Bear’s Quest for Calories

Living around humans, bears have developed a taste for people's garbage because it is often higher in calories than their natural food sources. Below, common types of human foods are contrasted with how many acorns a bear would have to eat to get the same amount of calories.

A dozen eggs is 888 calories. That is equql to 234 acorns.

A pound of hot dogs is 1,456 calories. That is equal to 384 acorns.

A McDonald’s double cheeseburger combo is 1,620 calories. That is equal to 427 acorns.

A pound of Black oil sunflower seeds is 1,740 calories. That is equal to 458 acorns.

A dozen Jelly donuts is 2,640 calories. That is equal to 695 acorns.

A large Pepperoni Pizza is 17,352 calories. That is equal to 4,566 acorns.

Compare that to 25 pounds of Purina dog chow. That is 42,425 calories. That is equal to 11,165 acorns.

I think that now you are getting the picture why bears prefer human food over acrons. Plus acrons don't taste that good!

Report from the field, Montana

John taylor (my colleague from Wildlife Media) and I just returned from a short trip to Montana where we were meeting with the folks from Vital Ground about their work to create conservation easements in grizzly bear habitat. Vital Ground was born of the "movie star" Bart the Bear who appeared on the big screen alongside actors like Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt.

His trainers, Doug and Lynne Seus decided they wanted to give something back to the grizzly bear and decided that taking steps to protect habitat was just right. We had a great day with the board, hearing about their work in Montana, Idaho, and Alaska.

En route to Missoula we had a chance to drop in at Counter Assault, the bear pepper spray manufacturers based in Kalispell. Pride Johnson was kind enough to give us a tour of the factory where it all happens. We were very impressed with the facility and the great people who work there. Bear pepper spray is the very best line of defense against an aggressive bear.

When dispensed, the canister shoots out a cloud of pepper spray and upon contact with the bear's nasal cavity and respiratory system creates a very uncomfortable diversion. The "heat" or "hotness" of pepper spray, and the associated peppers that the "heat ingredient" capsaicin is derived from is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). A sweet bell pepper is rated at 0, while green pepper Tabasco sauce may be 600-800. Jalapeno peppers range from 2500-8000 SHU. The capsaicin used to produce bear pepper spray is rated at.....wait for it......16,000,000 SHU (yes, 16 million). So it packs quit the punch!

You can read more about Counter Assault's products at www.counterassault.com. And for more general bear safety tips see the safety page of our webpage: www.bearinfo.org/bearsafety.htm

Remember, the chances of being attacked by a bear are incredibly small, but it is always good to be prepared. Thank you to Counter Assault, for their support and encouragement.


Submitted by:
Chris Morgan
Director, GBOP

Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) meeting

Want to learn about grizzlies in the North Cascades? Want to get involved with the recovery of grizzly bears in the North Cascades Ecosystem (NCE)?

If so, you will want to attend the next Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) meeting. Periodically a committee of inter-agency personnel meets to address issues and progress relative to the recovery of the NCE grizzly bear population. These meetings are open to the public.

Spring Meeting 2009
North Cascades Ecosystem Meeting
Date: May 6, 2009
Time: 10 am - 3 pm. No lunch break is scheduled.
Location: Chelan County Fire District #3
Community Center
228 Chumstick Hwy
Leavenworth, Washington

Documentary on the life of Charles Jonkel

The Great Bear Foundation, Salish Kootenai College Media, and Ursus International are pleased to announce the launching of a documentary film on the life and work of Dr. Charles Jonkel, a patriarch of bear biology, and one of the most interesting, inspiring characters of our time.

Charles Jonkel has devoted his life to the study and conservation of wild bears and their habitat. A pioneer of bear biology, Jonkel was one of the first four researchers to study black bears in the field after the invention of the dart gun. With his successful work on black bears, the Canadian government sought him out to lead their groundbreaking research on polar bears, one of the first field studies ever conducted on wild polar bears.

In his eight years in the Arctic, Jonkel compiled the first reliable, comprehensive scientific database on wild polar bears. He developed the concept that polar bears make up distinct subpopulations that inhabit specific areas, disproving Peder Pedersen’s theory that the world’s polar bears consist of one population, traveling around the entire circumpolar region. Realizing the cultural importance of the polar bear hunt to Native people and its vital place in their subsistence lifestyle, Jonkel fought for and secured Native hunting rights in Canada. The quota system that he developed to manage polar bear hunting combined Inuit traditional knowledge, or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, with western science to determine the total number of allowable kills from year to year and. He and others set up the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), creating a framework for cooperation among the five countries with polar bear populations. This group became the model for all IUCN specialist groups. Charles Jonkel has worked in more areas of the Arctic than anyone else alive.

