Bear Interactions with Other Predators

[GreenGrolar]

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

If even large captive polar bears are able to instill fear in captive tigers and lions (which can be heavier than their wild counterparts despite losing some of their wits). There is no doubt a wild polar bear would dominate a wild tiger and lion. Reply

[GreenGrolar]

*This image is copyright of its original author

Credit: ©2009 WNET.ORG



"Geographic overlap between wolves and brown (or grizzly) bears was once much more widespread than at present. In Yellowstone National Park (YNP), wolf and brown bear remains were found in the same cave deposits from 960 b.p. (Hadley 1989). Throughout most of their North American and Eurasian ranges, bear populations have experienced human-caused declines in recent years. Nevertheless, brown bears and wolves are still sympatric in significant portions of their former ranges, and interactions between them have been frequently observed. The most extensive observations come from Alaska and northern Canada."


Ballard, B. Warren, Carbyn, N. Ludwig, and Smith, W. Douglass. Wolf Interactions with Non prey. In: Wolves: behavior, ecology and conservation. Boitani L, editors. The University of Chicago Press; Chicago, IL: 2003. pp. 259–271.

http://shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/733/ancient-enemies-brown-bear-wolf Reply

[GreenGrolar]

Bears butting in on Yellowstone wolf kills

Battle of carnivores ultimately has little effect on population.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Bears and wolves vie for a carcass in this Yellowstone National Park file photo. Park biologists say after wolves take down prey, bears often will move in to claim the kill. PHOTO COURTESY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE


Wolves and bears in Yellowstone National Park squabble over elk carcasses, but the two species have little impact on each other’s overall population, a park biologist said last week.
Park wolf biologist Doug Smith outlined research and observation regarding the interaction of the two species in front of a group of bear managers who met at Spring Creek Ranch last week. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee and the Yellowstone Ecosystem
Subcommittee of federal and state land and wildlife officials provide oversight for grizzly bear management in the ecosystem.


“When you see wolves and bears next to each other, 95 percent of the time there’s something dead that they’re both feeding on,” Smith said. “Typically what happens is wolves kill it, and bears take it.”
“Bears generally will find and take a carcass,” Smith said. “It’s not a matter of if, but when.”
During confrontations between wolves and bears, especially over food, bears in Yellowstone win roughly 80 percent of the time, Smith said. In other places such as Banff National Park in Canada, bears win a carcass about 50 percent of the time. The reason for the discrepancy is unclear, Smith said.
That doesn’t mean wolves give up on what’s often their own hard-earned kill. Opportunistic grizzlies
 
“Wolves will harass bears because they’re much quicker,” Smith said. “Bears are more powerful.”
It’s usually male grizzly bears that will claim a carcass from wolves. Researchers have documented up to 12, and perhaps as many as 20, grizzly bears on a single kill, with wolves typically hanging around the periphery as “bystanders,” Smith said.
Grizzlies tend to take advantage of wolf-killed carcasses and other carcasses during poor whitebark pine seed crop years, according to data. Bears are found on wolf kills during August, September and October more often on bad whitebark years than during good years.
More work is needed to discern whether those data are significant, Smith said. Whitebark pine nuts are an important fall grizzly food, and the high-elevation tree is under threat from global warming, beetles and blister rust.
Smith’s report on wolf-grizzly interactions comes as the wolf population has taken a 60 percent plunge in the park’s northern range, echoing a similar decline in the region’s elk herd, Smith said.
“We peaked ... and now we’re going down,” he said. “Wolves are adjusting to their food base.”
When wolves were first brought back to Yellowstone starting in 1995, pack sizes were generally large and wolves had plenty to eat. More recently, wolf packs have been documented fighting and even killing each other for the best territories. Behavior varies with habitat
 
Smith showed one photo of a wolf that appeared to have starved to death. Back in the early days of the wolf recovery, “it was unheard of to have a wolf that died of starvation,” Smith said.
Researchers have found some wolf carcasses have had low fat content in their bone marrow, which can be a sign malnutrition, Smith said. Diseases such as mange and distemper also have impacted the park’s wolf population.


On the other hand, grizzly bears appear to have little impact on the wolf population, and vice versa, Smith said.
“There’s no relationship at all,” he said. “These species have coexisted for a long time.”
Researchers have documented four grizzly cubs that were killed by wolves, Smith said. Unlike in the Yukon, where grizzlies have been know to dig out wolf dens, in Yellowstone that behavior is thus far unrecorded.
“We’ve never seen a bear dig a den out,” Smith said.
“Wolves have very different behavior around a kill compared to a den,” he said. “They kind of act like a mosquito on the bear. I’ve seen wolves biting bears on the butt ... harassing them away from the den.”
As for the decline in Yellowstone’s northern range elk herd, Smith said the answer is complicated. Drought has likely caused some of the decline, and predators certainly play a role.
“When you have this many carnivores, you probably can’t expect to have as many prey as you did in a carnivore-free system,” he said.
Still, this regulation of the elk population by grizzly bears and wolves could be a good thing. Instead of a boom-and-bust cycle, where the elk population increases then declines dramatically in the absence of predators, wolves and grizzlies might cause a smoothing effect on elk fluctuations.
“Wolves could be a buffer against climate change because of that smoothing effect,” Smith said.

