Survival Skills of Bears

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal by Enos Abijah Mills. 
The grizzly eagerly earns his own living; he is not a loafer. Much work is done in digging out a cony, a woodchuck, or some other small animal from a rock-slide. In two hours' time I have known him to move a mass of earth that must have weighed tons, leaving an excavation large enough for a private cellar. I have come upon numbers of holes from which a grizzly had removed literally tons of stone. In places these holes were five or six feet deep. Around the edges the stones were piled as though for a barricade. In some of them several soldiers could have found room and excellent shelter for ordinary defense. 
When a large stone is encountered in his digging the grizzly grabs it in both fore paws, shakes and tears it loose from the earth, and hurls it aside. I have seen him toss huge stones over his shoulder and throw larger ones forward with one paw. Grizzlies show both skill and thought in nearly everything they do. They have strength, alert wits, and clever paws, and commonly work at high speed. Yet they appear deliberate in their actions and work in a painstaking manner.  Reply

[Vinay]

btw Which one is correct (or) how many bear species are there in the world??

All black/brown bears are one??

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Reply

[brotherbear]

As for living bear species, there are eight ( middle picture above ), the giant panda, the Andes bear, the sun bear, the sloth bear, the Asiatic black bear, the American black bear, the grizzly ( brown bear ), and the polar bear. Reply

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal by Enos Abijah Mills.   
 In only exceptional cases has the grizzly been a killer of big game. In his search for food he digs out small mammals and kills rabbits and beaver. He is not likely to attempt anything as large as wild sheep, but when a grizzly forms the habit of killing big animals he is likely to make this serve as his entire food-supply. Thus a cattle-killing grizzly is likely to give his chief attention to the killing of cattle, or incidentally to that of sheep, deer, or elk. In the days of the buffalo the great herds frequently were trailed by one or more grizzlies. These, however, probably obtained most of their meat from carcasses left behind by storms, drowning, or other means of death. 
In the course of miles of daily wandering the grizzly may occasionally come upon a wounded animal or a carcass. If his find be large, he may lie close until it is consumed; or he may make a cache of it, returning again and again until it is eaten. Grizzlies will bury an elk in the earth or cover the carcass of a cow with numbers of logs. Nothing is more common than for them to cover a carcass with refuse consisting of twigs, fallen leaves, grass, and trash. They will cover a quantity of fish with stones and logs.  Reply

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal by Enos Abijah Mills. 
In April, 1904, "Old Mose," an outlaw grizzly, was killed on Black Mountain, Colorado. For thirty-five years he had kept up his cattle-killing depredations. During this time he was often seen and constantly hunted, and numerous attempts were made to trap him. His home territory was about seventy-five miles in diameter and lay across the Continental Divide. He regularly killed cattle, horses, sheep, and hogs in this territory, and, so far as known, did not leave this region even briefly. Two missing toes on his left hind foot were the means of identifying his track. 
Old Mose killed at least five men and eight hundred cattle, together with dozens of colts and other live stock. His damage must have exceeded thirty thousand dollars. Often he smashed the fences that were in his way. He had a fiendish habit of slipping up on campers or prospectors, then rushing into their camp with a roar, and he evidently enjoyed the stampedes thus caused. On these occasions he made no attempt to attack. Although he slaughtered stock in excess, he never went out and attacked people. The five men whom he killed were men who had cornered him and were attempting to kill him. 
Rarely do grizzlies kill cattle or big game. Old Mose was an exception. None of the other grizzlies in the surrounding mountains killed live stock. During his last years Old Mose was followed at a distance by a "cinnamon" bear of large size. This grizzly had nothing to do with the killing, never associated with Old Mose, but simply fed on the abundance which he left behind.
A heavy price on his head led the most skillful hunters and trappers to try for Old Mose. Three of the best hunters were killed by him. All trapping schemes failed; so, too, did attempts to poison. Finally he was cornered by a pack of dogs, and the hunter ended his career with the eighth shot. 
Though Old Mose was forty or more years of age when killed, his teeth were sound, his fur was in good condition, and he had every appearance of being in excellent health. He was apparently good for several years more of vigorous life. Reply

[Polar]

@brotherbear,

Wow! From that description within post #125, looks like Old Mose was one of those "exceptionally smart, yet trick-bending" grizzlies! 