After nearly a decade working on polar bears, Dr. Jonkel returned to Montana where he taught wildlife biology at the University of Montana. His Border Grizzly Project was one of the most comprehensive studies of grizzly bears and their habitat requirements ever conducted. It helped to shape habitat, quota systems, and forest management policies in the West and to establish a better understanding of cumulative human impacts on grizzly bears. For the first time, policymakers and biologists were forced to examine the cumulative effects of all human activities and all other impacts on wildlife, rather than just the immediate, direct impacts of a specific project. Jonkel went on to direct research on aversive conditioning, testing the effects of potential bear repellants on black and grizzly bears.

While Jonkel is considered a father of bear biology, his influence extends far beyond the scientific community. Studying polar bears, he fell in love with the Arctic and became a champion of this little known northern world and the people and wildlife that inhabit it. Decades later, Jonkel continues his crusade to teach people about the Arctic, its beauty, and the threats that face the region today. As President and Scientific Adviser of the Great Bear Foundation, Jonkel devotes much of his time to educating the public about the world’s eight species of bears, their ecology, and the need to preserve their habitat.

Few people, if any, have done as much for bears as Dr. Jonkel. The Great Bear Foundation is seeking support for this effort - for more information visit their site.

Nan Laney relocates to California

I’m in the midst of a move back to Northern California after 21 years of living and working in Northwest Washington. It’s been raining here continuously for 10 days, and while the vegetation outside my home office is different enough to cause me to take pause and notice -- oaks, redwoods, bay laurel, manzanita and madrones –– the weather has been highly reminiscent of Western Washington. So much for sunny California!

I recently picked up the book, California Grizzly, by Tracy Storer and Lloyd Tevis Jr, published originally in 1955. I’ve always been curious about the history of grizzly bears in California, in part because of the constant reminder of their former presence on the State’s flag.

It’s estimated that there were 10,000 grizzly bears in California. Nearly all the state was traversed by grizzly bears -- from the Trinity Range to the Modoc Plateau at the northern end of the state, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, the Sierra, San Jacinto and San Bernadino Mountain Ranges, the coastal areas and coast ranges, and spanning south into San Diego County and across the border into Mexico. Only the deserts were uninhabited.

The story of the reduction in numbers and extirpation of grizzly bears in California is not dissimilar from their trajectory in other parts of their range in lower 48 states, Canada and Alaska, and on other continents. Almost everywhere grizzlies have existed they have been pushed out of their ideal habitats in more open country, where food sources are plentiful, to the mountains that are less desirable to humans for development, and for growing crops and livestock. As European human presence increased in California, a marked increase in grizzly bears were killed, and numbers were greatly reduced. By the 1880s grizzlies were nearly extirpated from California’s lowlands and were found primarily in the hilly and mountainous areas of the state. The last grizzlies were eradicated from the state in the 1920s.

Native Americans in California did not keep written records of grizzly bear interactions. However bears occupy an important place in Native American cultural and spiritual identity, spanning thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The first written documentation of the presence of the bears are found in the journals of the early Spanish explorers. In 1769, at the site of San Luis Obispo, the Portola expedition saw “troops of bears” and found the land excavated where the animals had been grubbing for roots. The records of John Bidwell document seeing 16 grizzly bears in one “drove” in the Sacramento Valley in 1841, and stated that “grizzly bear were almost an hourly sight, in the vicinity of the streams, and it was not uncommon to see thirty to forty a day.”

The history of grizzly bears in California is punctuated by the influence of the Spanish explorers who lassoed and killed grizzlies for sport using their lariats, or reatas made of four-strand rawhide, from the backs of their horses. The Spanish also staged fights between grizzlies and bulls during fiestas and on feast days at the missions and presidios. Bear and bull fights were a carry-over from the same practices in Spain, and these staged fights drew attendees from great distances.

