[HN Gopher] The Bulky Bears of Fat Bear Week 2021 ___________________________________________________________________ The Bulky Bears of Fat Bear Week 2021 Author : samizdis Score : 50 points Date : 2021-09-30 19:16 UTC (3 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.smithsonianmag.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.smithsonianmag.com) | emaginniss wrote: | I'm in this article and I don't like it | trhway wrote: | reminded - https://aboutzoos.info/89-news/news- | biodiversity/706-how-the... | | "How the return of wolves makes bears fat enough for hibernation | in Yellowstone" | | "A new study suggests that the return of wolves to Yellowstone | National Park is beginning to bring back a key part of the diet | of grizzly bears that has been missing for much of the past | century -- berries that help bears put on fat before going into | hibernation. [...] The researchers found that the level of | berries consumed by Yellowstone grizzlies is significantly higher | now that shrubs are starting to recover following the re- | introduction of wolves, which have reduced over- browsing by elk | herds. " | walrus01 wrote: | Until I saw the smithsonian URL I thought for a moment this was | about the type of bears that wear leather and drink beer. | [deleted] | cryptoquick wrote: | ...same | adfm wrote: | Same! Lazy Bear Weekend is always a treat. One of the most | committed and community-focused groups around. | https://www.lazybearweek.org/ | 0_____0 wrote: | I randomly visited Guerneville to see my then-partner's | family, and was surprised to see the streets full of happily | ambling bears (bipedal and leather clad). Takes one by | surprise when this happens to you in the Norcal forest and | not, say, Folsom St in SF | hncurious wrote: | "The bears eat around 90 pounds of fish, berries, small mammals, | and vegetation each day to pack on the pounds necessary to | survive months of winter hibernation." | | 90 pounds a day! | | Anyone have an idea of what percentage is fish vs berries vs | mammals vs vegetation and have an estimate on how many calories | that would be? | mtnGoat wrote: | a quick search found me this: | | "During spring and summer, bears eat around 5,000 calories a | day, but in the fall, they are trying to eat up to 20,000 | calories every day." | | Gives me a stomach ache even thinking about it. | spywaregorilla wrote: | Almost as much as two michael phelps | stickydink wrote: | Good luck catching 2 Michael Phelps in the river | lapetitejort wrote: | If you're interpreting that as 1 Michael Phelps = 10,000 | calories, you're in luck! The average humans contain | about 125k Calories [0]. Not all easily accessible of | course, but fine for a hungry brown bear. | | 0: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient- | cannibals-... | ursusarcanum wrote: | The vast majority is plant matter. It wastes a lot of energy to | chase prey. Plants don't move much. Last I read it was on the | order of 80% plants, with a lot of insects being most of the | meat. | Turing_Machine wrote: | While that is true for inland brown/grizzly bears, the | coastal brown bears under discussion in this article eat huge | quantities of spawning salmon during the summer and early | fall. | | They get _much_ larger and _much_ fatter than the inland | bears as a result. | samizdis wrote: | You may be right that the majority is plant matter, but in | salmon season bears gather at salmon runs and waste little | energy in snatching fish as they leap up the cascades. See | [1]. (Although individual bears do compete for the best | fishing spots, they are in a "fish in a barrel" situation | when they get one. They don't have to chase anything, just | grab and chew.) | | [1] https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear- | salmon-c... | | Edit to add: | | Here's an article [2] from 2018, _How many salmon will a bear | eat?_ | | Excerpt: _Adult male bears on Kodiak ate the most salmon on | average, consuming an incredible 6,146 pounds (2,788 kg) per | bear per year! Adult females ate 3,007 pounds (1,364 kg). | Salmon consumption varied among subadult bears, independent | juvenile bears between 2.5 and 5.5 years old. Subadult | females ate 1,248 pounds (566 kg) while subadult males ate | 1,305 pounds (592 kg) of salmon per bear per year._ | | [2] https://medium.com/@exploreorg/how-many-salmon-will-a- | bear-e... | nradov wrote: | The bears catch so many salmon on some rivers that they eat | only the most nutritious parts and leave the rest of the | carcass for scavengers. | AlbertCory wrote: | Correct. See my post and [1]. I saw this behavior myself. | | It's not just standing and snatching fish out of the | stream, though. Most bears have to chase the fish and try | to catch them, often failing. | | [1] https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXMHAjDyQNDjFqjw8 | mtnGoat wrote: | costs a lot to feed bears. this years salmon price is | estimated at $14-20\lb. if we take the average, a bear eats | more then $100k a year worth of salmon. | AlbertCory wrote: | It's cheaper when you buy it near the source. | walrus01 wrote: | I suppose there might be some zookeeper related scholarly | publication out there on the typical diet and calorie needs to | maintain an adult grizzly bear at the same body weight year | round. I have no idea, but I bet it is a lot. | h2odragon wrote: | My collection of "plus size" brown bear porn certainly needed | expanding. | | Now if only someone would do grizzlies. And wolverines. Very | little proper wolverine porn out there. | RappingBoomer wrote: | the camera adds pounds, you know | binarysolo wrote: | I've never been that much of a animal watcher my entire life, but | on a lark I was able to visit Katmai National Park in Alaska this | past year where these bears are from. I'm now a bear fan. Highly, | HIGHLY recommend checking out if you have spare bandwidth for it. | | It's pretty amazing to see tens of bears at any given time along | Brooks Falls and by the lower river and have them kinda roam | around the nature preserve, while us humans are boxed into little | observation platforms, Jurrasic-Park-style. And when you're not | in the fenced areas and are along a trail, bears wander around | and calmly claim right-of-way to all your paths as you basically | socially-distance yourselves from them at all times. | | (Visitors here get "the bear talk" when arriving, get best | practices on being super boring to bears, and in return bears | here are conditioned to ignore humans pretty much and go about | their days eating large quantities of fish and berries.) | | Katmai: https://www.nps.gov/katm/index.htm Bearcam: | https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm | endisneigh wrote: | I need to get my head out of the stocks - I thought this was | talking about the stock market (SPY has been performing pretty | poorly this week) | AlbertCory wrote: | [1] A topic I've been up close & personal with. Closer than | anyone would believe if they hadn't been there. | | On Kodiak Island there are thousands of grizzlies and very few | residents or tourists. You can't drive there and AFAIK the cruise | ships don't go there. It's possible to get within a few feet of | the bears IF you're with a licensed guide (who has a rifle). I've | seen Nature docs on TV since I did this, so I know there are | people who approach the bears and live to tell. | | I took all these photos and the video myself. Those videos you | see of bears just snatching fish out of the water are for | tourists; most of the bears have to work for their fish. | | But yeah, there's so much salmon that they just eat the fatty | parts and leave the rest. | | [1] https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXMHAjDyQNDjFqjw8 ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-09-30 23:00 UTC)