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Bear and grey wolf interractions in the wild
Bear and grey wolf interractions in the wild
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Bear and grey wolf interractions in the wild
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Last month @Rage2277 posted an info about several cases of black bears killed by wolf packs from Ontario (Canada). Here is a new case, this time with brown bear killed by wolves in the mountains of Kyrgizstan (Central Asia), including short video. The carcass was found by shepard:
https://ru.sputnik.kg/video/20181012/104...skhoz.html For long was accepted the conception that mighty bear completely dominates wolves but new info shows that in some cases is other way around. Any videos, photos and info concerning timber wolf-bear relations could be posted here. Romania 
www.terradaily.com/reports/Of_bears_and_berries_Return_of_wolves_aids_grizzly_bears_in_Yellowstone_999.html
Of bears and berries: Return of wolves aids grizzly bears in Yellowstone by Staff Writers Corvallis OR (SPX) Jul 30, 2013 A new study suggests that the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park is beginning to bring back a key part of the diet of grizzly bears that has been missing for much of the past century - berries that help bears put on fat before going into hibernation. It's one of the first reports to identify the interactions between these large, important predators, based on complex ecological processes. It was published by scientists from Oregon State University and Washington State University in the Journal of Animal Ecology. The researchers found that the level of berries consumed by Yellowstone grizzlies is significantly higher now that shrubs are starting to recover following the re-introduction of wolves, which have reduced over-browsing by elk herds. The berry bushes also produce flowers of value to pollinators like butterflies, insects and hummingbirds; food for other small and large mammals; and special benefits to birds. The report said that berries may be sufficiently important to grizzly bear diet and health that they could be considered in legal disputes - as is white pine nut availability now - about whether or not to change the "threatened" status of grizzly bears under the Endangered Species Act."Wild fruit is typically an important part of grizzly bear diet, especially in late summer when they are trying to gain weight as rapidly as possible before winter hibernation," said William Ripple, a professor in the OSU Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, and lead author on the article."Berries are one part of a diverse food source that aids bear survival and reproduction, and at certain times of the year can be more than half their diet in many places in North America."When wolves were removed from Yellowstone early in the 1900s, increased browsing by elk herds caused the demise of young aspen and willow trees - a favorite food - along with many berry-producing shrubs and tall, herbaceous plants. The recovery of those trees and other food sources since the re-introduction of wolves in the 1990s has had a profound impact on the Yellowstone ecosystem, researchers say, even though it's still in the very early stages."Studies like this also point to the need for an ecologically effective number of wolves," said co-author Robert Beschta, an OSU professor emeritus."As we learn more about the cascading effects they have on ecosystems, the issue may be more than having just enough individual wolves so they can survive as a species. In some situations, we may wish to consider the numbers necessary to help control overbrowsing, allow tree and shrub recovery, and restore ecosystem health." As wolves help reduce elk numbers in Yellowstone and allow tree and shrub recovery, researchers said, this improves the diet and health of grizzly bears. In turn, a healthy grizzly bear population provides a second avenue of control on wild ungulates, especially on newborns in the spring time.Yellowstone has a wide variety of nutritious berries - serviceberry, chokecherry, buffaloberry, twinberry, huckleberry and others - that are highly palatable to bears. These shrubs are also eaten by elk and thus likely declined as elk populations grew over time. With the return of wolves, the new study found the percentage of fruit in grizzly bear scat in recent years almost doubled during August.Because the abundant elk have been an important food for Yellowstone grizzly bears for the past half-century, the increased supply of berries may help offset the reduced availability of elk in the bears' diet in recent years. More research is needed regarding the effects of wolves on plants and animals consumed by grizzly bears.There is precedent for high levels of ungulate herbivory causing problems for grizzly bears, who are omnivores that eat both plants and animals. Before going extinct in the American Southwest by the early 1900s, grizzly bear diets shifted toward livestock depredation, the report noted, because of lack of plant-based food caused by livestock overgrazing.And, in the absence of wolves, black bears went extinct on Anticosti Island in Canada after over-browsing of berry shrubs by introduced while-tailed deer.Increases in berry production in Yellowstone may also provide a buffer against other ecosystem shifts, the researchers noted - whitebark pine nut production, a favored bear food, may be facing pressure from climate change. Grizzly bear survival declined during years of low nut production. Livestock grazing in grizzly bear habitat adjacent to the national park, and bison herbivory in the park, likely also contribute to high foraging pressure on shrubs and forbs, the report said. In addition to eliminating wolf-livestock conflicts, retiring livestock allotments in the grizzly bear recovery zone adjacent to Yellowstone could benefit bears through increases in plant foods.