I’m living at the moment in the far southwest corner of Lake County, about 10 miles from the Mendocino and Sonoma County lines and just a few miles further from the Napa County line. About 30 miles northwest of here, near the tiny town of Boonville, where in 1988 I student taught while attending graduate school at UC Davis, is a peak named Grizzly Peak. And about 15 miles northeast of here, not too far from Clear Lake, in a scattered oak woodland area baked by the blazing summer sun, is another Grizzly Peak. The grizzly’s name marks nearly 200 place names designating topographic features, waters and settlements in California.

The last chapter of the book addresses the role of the grizzly bear as an emblem of California’s early history and exploration. It’s hard to miss the bear’s presence on the California State flag, and I’m always struck by the irony of the fact that grizzly bears are now extirpated from a state that displays the bear so prominently on it’s flag.

I’ve enjoyed my time working with the Grizzly Bear Outreach Project. It has been an enriching experience for me and I hope that my efforts have helped to support increased awareness and knowledge of bears and other wildlife species, as well as ways that we can all successfully coexist in a respectful way with our wild neighbors.

Nan Laney, GBOP
Skagit, Whatcom and Northern Snohomish Field Coordinator

Feeding Wildlife In Winter

If you are like me, you got yet another couple inches of snow last night. Many of us worry how the wild animals are doing with the unusual amount of snow we have had this winter. According to many experts, including the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, feeding wildlife in winter does us more good than them.

Many people, myself included, consider the seed they put out for birds to be crucial food to get them through the winter. On the contrary, only about 1/5 of a birds winter diet comes from bird feeders. Some feeders can even do more harm than good if they are not cleaned regularly and are spreading diseases. The best things we can do are to provide high quality habitat full of natural foods. If you love the interaction of watching the birds and still want to feed them be sure to keep the feeders clean and check them daily for wet or molding feed, and place feeders away from hiding cover for cats. Or, provide seed and water just during particularly bad weather.

Experts in Cornell University Lab of Ornithology's Project FeederWatch, which collects winter bird feeder use data from volunteers across the country, say most bird feeding does neither significant good nor significant damage. It's something we do for ourselves. But it's a great educational opportunity for us.

If you have thought about feeding the deer or elk consider these potential problems:
- Concentrating deer and elk at a feeder can create problems by making the animals more vulnerable to disease, predation and poaching.

- Inviting deer into your yard could, in turn, invite the deer's predator, cougars, into your area also.

- If feeding areas draw animals across well-traveled roads, they are more likely to present a safety hazard and be hit by motor vehicles.

- Deer and elk drawn to artificial feed also can damage nearby agricultural areas, trees, or landscaping, especially if the artificial feed supply is not maintained through the winter.

In addition, the type of feed can make a life or death difference for deer and elk. If you put out grains their digestive systems can't digest, they will eat themselves silly, while starving. Deer and elk need the proper kind of bacteria in their gut to digest specific types of food. If they are used to eating browse (winter twigs, shrubs, forbs) they won't have the ability to digest grains until the bacteria make the adjustment. Depending on the animals' fat reserves, they might starve while waiting this period out, even though their bellies are full.

The best thing you can do for all winter wildlife is trying not to disturb them. They only have so much reserve, and the flight response requires a big output of energy. Keep your cats away from the bird feeder, keep your dog on a leash when you hike through the woods, and slow down in your vehicle when traveling through deer or elk country. We can all make an effort to maintain quality habitat for wildlife to live, ensuring that they have the food and shelter they need year-round.

Check out these links for more information:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/factshts/wintfeed.htm

http://www.paws.org/wildlife/resources/fact_sheets/feedingwildlife.php

http://extension.unh.edu/news/feedeer.htm

Julie L. Hopkins, GBOP

Effects of past climate changes

Climate change wiped out cave bears 13 millennia earlier than thought.

Enormous cave bears, Ursus spelaeus, that once inhabited a large swathe of Europe, from Spain to the Urals, died out 27,800 years ago, around 13 millennia earlier than was previously believed, scientists have reported.

The new date coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in the reduction or loss of vegetation forming the main component of the cave bears' diet.

In a study published in Boreas, researchers suggest it was this deterioration in food supply that led to the extinction of the cave bear, one of a group of 'megafauna' - including woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant deer and cave lion - to disappear during the last Ice Age.