It is one thing to know how to avoid a hunter, but it's another thing to succesfully evade dog packs, huge hunter groups, and physical barriers for 40+ years! Reply

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal by Enos Mills.
The grizzly bear has the most curiosity of any animal that I have ever watched. As curiosity arises from the desire to know, it appears that the superior mentality of the grizzly may be largely due to the alertness which curiosity sustains.
When looking at scenery and sunsets, his appearance is one of enjoyment; he appears to have feeling in the conscious presence of that which we call beautiful or glorious. I have seen a grizzly looking at a magnificent and many-colored sunset, completely absorbed. There was no fear at a flash of lightning or the roar and echoing roll of thunder. Once I saw a grizzly turn to stare at the course of a shooting star; another gazed for seconds at a brilliant rainbow. 
Generally the grizzly's attention to these demonstrations rose superior to commonplace curiosity; he looked long, he listened closely, he was absorbed, and he appeared to feel as he sat lost in wonder. Had he been a child, with the power of speech, he certainly would have asked questions. Often his expression, his attitude, indicated that he was saying to himself: "What was that? What caused it? Where did that noise come from? What are those strange shadows running from, and how can they move without a sound?" Reply

[brotherbear]

Great Bear Almanac by Gary Brown.
Running.
Bears, with the exception of the giant panda, run quite well. They are fast and agile, though their speed is maintained only for short distances. Many run with power, and are fifty percent faster than humans. "The grizzly can barrel, tank-like, through thick brush that would bring a man to a complete halt," relates Laycock. The stride of one galloping bear was recorded at seventeen feet between tracks.
Bears run to catch prey, inspect an unknown situation or movement, escape from a threat, to play, and for no apparent purpose. 
They run uphill and downhill with speed and agility. "The rumor ( bears cannot run downhill without stumbling ) is untrue," relates Stephen Herrero in 'Bear Attacks'. "I have watched grizzly bears chase one another, and... elk and bighorn sheep - downhill, uphill, sidehill - wherever the pursuit leads. I have never seen a bear stumble." 
"He was going so fast," relates W.P.Hubbard, describing an American black bear in 'Notorious Grizzly Bears', "his hind feet were up by his ears when his front feet were under and behind him. He was all action, a big black bottom, with four stems churning for all they were worth."
Bears' endurance is exceptional. They have been known to run without a break for ten miles. A sow with two cubs is reported to have traveled more than twenty miles through mountainous terrain in one hour. Reply

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal by Enos Mills.
James Capen Adams hunted and trapped big game from 1849 to 1859 in California and along the Pacific Coast. He captured numerous grizzlies, both old and young, and literally domesticated them. He discusses their characteristics at length. He knew them intimately, and in summing them up after years of close association he says of the grizzly, "He did not invite combat."
Dr. W.T. Hornaday knows the grizzly in the wilds and has long and intimately known him in the zoo. In "The American Natural History" Dr. Hornaday has the following:- "I have made many observations on the temper of the Grizzly Bear, and am convinced that naturally the disposition of this reputed savage creature is rather peaceful and good-natured. At the same time, however, no animal is more prompt to resent an affront or injury, or punish an offender. The Grizzly temper is defensive, not aggressive; and unless the animal is cornered, or thinks he is cornered, he always flees from man. Reply

[brotherbear]

The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal by Enos Mills. 
The early explorers were warned by the Indians that the grizzly was "an awful and ferocious animal." All the early writers had the preconceived belief that the grizzly was ferocious. Many of these writers never saw a grizzly, but wrote down as fact the erroneous conclusions of the Indians. The few writers who did see a grizzly evidently judged him largely from these preconceived ideas. Even Lewis and Clark describe a number of the grizzly's actions which they describe simply show him as being curious, interested, or, at worst, excited at their strange appearance. They misinterpreted what actually happened. 
A few sentences from Audubon well illustrate the wrought-up frame of mind of many hunters and authors when hunting or writing about the grizzly. Audubon says:- "While in the neighborhood where the grizzly bear may possibly be hidden, the excited nerves will cause the heart's pulsations to quicken if but a startled ground squirrel run past, the sharp click of the lock is heard and the rifle hastily thrown to the shoulder before a second of time has assured the hunter of the trifling cause of his emotion." This suggests emotion but no accuracy.  Reply

[brotherbear]

