WHAT IS FASCINATING ABOUT BEARS

What’s so cool about Bears?

I have always been fascinated with bears. The sheer ferociousness of these land creatures inspires my own desire to live wild and free.  Although my life resembles more of a middle-class teddy bear, a broad can dream of living in the wilderness as an awesome beast.

My intrigue with bears led me into a deep dive study of bears through documentaries, articles and books and hours on YouTube. I found so much interesting, I had to share a few fascinating facts about bears.

There are 8 Species of Bears

The eight species include:  Asiatic black bears (also called moon bears), brown bears (which include grizzly and Kodiak bears), giant pandas, North American black bears, polar bears, sloth bears, spectacled bears (also called Andean bears), and sun bears.

The bad asses of the bears are the Polar and Grizzly Bears

Of course, all bears are interesting in their own right but my fascination drives me to study the Polar, Kodiak and Grizzly Bears.

What’s cool about the Grizzlies in particular:

·       Massive size

·       Extraordinary intellect

·       Acute sense of smell

·       Hibernation Ritual

·       Birth cycle

The massive size of a Grizzly is impressive

It is difficult to understand the size of a Grizzly from a photograph.  You really need a human standing next to it to understand the girth of the creature. I couldn’t find any volunteers…

A male grizzly can grow to a height of 8 feet tall when standing on the hind legs and weigh between 400-1,100 pounds.  Although you may think of the grizzly as a massive lumbering beast, it can actually run up to 40 mph.

Grizzlies are colossal, fast and distinct

Grizzly bears have a distinct appearance from all other bears with a large hump over the shoulder.  This hump is a muscle mass used to power the forelimbs in digging.  Grizzlies are big diggers!  They turnover large rocks and dig for insects, roots, bulbs, and underground animals.  And of course, they dig their own dens for hibernation.

The Grizzly’s claws range from 3-5 inches – that means each claw is the size of our finger. Their coat colors vary from region to region from dark brown to reddish brown, they can also be black or very light beige in color.

Grizzlies don’t just have massive bodies – they have big brains

Bears possess the largest and most complex brains relative to their size of any land mammal. Many wildlife biologists consider the bear to be one of the most intelligent land animals of North America. In the animal kingdom, their intelligence compares with that of higher primates.

Wild bears have long been known for their problem-solving abilities that enable them to get into “bear-proof” trashcans, open door latches, and manipulate other barriers to reach food. This is why “bear-proof” containers are constantly being upgraded with new models!  Bears often use tools as well to scratch themselves or to maneuver through the terrain.

Bears have excellent memory

Bears have far superior navigation skills than humans and have excellent memories. Grizzly bears can remember hotspots for food for years and have been observed returning to the same fishing spots annually.

Bears also have an incredible sense of smell

A bear’s sense of smell is 7x stronger than a bloodhound. Bears can smell food, a mate or predators for up to 20 miles away. Imagine all the smells that a bear can tap into in the wilderness? The flowers, the wind, the other animals above ground and under, even the ripeness of fruit or berries.

These bears also have a smell..

According to the World Animal Protection Organization,

These bears stink in the wild, as they roll around in anything rotting they find to camouflage their scent when sneaking up on prey. 

The most fascinating facet about the bear to me is that it can shut this massive machine down for the winter and relax into…

Hibernation  

A Grizzly bear will hibernate for 152-200 days beginning in November. The coolest thing is their metabolic rate slows significantly (up to 75%), they lower their body temperature 8-12 degrees,  and they burn fat while sleeping. Heartbeat slows from 40 beats a minute down to 7-10 beats.

They do not defecate or urinate when in hibernation. 

Bears largely conserve their muscle mass and thus do not become appreciably weaker during hibernation.  Imagine if we could do this – take a 5 month nap and wake up with 10% body fat and lean muscle? ( I tried this during Covid and it doesn’t work for us)  Given that a grizzly spends over half of the year in hibernation, it is surprising that

A bear den is small

A bear den is small – about three feet in diameter. It is generally just large enough for the bear to move around slightly. The dens are generally dug out by the bear in the high mountain region in a hollow tree, or below a root mass of a blown over tree or beneath brush piles.  Sometimes bears use rock dens, typically along the base of a ledge.

I expected the dens to be cozy somehow – probably from watching so many episodes of ALONE and the great shelters built on that show. But! Bear dens are not luxurious at all – the bears use their fat and layers of fur for winter insulation only.

Momma Grizzly Bear has an easier go of pregnancy than we humans.

Grizzly bears mate between May and July, but the female's body delays implantation of their eggs in the uterus until October or November. How cool is that? Their pregnancy is in a suspended animation until Autumn just before she goes into hibernation.  If the female has not gained enough fat over the summer to survive and raise cubs, implantation may not occur.

Birth happens during hibernation. Yes, the momma can sleep through birth!

She carries her babies for 58-68 days and generally gives birth during hibernation. The babies are about 1-2 pounds each.  Yep! A baby grizzly is the size of a rabbit at birth.  And the new grizzly is born toothless, hairless and blind.  Often the mother has twins or possibly 3 babies.  The new cubs nurse and grow until Momma Bear wakes up.  Can you imagine this in our human world - your child patiently waiting for you to wake up from a long nap?

Cubs stay with moms for 3-4 years learning to hunt, forage and survive.   

About half of baby bears do not survive past one year old. Their premature death can be due to illness, accidents or even other predators snatching them when momma wasn’t looking.  Sometimes, male grizzly bears eat grizzly cubs too. But clearly, not when Momma is looking as  

Momma Bears are fiercely protective of their cubs.

They will risk their lives and fight to the death in order to save a cub. Cubs are known to moan and cry when separated from their mothers.  This can go on for weeks if their mothers are killed by hunters.

Eventually, the successful cubs leave their Mom and go on to live a solitary life.  Bears generally live solitary lives except in mating season.  They are often photographed in groups where food is in abundance but that is for a short period.

Tell me, what do you find most fascinating about the Grizzly?

Totally Random Bear Facts:

·       There are about 55,000 Grizzlies in North America with over 30,000 in Alaska and the remainder in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and a small population in Washington State (Cascade Mountain Region)

·       The Grizzly Bear’s diet is generally only 20% meat with the 80% being plants, berries, Moths, roots, rodents, fish

·       A Grizzly can eat up to 40,000 moths in a day

·       Kodiak bears are a unique subspecies of the brown or grizzly bear. They live exclusively on the islands in the Kodiak Archipelago in Alaska and have been isolated from other bears for about 12,000 years. There are about 3,500 Kodiak bears; a density of about 0.7 bears per square mile.