They found no convincing evidence of human involvement in the disappearance of these bears. The team used both new data and existing records of radiocarbon dating on cave bear remains to construct their chronology for cave bear extinction.

"Our work shows that the cave bear, among the megafauna that became extinct during the Last Glacial period in Europe, was one of the earliest to disappear," said Dr Martina Pacher of the Department of Palaeontology at the University of Vienna. "Other, later extinctions happened at different times within the last 15,000 years."

Dr Pacher carried out the research alongside Professor Anthony J. Stuart of the Natural History Museum, London, and the University of Durham.

Many scientists previously claimed that cave bears survived until at least 15,000 years ago, but Dr Pacher and Professor Stuart claim that the methodology of these earlier studies included many errors in dating as well as confusion between cave bear and brown bear remains.

The pair also concluded, from evidence on skull anatomy, bone collagen and teeth, that these extinct mammals were predominantly vegetarian, eating a specialised diet of high-quality plants. Compared with other megafaunal species that would also become extinct, the cave bear had a relatively restricted geographical range, being confined to Europe, which may offer an explanation as to why it died out so much earlier than the rest.

"Its highly specialised mode of life, especially a diet of high-quality plants, and its restricted distribution left it vulnerable to extinction as the climate cooled and its food source diminished," said Dr Pacher.

The brown bear, with which Ursus spelaeus shares a common ancestor, was spread throughout Europe and much of northern Asia and has survived to the present day.

"A fundamental question to be answered by future research is: why did the brown bear survive to the present day, while the cave bear did not?" said Professor Stuart. Answers to this question may involve different dietary preferences, hibernation strategies, geographical ranges, habitat preferences and perhaps predation by humans.

Cave bears were heavily built animals, with males growing up to around 1000kg. The maximum recorded weight of both Kodiak bears and polar bears - the largest bears living today - is 800kg, with averages of around 500kg.

Scientists have recovered a large quantity of cave bear remains from many cave sites, where they are believed to have died during winter hibernation. Caves provide an ideal environment for the preservation of these remains.

Despite over 200 years of scientific study - beginning in 1794 when a young anatomist, J. Rosenmüller, first described bones from the Zoolithenhöhle in Bavaria as belonging to a new extinct species, which he called cave bear - the timing and cause of its extinction remain controversial.

By far the best source of information on the appearance of cave bears in the flesh is to be found in red pigment cave paintings in the Grotte Chauvet in the Ardèche region of southern France. These are the only depictions in Palaeolithic art that can be attributed unambiguously to the cave bear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_bear

source SCIENCE, 13 OCTOBER 2006

Bear Vocalizations: What Do They Mean?

Being a zoo keeper I get asked a lot of questions about the animals I work with and one question that comes up a lot is: what type of vocalizations do animals make and what do they mean?

Bears have several types of vocalizations. Some species vocalize more than others. Knowing what these sounds mean can help us understand bear behavior and help with their care.

Photo of brown bear yearlings play-fighting and vocalizing in Alaska. photo credit: Chris Morgan.

Giant pandas have some unique vocalizations. They bleat which is a friendly greeting, honk when anxious or distressed and during the breeding season a receptive female will chirp when meeting a male. Sloth bears make a huffing sound when sucking up food, which sounds like a vacuum.

Most bear species make vocalizations that sound like a huff, chomp, woof, growl, and/or bark which mean the bear is agitated, angry or annoyed. A bawl, bellow, squeal or whimper indicates pain. A mumble, hum, or purr indicates contentment.

In many cases vocalizations are done along with some type of body posturing. These are visual clues as to how the bear is feeling. Depending on how the bear is standing, holding its head, the ear placement and how they move can tell a lot about what the bear is thinking and whether it is a dominant or subordinate animal. Bears would rather avoid a fight so using vocalizations and posturing can help eliminate serious conflicts and injuries and along with this, conserve energy they need to survive.

Vocalizations can be heard on the North American Bear Center’s website.

Wendy Gardner, GBOP team

Village Books in Bellingham welcomes...

Join us on Wednesday, January 7th at 7pm as The Grizzly Bear Outreach Project and Village Books are proud to welcome to Bellingham David Knibb, author of Grizzly Wars: The Public Fight over the Great Bear.