Great Bear Almanac by Gary Brown - Common Foods.
American Black Bear - Not great hunters; Use's claws, lips, tongue, and incisor teeth to remove seeds, insects, and other small morsels with dexterity; Diet consists of 85% vegetable matter; Uses incisors to bite grass stems.
Asiatic Black Bear - Eats a large variety of foods; Uses domestic livestock when forced by poor natural foods.
Brown Bear - North American brown bear have higher percentage of vegetation ( 85 to 98% ) and lower percentage of fruits than many other bears in their diet; eat more than 200 types of plants; Syrian brown bear almost totally vegetarian; Kamchatka brown bear feeds principally on fish; Feeds less than nine hours a day in some areas; Bites grass stems with molars; Uses claws as a specialized feeding "tool"; Some European brown bears scoot on their haunches and butt when feeding, consuming the foods between their legs; Uses teeth and claws to catch fish; seldom slap fish out of water; Can catch 60 to 100 fish a day; Can eat 35 pounds of fish in a day; Can consume 80 to 90 pounds of fish a day during the peak of a spawning season; Eats all of a fish except the head and gills; Consumes more animals, prey and carcasses than American and Asiatic black bears.
Polar Bear - Most carnivorous of the bears; Only bear that spends more time in the water and eats more meat than the brown bear; Stalks areas with open water and active movements of ice, and where they are most apt to find seals; Stands to observe and locate a dark object on the ice; Often synchronizes feeding on seals with the seals patterns of sleeping alongside its breathing hole; Stomach capacity is 150 pounds; Eats skin and blubber first, then meat; eats 100 to 150 pounds of blubber per meal; Eats mostly skin and blubber of the seal; one seal is energy for eleven days; Typically kills and eats a seal once every four to five days; Digs for puffins and begs for blubber from whaling ships; Eats berries during the summer; ( butt and muzzle stained bluish ).
Sloth Bear - Expert termite hunter; discovers termites by smell ( termites are the year-round staple ); Capable of locating a grub three feet deep in the ground; Specialized snout for vacuuming termites and ants; lacks two incisor teeth; has long snout and lips that form a tube; closes nostrils by pressing down nose pad; Noisy, with sucking sound heard more than 200 yards away; Does not meet in feeding groups like other bears, due to even food dispersal; Fruits are important April through June; Rarely preys on other mammals or feeds on carrion.
Sun Bear - Uses exceptionally long tongue for specialized feeding; Eats small vertebrates, invertebrates, fruits, and other vegetation.
Spectacled Bear - More vegetarian than most species of bears ( diet is 95% vegetable matter ); Bromeliads make up 46.8% of diet; Eats some plant foods that are too tough for other animals ( cactus and woody plants ); Remains in trees for several days during the trees' short fruit-ripening period ( longer than other bears ).
Giant Panda - Has very low level of digestibility; Must eat often and for long periods of time to gain the necessary nutrition; Actively feeds over fourteen hours per day ( 65% of the day during spring; 52% in the summer; and 62% in the winter ); May consume 45 to 85 pounds of bamboo per day; Sits and brings food to its mouth with paws; It has a good sense of taste and smell which seems unnecessary for an animal that eats only bamboo. Reply

[brotherbear]

http://www.all-creatures.org/bear/b-bearintel.html 
BEAR INTELLIGENCE

The thing about bears that perhaps fascinates people the most is their remarkable intelligence. They are the most intelligent native nonhuman animals in North America, and many modern bear biologists accredit them with the equivalent IQ of the great apes, some even dare give them the equivalent intelligence of a 3-year-old human.

Now, this isn't very remarkable by our standards, because 3-year-olds aren't very smart, and certainly can't theoretically formulate the existence of undetectable black holes and dark matter, or engineer interstellar spacecraft, but how much of a difference in brain structure or intelligence does such a leap in cognitive ability require? ...When it all comes down to it, pretty much just a few extra ounces of neural tissue on the outer layer of the cerebrum. That, along with the acquired knowledge of our forefathers, and the will, explorative curiosity and fascination and determination to discover and unravel new mysteries. ...that's what separates the mind of a three year old, a bear, an ape or a dolphin from the mind of Steven Hawking or Albert Einstein.

...far greater a difference and advancement in cogition is the difference between an autonomic brain that only serves as an organ of controlling basic bodily function, like that of an aurthropod or lesser vertebrate, or that of a sophisticated brained mammal with the capacity for subjective emotion and basic reasoning and understanding of simple concepts. These are abilities that most large-brained carnivores and primates share, and we should all feel kinship towards each other as common kin in this ability.

When it comes to loving animals, it can be easy to have a bit of a bias in admiring the more brainy animals. This can be due to a natural human feeling of incontendedness in the laid down scientific dogma that humans are extremely unique and alone on Earth. It just doesn't evolutionarily make sense. We didn't just evolve from nothing, all the mammals are related to us in some way, they're our cousins, and all of our brains must share at least some basic similarity in function and capacity. Where else would our capabilities have originated from? There is no reasonable denying that the evolutionary development of our modern brains stems from common roots; in the level of sophisticated higher brain functioning that many of our close mammalian relatives share.

