Brown Bears (Info, Pics and Videos)

[brotherbear]

Post by brobear on Oct 10, 2018 at 1:56pm
TRUE GRIZZ by Douglas H. Chadwick.

Along with their polar bear cousins, grizzlies are by far the biggest, strongest, predators in the New World. They can accelerate from zero to thirty or more miles per hour faster than a sports car, knock over elk with a left hook, or drag a 1,000-pound steer off into the woods to eat like so much take-out food. What, then, are they doing hanging around bird feeders and competing with finches?
The answer begins with the fact that, while their origins and anatomy place them firmly within the carnivore order, grizzlies are consummate omnivores. With a remarkable knack for finagling hitched to their pile-driver strength, they come primed to take advantage of the most nourishing food available at any given time, be it moose, musk ox, marmot, lily bulb, crab, clam, snail, fish, mushroom, mountaintop moth aggregation, underground hornet nest, rotten carcass, fragrant herb, or freshly sprouted grass, which they will graze the livelong day in spring with all the spine-tingling drama of cows. Grizzlies own one of the longest intestinal tracts of any carnivore to help process plant roughage, and quite a few of these bears are chiefly vegetarian. As far as I know, the only large mammal able to pick up a broader menu is Homo sapiens. Some people eat grizz, for that matter. But then, the bears sometimes eat people, more or less evening things out.

With the onset of Autumn, grizzlies enter a state known as hyperphagia. It means feeding in overdrive. They need to consume 20,000 to 30,000 calories and put on two to three pounds daily for at least a couple of months. Otherwise, they might not have sufficient energy reserves to see them through a denning period that, like the snowpack, can last half the year. Reply