Long a magnificent symbol of the wild, grizzly bears are perhaps the most controversial species in North America. In Grizzly Wars, David Knibb explores policy and political issues involved in managing and attempting to save the grizzly bear, highlighting the critical role of state governments in the recovery process, the importance of providing linked habitat areas, and our need to cooperate with Canada in managing grizzlies who inhabit border areas.

David Knibb has a background in environmental law, forestry, and wildlife management. An activist on resource conservation and environment issues in the Mountain West for nearly 45 years, he is also author of Backyard Wilderness, a chronicle of the Congressional battle over the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in Washington’s Cascades.

Chris Morgan, Director of the acclaimed Grizzly Bear Outreach Project will be at the event to share information about grizzly bears in the North Cascades. Swing by to pick up a free poster and learn about grizzlies (we may have as few as 10 of them in the Cascades!).

Bear Vision

Bears can see almost as well as humans, they tend to be nearsighted but have good depth perception. They have a layer of tissue called the tapetum lucidum that lies behind the retina that reflects light and improves their night vision. All bears have round pupils except giant pandas which have slits. Polar bears have a transparent eyelid (nictitating membrane) to filter snow glare and help them see underwater.





http://members.tripod.com/panowl/id27.htm

Studies have shown that bears can see colors. In a study done with giant pandas at Zoo Atlanta, it was not determined whether they could differentiate between colors but they could tell the difference between colors and gray. Being able to see colors may help bears find and distinguish ripe foods like berries, or fresh bamboo in the case of giant pandas.

For year’s people thought bears were colorblind and could not see well but research is showing this is not the case. We still have so much to learn about bears, it will be interesting to see what new things we learn in the future.

Giant Panda color vision study
Black bear and polar bear color vision study

Wendy Gardner, GBOP field specialist

Year end thank you

Last month it all came flooding back to me - why I do the work that I do.

I gave a GBOP presentation to a small group of youngsters in Mount Vernon. They were all from a neighborhood that gets special attention from an amazing man - Jon Gerondale. He's the Neighborhood Resource Officer for Mount Vernon Police in Kulshan Creek and he's worked tirelessly to being inspiring outdoor experiences to these children. Much of his work in is collaboration with North Cascades Institute (Lee Whitford), and the US Forest Service (Don Gay). Each of these people has invested time and energy into this great group of young people.

I'd had a long, tiring day by the time I arrived at the presentation venue in Kulshan Creek, but the kids re-energized me in a big way! Thank you to you all for giving me the opportunity to bring the wonder of bears to you, and for all your great "thank you" messages! Look out for bears in 2009, and of course let us know if you come across a grizzly!

Chris Morgan
Director, GBOP

Winter Bear Idiosyncrasies

Bears have some fascinating physiological traits, several of which are manifested during their winter denning period. These include: delayed implantation of the embryo for 3-4 months following the summer breeding season, and maintenance of energy and water balance during the 3-5 month denning period.

Energy and Water Balance During Winter Denning

During winter denning, which varies in length from 3-5 months, black and grizzly bears derive all of their sustenance from their own bodies. During this denning period they do not eat, drink, urinate, defecate or exercise.

Bears break down fat tissue to create water and up to 4,000 calories per day. They break down muscle and organ tissues to create protein.

Even though bears drink no water during denning, they do not become dehydrated. In a study published in the American Journal of Physiology, researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that bears were in “almost perfect water balance” after 100 days of hibernation. The metabolism of bears is of interest to researchers because a greater understanding may yield information that helps people suffering from chronic kidney failure and other health issues.

Another unique strategy is that bears are able to take urea – a primary component of urine – and use it to build new protein. Consequently bears are able use newly created protein to restore muscle and organ tissue even when they are not eating and are losing weight, something that humans most definitely cannot do!

Delayed Embryo Implantation as an Advantageous Evolutionary Feature

Delayed implantation, or embryonic diapause, is a reproductive strategy used by nearly 100 mammals including: armadillos, bats, bears, otters and badgers, seals, walrus and kangaroos. Delayed implantation results in the embryo not immediately implanting itself in the uterus following fertilization, and instead being maintained in a state of dormancy for a period of time. As a result, the normal gestation period is extended, sometimes for many months. Because delayed implantation is found in diverse species of mammals, it is likely the result of separate evolutionary processes in response to different selective pressures.