...So now we shall explore the intelligence of one of the 'brainiest' of the mammals, the bears. 
...I wish I had better documented sources for all of these facts and anecdotal info, but all I can say is that it comes mostly from things found in the writings by Ben Kilham, Steven Stringham, Charlie Russell, and Lynn Rogers. All of it is as true as their words. So enjoy!

COGNITION AND REASONING:

here is an excerpt form Lynn Rogers' overview of bear intelligence:

Black Bears:

-Large brain compared to body size.
-One of the more intelligent mammals.



-Navigation ability superior to humans.



-Excellent long-term memory.



-Can generalize to the simple concept level.



"Bears may be the most intelligent of the North American mammals according to their brain structure, the experience of animal trainers, and tests at the Psychology Department of the University of Tennessee. Grizzly bear mothers spend 1½ to 3½ years showing their cubs where and how to obtain food. The cubs’ ability to form mental maps and remember locations may exceed human ability."



Ben Kilham says bears have intelligence comparable to that of the great apes.



A biologists in British Columbia that has studied bears for 20 years estimates their intelligence to be at about the same level as a 3-year-old human.



Famous bear trainer Doug Seuss claims that his brown bear Bart must have been at least as intelligent as a chimpanzee, and according to him Bart wasn't even an extraordinarily intelligent individual as far as brown bears went.

TOOL USE:



-Bears using sticks, branches, etc, to scratch themselves



-Bears picking up and throwing objects such as rocks during play, sometimes at random, sometimes aiming at each other (!!!)



-Polar Bears throwing chunks of ice at walruses to bludgeon them and knock them out



-other more complex usage of tools has been allegedly observed before in bears, for instance, Doug Seuss's kodiak grizzly Bart picked up and carried a wooden board to a thorny bramble set it down over it, and used it as a 'bridge' to walk over the thorny bramble safely so he could get to a coke can he found in the middle of it.



-During Charlie Russell's bear co-existence study in Kamchatka, a wild mother brown bear named "Brandy" would sometimes leave her cubs behind with Charlie, and then go off by herself to forage, using Charlie as a "babysitter" for her cubs. ...does this qualify as bears using humans as tools? it's a bit of a leap, but worth mentioning...


SELF AWARENESS:
-It is not known wether bears are capable of having self-awareness, such a capacity is very iffy, about 75% of chimps can recognize their reflection in a mirror, but 25% never figure it out. Self-awareness is no absolute or certain capability, and it is so strange that there is no real certainty that an animal is actually thinking "Hey! I'm an animal! How cool is that!" When was the last time you thought that? It's true, I swear, go look in a mirror...



-in cases in which bears see their reflection, the reaction at first is usually being frightened at it or swatting at it with a paw, but sometimes bears also appear to be mystified and fascinated with their reflection, sometimes staring at it with curiosity for long periods of time or licking and biting at the reflective surface to test its substance. Does this mean they're figuring out that it's not another bear but perhaps their own reflection? Do they ever think "Hey! I'm a bear, How cool is that!" There's no way anyone can know this for certain so there's not even any point in discussing it.



SENSE OF BEAUTY

-many people have witnessed bears in the wild partaking in unusual behavior such as sitting still for long periods of time in one spot doing apparently nothing but staring at scenic vistas such as sunsets, lakes and mountains. There is very little explanation as to what use or purpose is in this behavior except in theorizing that the bears merely find such views to be aesthetic and "beautiful".



ALTRUISM



-In some cases bears care for each other, especially mothers for their cubs and siblings for each other. They will risk their lives, even fight to the death defending their own cubs or siblings from danger in some cases.



-bears do grieve for others, bear cubs wail when hunters shoot their mothers in front of them, and will moan and cry for weeks afterward in apparent grief. Although they may emotionally recover faster than humans do, they are not without love and altruism for others, and are deeply hurt, perhaps for life, when someone dear to them is taken away.



CONCLUSION



Is any of this true or for certain? Can any of it be firmly proven by science? It can't be said, and probably can't be proven or certified in the mind of any objectively rational scientist. It might even be redundant and pointless to speculate all of this, as intelligence is such an immensely complex, multifaceted realm that we still know very, very little about, I don't want to be misleading anyone here. Intelligence is certainly NOT something that can just be measured like body temperature, and an IQ number is just totally irrelevant. Some people might even say that most animals are "smarter" than us, because there are so many things about life they know about that we have forgotten, and so many things we can't understand or comprehend that they can. Bears can't compose rap music or invent an atomic bomb, but they can create mental maps better than we can. In what other ways would they surprise us if we could truly peer into their minds? When it all comes down to it, when all of this is put into consideration, how can anyone measure something as immeasurable as intelligence so rashly? Do we even have any idea what intelligence really is?


