Learning from the bears

Date:  December 30, 2019

Source:  Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association

Grizzly bears spend many months in hibernation, but their muscles do not suffer from the lack of movement. In the journal Scientific Reports, a team led by Michael Gotthardt reports on how they manage to do this. The grizzly bears' strategy could help prevent muscle atrophy in humans as well.

A grizzly bear only knows three seasons during the year. Its time of activity starts between March and May. Around September the bear begins to eat large quantities of food. And sometime between November and January, it falls into hibernation. From a physiological point of view, this is the strangest time of all. The bear's metabolism and heart rate drop rapidly. It excretes neither urine nor feces. The amount of nitrogen in the blood increases drastically and the bear becomes resistant to the hormone insulin.

A person could hardly survive this four-month phase in a healthy state. Afterwards, he or she would most likely have to cope with thromboses or psychological changes. Above all, the muscles would suffer from this prolonged period of disuse. Anyone who has ever had an arm or leg in a cast for a few weeks or has had to lie in bed for a long time due to an illness has probably experienced this.

Continued  

Grizzlies show remarkable gene control before and during hibernation

SEPTEMBER 18, 2019

by Charlie Powell, Washington State University

Being a human couch potato can greatly increase fat accumulation, hasten the onset of Type II diabetes symptoms, result in detrimental blood chemistry and cardiovascular changes, and eventually, bring about one's death.

Large hibernators such as bears however have evolved to adapt to and reverse similar metabolic stressors they face each year before and during hibernation to essentially become immune to these ill effects.

New RNA sequencing-based genetic research conducted at Washington State University's Bear Research, Education, and Conservation Center shows grizzlies express a larger number of genes in preparation for, and during hibernation to cope with such stressors, than do any other species studied.

The king-of-the-gene switching superlative even holds true when one corrects for the different sample sizes used in other hibernation studies.

The work was conducted in Pullman, Washington, home of the only university-based captive grizzly bear population in the world. It was published Sept. 13, in Communications Biology, a Springer Nature publication. The WSU scientists biopsied muscle, liver, and fat tissues for the study.

Continued

Family-friendly overpasses are needed to help grizzly bears, study suggests

Design of wildlife road crossings is crucial for protecting grizzlies

Date:  November 27, 2017

Source:  University of British Columbia Okanagan campus

Researchers have determined how female grizzly bears keep their cubs safe while crossing the Trans-Canada Highway.

Adam Ford, Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology at UBC's Okanagan campus, along with Montana State University's Tony Clevenger, studied the travel patterns of grizzlies in Banff National Park between 1997 and 2014. In most cases, a mother bear travelling with cubs opted to use a wildlife overpass instead of a tunnel to cross the highway.

"We used data from Canada's longest and most detailed study of road-wildlife interactions," explains Ford, an assistant professor of biology. "We found that grizzly bear females and cubs preferred to use overpasses to cross the highway."

During the 17-year study period, bears not travelling in these family groups used both underpasses and overpasses. "You can't just build a tunnel under a highway and expect to conserve bears," says Ford. "Our work shows that the design of structures used to get bears across the road matters for reconnecting grizzly bear populations."

Read more 

Yellowstone grizzly bears face end of endangered species protection

US federal government says recovery of national park population to more than 700 is a ‘historic success’ but conservationists say move is premature

Oliver Milman

Thursday 3 March 2016 22.25 GMT

Last modified on Thursday 3 March 201623.52 GMT

The federal government is proposing to strip endangered species protections from Yellowstone’s famed grizzly bears, with officials claiming a “historic success” in the recovery of the bear population.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) said it planned to delist one of the last remaining grizzly populations from the Endangered Species Act, which has protected them since 1975. In this time, the FWS said, the bear population around Yellowstone National Park has rebounded from 136 bears to more than 700.

This recovery has led to calls from Idaho, Montana and Wyoming – the states that contain and surround Yellowstone – to remove the bears from the act’s protection. The states have argued that selling licences for hunting would generate huge sums of revenue and help ranchers who lose livestock to bears.