In the case of bears, it allows the female to time the delivery of cubs so that they are born during favorable environmental conditions – so that they do not arrive too early nor too late. It also protects the mother if food is scarce, as the embryo will spontaneously abort if the mother goes into the den with inadequate food stores to carry out gestation and lactation.

Bear Haiku:

Tiny twin bear cubs
Birthed into winter’s darkness
Bellies full of milk

Brown bear sleeps soundly
Winter shifts to spring’s great thaw
And life starts anew

Nan Laney, GBOP field coordinator

Has the Arctic melt passed the point of no return?

Why are Polar Bears falling through the sea ice? Scientists have found the first unequivocal evidence that the Arctic region is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world at least a decade before it was predicted to happen.

Climate-change researchers have found that air temperatures in the region are higher than would be normally expected during the autumn because the increased melting of the summer Arctic sea ice is accumulating heat in the ocean. The phenomenon, known as Arctic amplification, was not expected to be seen for at least another 10 or 15 years and the findings will further raise concerns that the Arctic has already passed the climatic tipping-point towards ice-free summers, beyond which it may not recover.

The Arctic is considered one of the most sensitive regions in terms of climate change and its transition to another climatic state will have a direct impact on other parts of the northern hemisphere, as well more indirect effects around the world.

Although researchers have documented a catastrophic loss of sea ice during the summer months over the past 20 years, they have not until now detected the definitive temperature signal that they could link with greenhouse-gas emissions.



However, in a study to be presented later today to the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, scientists will show that Arctic amplification has been under way for the past five years, and it will continue to intensify Arctic warming for the foreseeable future.

Computer models of the global climate have for years suggested the Arctic will warm at a faster rate than the rest of the world due to Arctic amplification but many scientists believed this effect would only become measurable in the coming decades.

The Independent

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Tuesday, 16 December 2008

Photo credits: Peter Evins - WWF Canada, Jonathan Hayward - AP

Grizzly bears go island hopping

Somewhere in the mist-shrouded rainforests of northern Vancouver Island, a grizzly bear is hibernating in its winter den. And he is the source of mystery, fascination, and even fear among Island residents.

As far as anyone can remember or scientists can determine, only black bears have lived on Vancouver Island.

But this year, grizzlies have been sighted far and wide on northern Vancouver Island and the knot of smaller islands that press close against the coast between Port Hardy and Campbell River.

"This year has definitely been the busiest," Tony Hamilton, large carnivore specialist for the B.C. Ministry of Environment, said in an interview Wednesday.

"The islands are stepping stones, not separated by very much water. It makes sense. If we're going to get grizzlies coming onto Vancouver Island, this is where they'd come through."

Officials suspect three or four sub-adult male grizzlies are responsible for this year's sightings, having paddled and island-hopped their way westward from the B.C. mainland.

A grizzly was photographed at Rugged Point near Kyuquot, on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island in May, close to the time bears emerge from their dens, suggesting it had successfully hibernated on the Island.

That same bear and one or more of the others sighted in the region are likely denning this winter on the Island, too.

A hunting guide spotted another grizzly near Woss later in May, followed by a sighting from a salmon farm east of Port Hardy in June. Later that month, a grizzly was shot dead at Lagoon Cove Marina on East Cracroft Island, north of Sayward.

Grizzlies are a limited-entry hunt in B.C., which means the ones on Vancouver Island are protected. Exceptions are made where the bear represents a real threat to people or property.

The next two sightings, a week apart in July, are thought to be of the same bear: first, on Malcolm Island near Sointula, then at native-owned Cluxewe Resort near Port Hardy. Conservation officers tried unsuccessfully to trap the bear.

"My advice to the ministry is that this is natural, let it happen," said Hamilton, acknowledging some islanders are twitchy about grizzlies in their midst. "There is more sensitivity because people aren't used to it."

Hamilton argues it's unlikely grizzly bears will reach a sustaining population on Vancouver Island because sub-adult males are the ones seeking out distant new territories while the younger females tend to stay closer to the home range of their birth on the mainland.

Among the theories offered for the migration of grizzlies to Vancouver Island are that the grizzly population is expanding and that bleak coastal salmon runs have forced bears to look farther afield for food. "The truth is probably somewhere in between," Hamilton said.

Grizzlies have successfully mated with polar bears in the Arctic, but Hamilton knows of no such mating in the wild with black bears.

