cured carcasses of salmon that died the previous fall after spawning. Coastal bears find a milder reception, especially along low-elevation river valleys. Grizzlies, with longer claws and powerful shoulders, will also dig for sweet-vetch roots, glacier lily bulbs and other starch-rich foods. The first green grasses and sedges often sprout right at the edges of streams or in open wetland meadows, which also makes these areas attractive. At this time of year, they are often found foraging on sunny, south-facing slopes where they can find overwintered berries or scavenge for winter-killed deer and moose. ![]() Although bears are hungry, most trees and shrubs won’t leaf for another month and only the grass at lower elevations has begun to green up. When bears emerge from their dens in the spring, food is in short supply. ![]() Others live in areas where salmon, suckers or other fish spawn for part of each year. Some bears, however, become very effective predators on newborn elk, moose, deer or caribou. However, fish and meat are important sources of protein and fat, though most non-coastal bears rely on carrion (including winter-killed animals). Plant foods make up the majority of a bear’s diet – sometimes as much as 90 per cent. The EU commissioners have yet to respond to the activists' letter.Although all species of bears, including black and grizzly bears, are technically of the order Carnivora, they are essentially omnivores that eat plants, insects, fish, and animals.īears spend most of their time perusing a patchwork of habitats throughout the year, feeding on vegetation, insects and other more reliable, though lower calorie food sources. And even dead cows can be left in the traditional Spanish carcass dumps, just as in the past, without any problems, as long as the herd has not had any cases of BSE and the dead animals are younger than two years old. There has yet to be any reported case of BSE among horses, asses or mules, the activists say, meaning their carcasses can be left in pastures without risk. The activists said that the changes "would in no way jeopardize the population's safety from the epidemic." For this reason, the environmentalists from Euronatur and their Spanish colleagues from Fapas sent the results of their study to the EU officials responsible for such matters - Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas - in early December and demanded "urgent" amendments to Regulation 1774/2002. It appears that no one in Brussels has given the plight of the bears much thought. They can't get into the fenced-off bird feeding stations, and a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) trip is out of the question. In this way, though, the vultures are at least expanding the habitat of the species and thereby reducing the demand for carcasses in their original territory.įor the bears, though, emigration is no solution. Flocks of the large scavengers, whose wingspan can reach 3 meters (9.8 feet), have been sighted in Germany, Belgium and France.īut even this long trip doesn't bring them to a land of plenty - there aren't enough feeding stations in these locations, either. Hunger has also driven many of the vultures out of Spain and into areas where they are not native. ![]()
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