The FWS has agreed to the delisting as long as a conservation plan is followed to ensure the grizzlies are not imperilled in the future. Currently, the animals cannot be shot or removed unless there are exceptional circumstances.

 “The recovery of the Yellowstone grizzly bear represents a historic success for partnership-driven wildlife conservation under the Endangered Species Act,” said Dan Ashe, director of the FWS.

Continued ...

Grizzly bear uses 50-pound, basketball-sized rock to shatter Minnesota Zoo enclosure (VIDEO)

BY JASON MOLINET 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, July 7, 2015, 2:50 AM

These zoo patrons barely escaped!

A grizzly bear tossed a 50-pound rock against a floor-to-ceiling observation glass pane, repeatedly battering the zoo enclosure until it appeared to crack.

No, this was not a scene from bestseller James Patterson's new serialized TV drama "Zoo."

Luckily for stunned visitors to the brown bear exhibit at the Minnesota Zoo on Monday, the 2 ½ inch thick safety glass pane held firm.

But the 800-pound Alaskan grizzly, named Kenai, one of three orphaned bears at the Minneapolis zoo, was being playful and not aggressive, according to zookeepers.

watch video here

Study led by indigenous people uncovers grizzly bear 'highway' in coastal British Columbia

Date:

July 17, 2014

Source:

American Museum of Natural History

Summary:

A novel, First Nations-led research collaboration has revealed a previously undocumented grizzly bear aggregation in coastal British Columbia, one of the most southerly aggregations of salmon-feeding grizzlies in North America. Using non-invasive DNA analysis, the authors describe a grizzly bear 'highway,' identifying nearly 60 individual bears, many who travelled hundreds of miles from surrounding areas to feed on autumn-spawning salmon in the Koeye River.

Continued

Teams trapping grizzlies as feds eye delisting

By KEITH RIDLER

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Sixteen grizzlies have been captured so far this year by teams gathering information that will be used this fall to decide whether to propose lifting federal protections of the bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team captured the grizzlies in Montana and Wyoming, while efforts in eastern Idaho have just started. The team usually captures about 60 bears a year.

"We're evaluating whether the bear population is capable of being recovered at this time," said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It will be ready this fall. If the answer is 'yes,' there will be a proposal to delist."

An estimated 740 grizzly bears roam the 19,000-square-mile Yellowstone ecosystem that includes portions of the three states plus Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.

Read on

Grizzlies Should Stay on Endangered Species List, Scientists Say

Yellowstone National Park grizzly bears could be removed from the Endangered Species list after a new federal report revealed that the bears are not threatened by the loss of one of their main foods, whitebark pine nuts.

But outside scientists are criticizing the report, calling it incomplete, politically motivated and flawed.

"It does not take into account the situation, the realities of the conditions on the ground in whitebark pine forests," said Jesse Logan, the retired head of the U.S. Forest Service's bark beetle research unit. Whitebark pines are increasingly falling victim to mountain pine beetles, which kill trees in the process of laying their eggs under the bark. Climate change has made the high-elevation whitebark pines more accessible to the destructive beetles.

Continued

U.S. authorities probe killing of grizzly bear near Yellowstone

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the killing of a grizzly bear near Yellowstone National Park in eastern Idaho, not far from where a grizzly attacked two biologists this month, state wildlife officials said on Saturday.

It is generally illegal to kill grizzlies in the 48 contiguous states, where the bears are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. But the law does allow the animals to be killed if they are threatening humans.

The caretaker of a residence near the park shot the grizzly on Friday night, said Gregg Losinski, regional conservation educator with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The caretaker was armed with a high-powered rifle while at the home because a grizzly had previously torn down a bird feeder on the property and eaten the seeds, Losinski said.

State wildlife biologists have collected tissue samples from the bear for DNA testing to compare with fur taken from a site nearby where a grizzly startled from sleep charged and bit two biologists on August 15.

