Bears balance Ecology

Depending on the area and season they eat a wide range of animals and plants. They eat fruits, berries and shrubs, and when in season, blueberries, elderberries, salmon berries, high and low bush cranberries. When available, animal matter is a minor but important part of their diet. In the coastal areas during the summer and fall salmon make up a major part of their diet, but they also eat rodents, insect larvae, and an occasional caribou, deer or moose.  They are not choosy; they will even eat other bears!  Sometimes they kill bear cubs for food when the opportunity arises. But first they have to get past the mother bear who is fiercely protective of her young.

More Bear Information

They breed from May to mid July, and the cubs are usually born in late January or February.  A cub is born hairless and weighing only eight to ten ounces. Alaskan grizzlies spend almost half their lives in winter dens, entering in late October and coming back out in April or even May, if cubs were born that spring they will be larger and able to romp and play by the time they come out of the den.

"The fate of bears in many areas of the world will be decided in the next 10-20 years. The future of several species is in serious doubt. The elimination of bears from 50-75 percent of their historic range has already occurred and the remaining range will decrease unless serious efforts are focused on bear conservation.

 Dr. Chris Servheen,(1990 Report on the Status of Bears)

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