Grizzly Bears

Scientists classify any North American subspecies of the brown bear as a grizzly bear – although they’ve actually assigned them the name of a “North American Brown Bear”. However it was first given the name of the Grizzly bear due to its characteristic long, ‘grizzly’ hair. Characteristically, they’re very solitary, active animals. They gather once a year for the “great salmon run”- where they gather at rivers to catch the mass migration of salmon. These bears have one of the lowest reproduction rates across the whole of North America. This is due to many reasons, one being that they reach sexual maturity at around 5 years old – a lot later than most land mammals in North America. When they do reproduce, a female bear produces on average 2 cubs a litter. Once the cubs leave or are killed, the female might not produce a second litter for perhaps 2 or 3 years later.

Surprisingly, Grizzly Bears play a huge ecological role; they have mutualistic relationships with some plants, spreading their seeds. The bears actually help by increasing species diversity in the plants on the forest floor.

The Bear Family and Me

Happy New Year! Later on this week, I've got a 2015 Science Review post coming, but for now, I thought I'd tell you about one of my favourite Christmas TV series I watched over the festive period. The Bear Family and Me was one of the many wildlife TV programmes I watched over the Christmas period - in fact, we watched the recording of it whilst we were waiting for midnight on New Year's Eve. The Bear Family and Me was probably one of the best programmes I've watched in a long time - although I can't call it between the other ...Family and Me programmes. The series follows wildlife cameraman, Gordon Buchanan and a series of black bears. During the 3 part series , he follows a family of bears and nearby families, following their story, getting to know the real bear behind the headlines. He arrives in Minnesota in the spring, with one major challenge to begin with - gaining the bear's trust. Understandably, he's scared of them- they've had a pretty hard time in the press and they're well known for becoming angry when they're hungry. When local researchers introduce him to one particular family, Lily and her cub, Hope, his fears disappear. During the second episode, he arrives to discover that Lily has abandoned her cub - Gordon and the researchers track Hope down in attempt to reunite her with her Mum and to keep her alive. In the final episode, the journey takes an unexpected turn as far as Hope is concerned, Gordon also turns into a bear body guard when he's out protecting the bears from hunters. Perhaps the most important thing Gordon achieved was that he became part of their family and was accepted - he achieved the seemingly impossible and managed to get close to the bears, regularly feeding them out of his hands. Bears aren't the animals I'd like to meet alone on a dark night, but I certainly would love to go and see them in the wild.
 

The Majestic Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bears, one of the most majestic animals in the world, protective, yet also one of the cutest animals, EVER! They're mostly found in North America and Western Canada, as they are very adaptable and can be found in most places, from dense woodland and open plains to Arctic Tundra. In fact, North America is home to over 50,000 bears! They are also very hungry! They eat everything from dead animals and insects to berries and fish! As the summer draws to a close they enter a phase called hyperphagia. This last around 2-4 months when the bears vastly increase their calorie intake in preparation for the winter. Bears on the whole are actually quite solitary animals and not particularly territorial, surprisingly this is ideal behaviour as far as scientists are concerned. The bears spend a lot of their time rubbing their backs against trees where they leave their scent and hair. This is perfect for biologists as they can collect DNA from the local bears without being an interference. Grizzly bears are actually one of the slowest reproducing land mammals as the females don't reproduce until they're four or five. If the female doesn't put enough weight on throughout the course of the year, then the female doesn't reproduce that year because she won't have the energy or resources to raise the cubs