Also on that day, a mother grizzly attacked and wounded two hikers who unexpectedly encountered the bear's cub, park officials said.

Grizzly and human conflicts happen mostly in the autumn when the bears are driven to seek food in order to bulk up before hibernation, said Losinski.

About 600 bears roam Yellowstone and its border states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-authorities-probe-killing-grizzly-bear-near-yellowstone-010200702.html

Kalispell veterinarian operates on grizzly bear shot by bird hunter

KALISPELL – A grizzly bear injured earlier this month when a bird hunter shot the animal in the eye was captured near Ferndale on Wednesday and released in the Spotted Bear area, but only after a Kalispell veterinarian removed the animal’s eyeball and treated an infection.

About two weeks ago, a bird hunter shot at the female grizzly in what was described as a surprise encounter east of Bigfork, wildlife officials said. The hunter was unharmed and reported the incident immediately to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The sow grizzly had a cub and had previously been radio-collared, and both bears were spotted feeding on a road-killed deer along the Swan River Road near Ferndale earlier this week.

“The decision was made to capture the bears and move them preemptively,” said John Fraley, an FWP spokesman, adding that the bears’ proximity to humans concerned bear management specialists.

After the bears were captured, FWP examined the adult bear and found that her left eye had been hit by birdshot. FWP contacted Kalispell veterinarian Dan Savage and, after fully anesthetizing the bear, he removed the remnant of the grizzly’s eye tissue, applied stitches, and cleaned the wound, which had become infected. He also administered antibiotics.

Continued:  http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/kalispell-veterinarian-operates-on-grizzly-bear-shot-by-bird-hunter/article_e82fdefe-1f11-11e2-baf4-001a4bcf887a.html

Bear necessities produce hybrid beast

The northward migration of grizzlies has led to more sightings of “grolar” bears in the Arctic.

Hunters from the village of Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., knew there was something different about the polar bear they were stalking but couldn’t put their finger on it.

It was far more aggressive than anything they were used to. They even called off the dog for fear the large white mammal would kill it.

On closer inspection after it was shot and killed, it turned out not to be an ordinary polar bear but one that was a cross between a polar bear and a grizzly, unofficially known as a “grolar bear” and “pizzly.”

“The first hybrid we had ever seen around here a few years ago was pretty nasty. They (hunters) usually stalk the polar bear using a dog, but this bear was so aggressive they couldn’t use a dog on them. It was too dangerous,” Robert Kuptana, who lives in the western Arctic hamlet of about 400 people on Victoria Island, told the Toronto Star Friday.

Over the years, as grizzly bears wandered further north following the caribou herd, the hybrid variety became more common, said the 69-year-old Kuptana. He added that a hunter from the village, Pat Ekpakohak, and his two grandchildren killed three of them just 10 days ago.

Continued:  http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/714371--bear-necessities-produce-hybrid-beast

Hot Zones for Grizzly Bear Encounters Mapped

ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2012) — The ranchland near the southwestern Alberta town of Pincher Creek is a hot zone for grizzly bear encounters, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Alberta. 

The research, led by former U of A graduate student Joe Northrup, mapped the locations of 303 grizzly bear encounters over the last 10 years. There were no human fatalities, even though the vast majority of the encounters happened on private ranch land.

The researchers had strict guidelines for measuring a grizzly bear encounter. "We didn't count sightings of bears by back-country hikers," said Northrup. "We only documented encounters where the bear approached people and there was a potential threat to the person or their property."

The researchers also surveyed the sites of bear encounters on or near private land and came up with a property description with high potential for trouble in the Pincher Creek area. "Our research showed that a ranch house on a quarter section lined with trees and close to a river bed has a high potential for problems," said Northrup. He added that river beds coming down from the mountains are a popular transportation route for bears.