...Are we not just dumb animals ourselves, a bunch of cranium-scratching primates still trying to figure all of this out? Perhaps the only one that really has his mind around things is a force greater and higher than all of us... Reply

[brotherbear]

http://www.livescience.com/53483-omnivores.html 
By Alina Bradford, Live Science Contributor | January 25, 2016 11:53pm ET 

Omnivores are the most flexible eaters of the animal kingdom. They eat both plants and meat, and many times what they eat depends on what is available to them. When meat is scarce, many animals will fill their diets with vegetation and vice versa, according to National Geographic. 

Size

Animal omnivores (including humans) come in many different sizes. The largest terrestrial omnivore is the endangered Kodiak bear. It can grow up to 10 feet tall (3.04 meters) and weigh up to 1,500 lbs. (680 kilograms), according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Kodiaks eat grass, plants, fish, berries and the occasional mammal.

Ants may be the smallest omnivores. One of the smallest ants is the pharaoh ant, which grows to only 0.04 to 0.08 inches (1 to 2 millimeters), according to the University of Michigan. They eat a variety of foods that include eggs, carrion, insects, body fluids, nuts, seeds, grains, fruit nectar, sap and fungus. 

Omnivores in the food chain

Like herbivores and carnivores, omnivores are a very important part of the food chain or web. “Some nodes in that web may have dozens of strands attached to it and if you remove that node the web can begin to fall apart,” Kyle McCarthy, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology in the University of Delaware’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, told Live Science. 

Creatures in the food chain or web are also classified into a system called the trophic system. The trophic system has three levels. The top level includes omnivores and carnivores. The second level includes herbivores (animals that eat vegetation) and the bottom level includes living things that produce their own energy, like plants. When one level of the trophic system is removed, all of the trophic levels below them are affected. This is called a "trophic cascade," explained McCarthy. 

Omnivores help keep in check both animal populations and vegetation growth. Removing an omnivore species can lead to vegetation overgrowth and an overabundance of any creatures that was part of its diet. 

Digestion

Omnivores have very distinctive teeth that help with the digestion of their varied diets. They often have long, sharp, pointed teeth to rip and cut meat and flat molars to crush plant material. One good example is the human mouth. Humans have canines and incisors that bite and tear into food and molars and premolars that are used to crush food. While most animals have sharper, more pointed teeth for tearing and ripping, the concept is the same. 
 
Some omnivores, such as chickens, have no teeth and swallow their food whole, according to the Animal Nutrition Handbook. The food is softened in the stomach by hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. Then, the food gets broken down in the gizzard, a strong digestive muscle, and rocks that the chicken has swallowed.



Omnivores have a different digestive system that either carnivores or herbivores. Carnivores have a very simple digestive tract because meat is easy to digest. Herbivores, on the other hand, can have very complex digestive systems that can include multiple stomach chambers and regurgitating food for rechewing, because plant materials are much harder to digest. 



Omnivores, for the most part, are somewhere in the middle. They have a limited ability to digest certain plant materials. Instead of trying to process the harder materials, though, the omnivore’s digestive tract sends the material out as waste. 



Why did some animals evolve to eat meat or vegetation while others eat both? It comes down to availability of resources. “In terms of evolving to be a meat eater or plant eater, basically, any place there is available energy you will have a ‘niche’ for a species to fill in the ecosystem,” said McCarthy. 


Meat eaters evolved in areas where meat was plentiful while herbivores evolved in areas where vegetation was plentiful. Omnivores are the most adaptive of all the species and thrive in a larger range of environments. Reply

[brotherbear]

In Pleistocene North America, the black bear replaced the Florida cave bear, a close relative of our modern Andean bear. I believe because the black bear was a tree-climber and probably had lots of other superior survival skills. Only bears of the genus Ursus are known to hibernate. It is uncertain whether or not any of the short-faced bears ever had this ability. Also, the black bear may have had a more varied diet.
It is believed by *some experts that the grizzly played a roll in the extinction of the giant short-faced bear. Simply by possessing superior survival skills, such as a more varied diet and hibernation, the grizzly may have displaced Artodus simus. Another unusual survival trait of the grizzly is his great size variation which depends upon environment and food availability. Few wild animals have such an extreme size variation within one species. It is not always the biggest and strongest who survives when two are in competition. 
 
I will edit and add to this, even though the grizzly is bigger and stronger than the black bear, between the two, if one were to go extinct - even leaving out the human equation - the black bear is more likely to be the one who survives. He has that one trick that the grizzly isn't good at - tree climbing. Reply