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Several years ago I visited Jasper NP (Alberta) - the most grandious and beautiful landscape I have ever seen. By the way we spotted a mother grizzly with 2 cubs only 15 meters from the highway. (12-23-2018, 03:50 PM)Wolverine Wrote: @ No, only in my dreams. I've never had the funds to travel like that. I absolutely see the Northern taiga country as being the most beautiful locations on earth.  (12-23-2018, 10:55 AM)Wolverine Wrote: Last month @Rage2277 posted an info about several cases of black bears killed by wolf packs from Ontario (Canada). Here is a new case, this time with brown bear killed by wolves in the mountains of Kyrgizstan (Central Asia), including short video. The carcass was found by shepard: Yes, we have always situations in wildlife, which represent "normal" ways how things go. Then again there are always situations reminding us, that there are a very few "absolute truths", that something could never happen. All the biggest predators are known to lose sometimes to animals, which they usually kill. We have dhole sometimes killing a tiger, hyenas can attack even a male lion time to time while normally avoiding that fight, then again grey wolves often irritates bears on carcass and even manage to make bear go away. When big pack, a bear without a doubt can die, especially if inexperienced individual. Same goes with every animal. I try to avoid words like total or complete domination when talking about wild animals, there is no such thing. We have just how things usually goes or more often or 50/50 situations... If trying to find something, where one could say safely, that never going to happen, I think that a bear, lion or tiger will never kill a blue whale :)  *This image is copyright of its original author Map of wolf packs in Yellowstone NP (2011). On the north-east is most fertile area in all the park - Lamar valley where once upon a time roamed one of the largest ever wolf packs in the history - Druids (up to 40 animals).  *This image is copyright of its original author Wolf and grizzly feeding on bison carcass (Yelowstone):  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
Notorious Grizzly Bears by W.P. Hubbard - 1960 - fighting Ability.
All in all, the grizzly wins most of his battles, for he is a fighter, and once riled he will attack man or beast with no consideration for the consequences to himself. After much study and observation, I am convinced that the only animal feared by the grizzly is the timber wolf, which may weigh up to 120 pounds. Reliable wolf and grizzly hunters of Alaska and Canada say that the grizzly retains his fear of wolves until he is seven or eight years old. ( In other words, a sub-adult grizzly has good reason to fear a wolf pack ).
01-04-2019, 08:52 AM
( This post was last modified: 01-04-2019, 08:59 AM by sanjay
Edit Reason: corrected the formating
)
Informative article:
Interactions between wolves and female grizzly bears with cubs https://www.researchgate.net/publication...ional_Park
I have looked time to time if able to find some case(s) about brown bears and wolves, where wolves would have been able to fight successfully against brown bears. But that seems to be impossible to find any reliable case. First posting of this thread has one video, where is a dead bear, but that case seems to be only one and even in that, as far as I know it isn´t certain what happened. Was it another bear or what? Then one case is in some other thread, where maybe a brown bear cub was killed or something.
It is clear, that cubs are in danger and can be killed. Also young brown bears are possible, even though they can fight hard in desperate situation. It is one thing to intimidate a young bear to leave carcass, then again situation is totally another, when adult bear is there. But that is naturally interesting, that wolves can and dare to irritate quite big younger bears in order to steal some meat or in the best case, whole carcass. Then when adult bear comes to the scene, even big packs let it be and wait. Big dominant male bear and wolf pack, easy to see, that this bear knows the power it has, no hesitation. Wolves also seem to notice same thing. This one is then again younger and smaller bear, which is obviously hungry, less wolves and more work to do for a bear.
If someone haven´t seen, this documentary is a decent one. It includes many cases, which are often seen as short clips in youtube videos. Also case from my previous posting about a big bear and 14 wolves is here with more information from 46.04-48.50. If interested about interaction between wolves and brown bears this documentary is worth watching. Many highlights but in between a lot of good and interesting information. Not crap like so many so called documentaries nowadays are full of.
This is from the department of evolution, ecology, and behavior of the university of Minnesota. They described how an adult grizzly bear usurped a bison calf kill from a pack of 5 wolves. Also, during competition for carcasses, in general, the wolves are the losers and the bears the gainers.
https://qcnr.usu.edu/labs/macnulty_lab/f...202001.pdf (07-31-2019, 02:58 AM)Roberto Wrote: This is from the department of evolution, ecology, and behavior of the university of Minnesota. They described how an adult grizzly bear usurped a bison calf kill from a pack of 5 wolves. Also, during competition for carcasses, in general, the wolves are the losers and the bears the gainers. Most difficult situations are when there is mother bear with small cubs. In those cases it´s not easy for bears. Especially if there are no trees nearby where mother could command cubs to climb to safety so, that it could focus only to wolves. (07-31-2019, 01:19 PM)Shadow Wrote:(07-31-2019, 02:58 AM)Roberto Wrote: This is from the department of evolution, ecology, and behavior of the university of Minnesota. They described how an adult grizzly bear usurped a bison calf kill from a pack of 5 wolves. Also, during competition for carcasses, in general, the wolves are the losers and the bears the gainers. Yes thats true. Anyways, mother bears do pretty good. There are Barely any cubs killed by wolves. Here are no trees. https://youtu.be/Hvm6d-uj1qo (07-31-2019, 02:25 PM)Roberto Wrote:(07-31-2019, 01:19 PM)Shadow Wrote:(07-31-2019, 02:58 AM)Roberto Wrote: This is from the department of evolution, ecology, and behavior of the university of Minnesota. They described how an adult grizzly bear usurped a bison calf kill from a pack of 5 wolves. Also, during competition for carcasses, in general, the wolves are the losers and the bears the gainers. They do decently, but cubs naturally get killed time to time. Wolves are no joke if some cub is too far away for some reason. Of course many other reasons like accidents and male bears are reason to many deaths. But that situation on that video is a nightmare for mother bear, open terrain and no safe places nearby. Can only fight and hope, that wolves get fed up for some reason. And that cubs stay close all the time, not trying to flee in panic. One thing favoring bears in this was, that those cubs weren´t smallest possible, not easy to grab one and run for wolves, when mother there. In such situation, if wolf would try to grab that big cub, mother would most probably be able to land a swipe with paw. |
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