Read on:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120322100415.htm

Alaska grizzlies targetted to boost moose and caribou hunts

Grizzlies targetted to increase moose and caribou hunts

November 2011. A report, written by 3 retired Alaskan Department of Game bear experts and a scientist from the US National Wildlife Federation, shows that Alaska has been quietly increasing the hunting of grizzlies in the hope that reducing grizzly numbers would lead to an increase in caribou and moose numbers. A license to hunt a caribou or moose costs $3-500 on average; Are the Alaskan Department of Game trying to increase their revenue on moose and caribou hunts by reducing grizzly numbers?

There is no science to show that if grizzly numbers are repressed then moose and caribou numbers will increase. And why not? Because since 2000, long-term research studies on grizzly populations in the Liberal Hunt Area have been terminated without replacement.

Hunting regulations for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in much of Alaska since 1980 increasingly were designed to reduce bear abundance in the expectation such regulations would lead to increased harvests by hunters of moose (Alces alces) and caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Regulations were liberalized during 1980-2010 primarily in the ‘Liberal Grizzly Bear Hunting Area' (or Liberal Hunt Area) which encompassed 76.2% of Alaska.

213% increase in Grizzly hunts
By 2010, these changes resulted in longer hunting seasons, more liberal bag limits, and widespread waiver of resident tag fees. During 1995-2010, there were 124 changes that made grizzly bear hunting regulations more liberal and two making them more conservative. The 4-year mean for grizzly bear kills by hunters increased 213% between 1976-1980 (387 grizzly bears) and 2005-2008 (823 grizzly bears).

Current grizzly bear management in the Liberal Hunt Area is inconsistent with the recommendations of the National Research Council's 1997 report on predator management in Alaska. Current attitudes, policies and absence of science-based management of grizzly bears in Alaska are increasingly similar to those that resulted in the near extirpation of grizzly bears south of Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries.

If current trends continue, they increase risks to portions of the largest and most intact population of grizzly bears in North America.

2011 The Wildlife Society. Read the full report.

Grizzly Bear Kills Hiker Who Disturbed Cubs

A female grizzly bear has killed a man hiking with his wife in Yellowstone National Park after the couple surprised the animal and her cubs.


The attack happened about a mile and a half from the start of the popular Wapiti Lake trail.

Another group of hikers nearby who heard the victim's wife screaming for help called park rangers.

A National Park Service statement said the couple had inadvertently surprised the mother grizzly and her cubs, and in "an attempt to defend a perceived threat to her cubs, the bear attacked and fatally wounded the man".

Grizzly bears can weigh up to 1,500lb and despite their size, they can run at speeds of up to 35mph, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The bears tend to avoid humans but can be extremely aggressive if they perceive a threat to their young.

There are warning signs about grizzlies throughout the national park and Wednesday's attack took place in an area where bear sightings are common.

The victim's identity has not been released while his family is informed.
Park officials said the animals involved have not been captured and rangers do not have enough information yet to determine what measures they might take.

But park spokeswoman Linda Miller said the mother bear behaved normally in defending her cubs and would not be killed as a result of her actions.

Bears found to have repeated run-ins with park visitors are, however, sometimes relocated.

"If we have an aggressive bear that continually poses a threat to human safety, then we work to remove it from the ecosystem," Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash said.

Attacks by bears are extremely rare and the mauling marks the first fatal bear attack in the park since 1986, the Park Service said.

But a mother grizzly killed one man and injured two other people in an unusual night-time attack on sleeping campers just outside Yellowstone in Montana last July.

The animal involved was later trapped and destroyed because the attacks were considered to be unprovoked and predatory.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/grizzly-bear-kills-hiker-disturbed-cubs-080643772.html

Photo confirms grizzly in Washington's N. Cascades (Via Chad Arment)

Photo confirms grizzly in Washington's N. Cascades
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: 07/01/11

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says a hiker's photo confirms a sighting of a grizzly bear in Washington state's North Cascades for the first time in perhaps half a century.The agency said Friday a panel of experts identified the grizzly in a photo taken in October by Joe Sebille. The Mount Vernon man says he was hiking near the community of Marblemount when he saw the bear and snapped the cell phone photo.Friends persuaded him to share the photo with North Cascades National Park officials.A member of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, Becki Heath, says it's a significant event in the recovery of the bear. Fewer than 20 grizzlies are believed to live in Washington's North Cascades. The bears are protected under state and federal law.