https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/bears-butting-in-on-yellowstone-wolf-kills/article_f6d6e2a9-019f-5c45-b460-2fb21c2574ad.html Reply

[Luipaard]

Leopard and sloth bear sharing a waterhole @Nagzira Navegaon Tiger Reserve

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[BloodyClaws]

Two tigresses killed by a brown bear

Russian
Два амурских тигра погибли в Приморье в схватке с медведем

ВЛАДИВОСТОК, 02 марта, PrimaMedia. Вероятная встреча с бурым медведем привела к гибели нынешней зимой двух самок амурского тигра на территории Сихотэ-Алинского государственного природного биосферного заповедника в Приморском крае.
Как сообщает официальный сайт Росприроднадзора, в верхнем течении кластера Ханова (бассейн реки Куналейка) 21 января 2010 года были обнаружены останки радиомеченной тигрицы Веры и ее радиоошейник. По мнению специалистов, возможной причиной произошедшего могло стать нападение на тигрицу бурого медведя.
Впервые тигрица Вера была отловлена и помечена радиоошейником в 2002 году. После окончания работы ошейника, в 2007 году, тигрица была поймана вторично и оснащена новым ошейником. На момент гибели тигрице было восемь лет. Предположительно, у нее были двое тигрят в возрасте 17-18 месяцев.

В верхнем течении кластера Правая Полуденная (бассейн реки Колумбе) 17 февраля 2010 года были найдены останки радиомеченной тигрицы Ани и ее радиоошейник. На ошейнике были четко видны следы от зубов крупного хищника. Вероятной причиной гибели тигрицы специалисты ведомства также считают столкновение с бурым медведем.
Тигрица Аня была отловлена для радиомечения в устье кластера Солонцовый (бассейн реки Заболоченная) в ноябре 2009 года в возрасте 1,8 года. На момент отлова она ходила вместе с братом и матерью. Возможно, молодая тигрица оказалась в районе бассейна реки Колумбе в поисках собственной территории. Судя по данным, снятым с GPS-ошейника, гибель хищницы наступила 10-11 декабря 2009 года.
Сихотэ-Алинский государственный биосферный природный заповедник был организован 10 февраля 1935 года и является уникальной природной сокровищницей России. Первоначальная цель его создания - сохранение и восстановление почти истребленного в то время соболя. В настоящее время заповедник представляет собой наиболее удобное место для проведения наблюдений за амурским тигром. Сихотэ-Алинский заповедник был также первым природным парком на Дальнем Востоке, включенным ЮНЕСКО во всемирную систему биосферных заповедников.

English
Two Amur tigers died in Primorye in a battle with a bear

VLADIVOSTOK, March 02, PrimaMedia . A likely encounter with a brown bear led to the death of two Amur tiger females this winter in the Sikhote-Alin State Natural Biosphere Reserve in the Primorsky Territory.
According to the official website of Rosprirodnadzor, in the upper reaches of the Khanov cluster (the Kunaleika river basin) on January 21, 2010, the remains of the radio-labeled tigress Vera and her radio collar were discovered. According to experts, a possible cause of what happened could be an attack on a brown bear tigress.
For the first time, the tigress Vera was captured and tagged with a radio collar in 2002. After the collar ended in 2007, the tigress was caught a second time and equipped with a new collar. At the time of her death, the tigress was eight years old. Presumably, she had two tiger cubs aged 17-18 months.

On February 17, 2010, the remains of the radio-labeled tigress Ani and her radio collar were found in the upper reaches of the Right Midday Cluster (Columbe Basin). Traces from the teeth of a large predator were clearly visible on the collar. Experts of the department also consider a collision with a brown bear a likely cause of the death of the tigress.
The tigress Anya was caught for radio-tagging at the mouth of the Solontsovy cluster (Zabolochennaya river basin) in November 2009 at the age of 1.8 years. At the time of capture, she went with her brother and mother. Perhaps the young tigress found herself in the area of the Columbus river basin in search of her own territory. Judging by the data taken from the GPS-collar, the death of a predator occurred on December 10-11, 2009.
The Sikhote-Alin State Biosphere Nature Reserve was established on February 10, 1935 and is a unique natural treasury of Russia. The original purpose of its creation is the preservation and restoration of sable almost exterminated at that time. Currently, the reserve is the most convenient place for observing the Amur tiger. The Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve was also the first natural park in the Far East to be included by UNESCO in the global system of biosphere reserves.

https://primamedia.ru/news/118750/

An adult and young tigress killed by a brown bear Reply

[TheHyenid76]

Footage of a grizzly bear chasing a mountain lion (both seem young but I could be wrong)

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