In 2002, a female grizzly was sighted with cubs on Hardwick Island, near Vancouver Island. The speculation is one of those cubs was shot in 2003 when it wandered into the native village of Tsulquate near Port Hardy - the first confirmed grizzly sighting on Vancouver Island.

Jeanine Johnny lives in the village and called in that bear to authorities. "They thought I was drunk, stoned," she recalled with a laugh Wednesday. "They told me to get some sleep and that it's just a black bear in its natural habitat."

Johnny used to live with grizzlies in Sparwood in southeast B.C. and isn't looking forward to their continuing presence on Vancouver Island. "It's kind of freaky for me," she said.

In 2006, another grizzly was shot by a man who feared for his granddaughter's safety at Sayward. Hamilton said there were rumours of a grizzly being shot and buried - "a shoot and shovel" - in the 1970s at Sayward, but the report was never confirmed.

Reprinted from the Financial Post.

Whale of a party

Can you count the grizzlies dining on this beached whale in Alaska?

Now that's a Thanksgiving meal.

WDFW Director Resigns After 10 Years Service

OLYMPIA- After a decade of leadership in fostering scientific and collaborative management of state natural resources, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Director Jeff Koenings, Ph.D., has announced his resignation, effective Dec. 11.

"In collaboration with many other resource managers and Washington citizens, I've accomplished much of what I said I would do when I became director 10 years ago," Koenings said. "I'm proud of the progress we've made in creating a comprehensive, gravel-to-gravel system of stewardship for wild salmon, re-building relationships based on mutual trust with tribal resource co-managers, bringing a scientific focus to state fish and wildlife management and improving the department's business practices."

Over the past decade, WDFW has acquired more than 109,000 acres of land for the protection of fish and wildlife habitats, ensuring their place in the public lands portfolio for future generations of Washingtonians.

Koenings' 10-year career as WDFW director was the longest in the department's history.

"Jeff has admirably served the department and successfully navigated it through some challenging times in the last ten years," stated Gov. Chris Gregoire. "His service is appreciated."

As director, Koenings brought stability to the 1,500-plus employee agency, fostered partnerships with stakeholders, promoted a good-neighbor policy in managing state wildlife lands and secured millions of dollars in federal funding for state fish and wildlife management.

"The past 10 years have been extraordinary in terms of the diversity of challenges presented to WDFW and its leadership," Koenings said. "But through it all, conservation of the resource through science-based decision-making has been our standard. I've been fortunate to lead an incredible group of talented professionals and they will always have my respect and admiration."

Summarized from WDFW Release 12/1/08

Grizzly - symbol of freedom

“Alive, the grizzly is a symbol of freedom
and understanding – a sign that man can
learn to conserve what is left of the earth.

Extinct, it will be another fading testimony
to things man should have learned more
about but was too preoccupied with himself
to notice.

In its beleaguered condition,
it is above all a symbol of what man is
doing to the entire planet.

If we can learn from these experiences,
and learn rationally, both the grizzly
and man may have a chance.”

Frank C. Craighead Jr.

Frank Craighead, Jr., one of the fathers of grizzly bear research in the US, was honored this last summer by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee for excellence in research and leadership in advancing grizzly bear recovery. He is noted for being one of the first to employ radio collar technology and for his publications, among them "Track of the Grizzly" and Petersons Field guides and numerours documentary films. Frank passed away in 2001, at the age of 85.


Julie L. Hopkins
photo: grizzly on katmai shore

Return of the Mexican Grizzly Bear?

The Mexican grizzly bear - Ursus arctos nelsoni: these bears were reported to be abundant in northern Mexico in the early 1900’s. There were numerous bears in the states of Baja, Sonora and Chihuahua. This subspecies of brown bear also occurred in the United States in New Mexico and Arizona. The last confirmed sightings in Mexico were in the Sierra del Nido Mountains (central Chihuahua) in the late 1950’s. There were reports of grizzly bear poisonings in the same area as late as the winter of 1964.

In May 1980, a research study was conducted as part of informal cooperative agreement between the US and Mexican governments. It revealed sufficient food and secluded habitat for grizzly bears to exist undetected.

This study yielded large tracks with blunt tipped claws, large (50 kg) overturned rocks, and a 25 minute observation of what the expert crew determined to be a grizzly bear. Jonkel (1980) concluded that due to the abundant food, isolated habitat, wariness of the bears and the grizzly bears ability to survive at low population levels, grizzly bears may still exist in Mexico.