Read on...

Study sees polar bears losing out to grizzlies

(Reuters) - Polar bears are likely to lose out to grizzly bears in fierce competition for food as climate change drives the two species closer together into shared habitat, biologists concluded in a study released on Tuesday.


The research was based on 3-D computer modeling that compared the skull and jaw strength of the two bruins and found polar bears ill-suited to the tougher chewing demands posed by the largely vegetarian diet of their grizzly cousins.

The study, funded by the National Science Foundation, was conducted by evolutionary biologists at the University of California, Los Angeles, and published in an online journal of the Public Library of Science.

The findings add to mounting signs of threats to polar bears from global warming that scientists attribute to excessive levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping "greenhouse gases" emitted by human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels.


"This is one additional piece of evidence that things look pretty bleak for the polar bear, if current trends continue," said Graham Slater, the lead author of the research.

Polar bears already are losing habitat as rising Arctic temperatures diminish the sea ice they depend on to hunt for seals. As the ice continues to shrink, polar bears will be forced to seek additional food sources.

"To people who say polar bears can just change their diet, we are saying ... they will have to, but it probably will not be sufficient for them, especially if they are co-existing with grizzly bears," said Blair Van Valkenburgh, senior author of the paper.

Grizzlies, a subspecies of brown bears, have begun moving north in Canada as their natural habitat grows milder, while polar bears are being pushed farther south by melting ice, putting the two species together in territory best suited to the grizzly.

"These two species are already starting to come into contact," Slater said. And in the escalating competition for the plant life that makes up the bulk of the grizzly's diet, the polar bear is expected to lose.


The problem for polar bears is they lack the ideal skull strength and tooth size needed for munching plants, grass, tree bark and berries, the scientists said.

Analyzing the biomechanics of their skulls reveals "polar bears would not be able to break up the food as well in their mouths and would not digest it as well," Van Valkenburgh said. Seal blubber is softer and requires less chewing, putting less strain on the skull by comparison.

Polar bears evolved from the brown bear relatively recently, and the two are closely related, with the split between them occurring 500,000 to 800,000 years ago in response to the rapid onset of glacial climates during the ice ages.

Polar bears are a "marvelous example of rapid adaptation to an extreme environment," Slater said. "The fact that we can lose them equally as rapidly as a result of human-mediated climate change is rather striking."

By Steve Gorman

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE6AM6CV20101123

Grizzly bears enjoy the good life as they move closer to human settlement

Magnificent and wild, the grizzly bear of the American west has a fearsome reputation. But as a population boom forces them from their deep wilderness habitat of the Rocky Mountains, their increasingly close encounters with humans are altering their lifestyles, making them lazy and fat, conservation experts say.


"We've got bears spending the whole summer eating oats in the field, out there with the elk and the deer, and getting fatter and fatter," said Jamie Jonkel, a grizzly manager and wildlife conflict specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the state government's conservation agency.

"They've started really loving the good life, much like the average American," said Jonkel, who led a tour of reporters from the Society for Environmental Journalists.

"Some of them still move into the high country in the summer, but some of them just set up shop and don't move. You can see grizzlies out there in the fields all day lazing about grazing on alfafa while a kid is kicking a soccer ball around," he said.

A recent census by scientific agencies put the grizzly population in Yellowstone national park and surrounding areas of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho at 603.

That is more than three times the population in 1975 when hunting was outlawed, and grizzlies were protected as an endangered species. Wildlife experts suspect it could be even higher.