At that time, about 20 year after the last reports of grizzlies, they could still be part of a surviving population, given the 20-25 year life span of bears. Could they still be persisting in Mexico today, 30 years later?

No one can answer that for sure. Although the official line is that “a few brown bears may still exist”. There is little or no money for national parks and reserves in Mexico. So land is set aside privately, sometimes in large tracts. In areas of privately protected land in Mexico there is talk of re-introducing the grizzly bear, Mexican wolf and bison. It’s been done for bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope. And decades ago local ranchers decided to stop killing black bears and protect them instead. Black bear populations have since rebounded.

Could we see grizzly bears living in the southern end of their range? It remains a possibility. Then there is the talk of re-introducing them back into their former range in New Mexico…

References:

www.nmwild.org/wildlife/grizzly-bear
national geographic.com
Grizzly_and_Brown_Bears
www.bearbiology.com



Julie L. Hopkins
Photo credit: Jan van der Crabben

Grizzly Mountain Roadsign

I ran across this road sign across from Grizzly Mountain on a trip through the North Cascades recently. I was on my way to Montana on my motorcycle, traversing some of the most beautiful wild areas in North America, on my way to a grizzly bear management meeting near Missoula. I've passed the Highway 20 road sign near Mazama on many occasions during my work with GBOP, but this time I was compelled to stop and take a picture. It's a strange thing to think that these mountains once supported a healthy population of North Cascades grizzly bears. Trapping records show that there were once probably hundreds, if not thousands of grizzly bears in this region. In fact almost 4000 hides were shipped out of the region over a 30 year period in the late 1800s. Now fewer than 20 North Cascades grizzly bears remain - in an area covering 10,000 square miles. Interestingly, the last legally killed grizzly bear was shot less than 25 miles from this road sign in the late 60's.

But times are changing. From what we have heard over the last 5 years of GBOP, it's clear that the people of Washington really do support the idea of grizzly bears returning to this ecosystem. Just about everyone we speak to across the Cascades agrees that there is room for both humans and grizzly bears on this landscape. Our most recent research shows that 79% of people "support recovery" - 54% of them "strongly".

In addition, 82% of respondents thought that the grizzly is a symbol of the American frontier and that it should be preserved as part of our national heritage. I think about that tone in a week that has been very patriotic, and it seems fitting that most people in this amazing state want to see a future for grizzly bears beyond a name on a road sign, or the peak of a mountain.

Submitted by Chris Morgan, GBOP Director

Intestines, the Bear Facts

Many people have seen bear scat; whether it is in pictures, at a zoo or in the wild, it is usually very apparent what the bear had been eating. So how does the food get from one end of the bear to the other?


The teeth start the breakdown process of the food the bear eats. They use their teeth to hold, tear and grind food before swallowing it.

Bears have 42 teeth, except for the sloth bear that only has 40. Humans have 32 teeth.

The dental formula is:
I=3/3, C=1/1, P=3/3,M=1/2 total teeth =42
(Incisors-canines-premolars-molars)

Bears are omnivores that have relatively unspecialized digestive systems similar to those of carnivores. The primary difference is that bears have an elongated digestive tract; an adaptation that allows bears more efficient digestion of vegetation than other carnivores (Herrero 1985). Unlike ruminants, bears do not have a cecum and can only poorly digest the structural components of plants (Mealey 1975). To compensate for inefficient digestion of cellulose, bears maximize the quality of vegetal food items ingested, typically foraging for plants in phenological stages of highest nutrient availability and digestibility (Herrero 1985).

It is thought that the barrel shape of the bear’s body is an indication of a long intestine. Brown bears do have a longer intestinal length than that of a black bear.


Different foods take varying amounts of time to pass through the body. Meat takes about 13 hours while clover takes about 7 hours (Pritchard and Robbins, 1990). Berry seeds pass through unbroken and are able to geminate making bear’s great seed dispersers. Nutrients are also put back into the environment as the feces break down.

These are just two reasons bears are very important to the health of the environment.

Wendy Gardner, GBOP Bear Specialist
photo credit: Dennis Ryan, person belonging to the hat was not eaten
graphic credit:(Clemens 1980; Stevens & Hume 1995)