The population rise has put pressure on the grizzlies' food source in high wilderness areas. So too has a beetle infestation which has killed off huge swaths of pine across the Rockies, and with them the pine nuts that the grizzlies rely on in late summer and autumn.

The bears are not the only creatures on the move. Over the years, growing population centres have brought humans closer to areas that were once entirely wild.

This has raised the potential for violent clashes, with deadly consequences for bear and human. At least 45 grizzlies have been reported killed so far this year, mostly by hunters in self-defence or government wildlife officials. But wildlife officials estimate the true number is above 60. Two people have been fatally mauled, one in Montana and one in Wyoming.

With humans and bears seemingly destined to live in closer proximity, experts such as Jonkel are working to train locals in Montana's Blackfoot Valley in co-existence strategies.

Rangers are encouraging locals to try non-lethal "hazing" methods of get rid of bears. They are also organising volunteers to pick apples off the ground for elderly homeowners, before the fruit attracts bears.

Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/07/grizzly-bear-lifestyle-human-contact

Groundbreaking grizzlies make it to Missouri

RIGHT: Two young grizzlies have made their way to the Missouri River near Floweree. They are the first two bears in recent history to make it as far as the Missouri. (PHOTO COURTESY RICHARD LOUMA)

By KARL PUCKETT • Tribune Staff Writer • June 10, 2010

Two young grizzly bears spotted Tuesday evening near Floweree between Great Falls and Fort Benton probably are the first grizzlies in several decades to make it to the Missouri River, where the bears historically lived, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

Diane Walker, who ranches near Floweree, witnessed the groundbreaking grizzlies.

"They just stopped and looked at us," said Walker, who was with family when she saw the bears. "They didn't seem to be frightened or anything."

The bears were acting playful with each other, she added.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100610/NEWS01/6100303/Groundbreaking-grizzlies-make-it-to-Missouri
(Submitted by Chad Arment)

Bear attack

http://www.startribune.com/nation/96685849.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsA


CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A grizzly bear killed a Wyoming man outside Yellowstone National Park, apparently just hours after researchers trapped and tranquilized the animal.

The attack happened Thursday in the same place where two researchers with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team had examined a large adult male grizzly earlier that day, Park County Sheriff Scott Steward said Friday. The suspect bear was wearing a radio collar. Authorities didn't intend to venture into the woods to chase the animal, however.

They hoped to trap it - again - and do DNA testing to see if it was indeed responsible.

"Certainly there is a good chance it was the bear they were working on," Steward said. "There's certainly the exception, where it's just another bear."

Shoshone National Forest officials closed off the Kitty Creek area, about six miles outside the Yellowstone East Entrance, until further notice. "There have been Forest Service people in the area talking to people who live in those cabins, and at the lodges around there, letting them know what's going on," forest spokeswoman Susan Douglas said Friday. The victim was Erwin Frank Evert, 70, who went hiking around 12:45 p.m. from his cabin in the Kitty Creek drainage.

When Evert didn't return, his wife went looking for him and met one of the bear researchers. The researchers had been getting ready to leave the area but one of them returned to the place where they had found the bear in a
previously set trap, then tranquilized the animal for study.

The researcher found Evert's body where they had left the bear to wake up, about two miles from Evert's cabin.
"My heart goes out for the victim and the family involved in this. Nobody would want anything like this to happen," Chuck Schwartz, head of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team based in Bozeman, Mont., said Friday.

The team is made up of federal and state biologists who monitor and study grizzlies in the Yellowstone ecosystem. The researchers also had trapped and tranquilized another grizzly in the area Thursday.

Schwartz said there would be an investigation, including into whether required procedures were followed, such as posting warning signs about the grizzly research.

Schwartz said it wasn't certain whether the trapped grizzly had mauled Evert. But Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said it's unlikely that another grizzly would
have been in the same area as the large adult male. "There's a very, very high probability that it was this bear," Servheen said.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department was working Friday to try to recapture the bear, agency spokesman Eric Keszler said. Grizzly bears have been back on the federal list of threatened species since
last year.