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THE CUISINE OF BLACK BEARS
Peter D. Goldfinch
Military history tells us
that an army travels on its stomach. Black bears likewise, their
meanderings spent mostly foraging for food. About the only time a bear isn't
hungry is during the first few days after emerging from hibernation. In
Colorado, that's in March, after about five months without food or water.
Within several days to two weeks, hunger supervenes. Spring bear fare
consists of grasses, buds, willow twigs, early roots, fresh mountain herbs,
and carrion of winterkilled animals, frozen or preserved under the snow. The
inner cambium of tree bark is eaten for its sugar content, usually around
the base of the tree, but sometimes as high as 50 feet above the ground. It
is also during this season when food is scarce that bears are most likely to
prey on livestock. Pigs are their favorite, but they'll take lambs, calves,
chickens, even cattle if hungry enough.
 By
summer a bear is spending about 12 hours a day finding food. Berries are a
favorite, the bear often pulling the branches down or out, stripping off
both leaves and berries with its claws, or sometimes daintily sucking off
one berry at a time with its tongue and lips. There are many insect
delicacies: bees, yellow rackets, ants, ant eggs, and beetles. Other animals
provide a small percentage of a bear's diet, but may include porcupines,
rabbits, or fawns. By turning over logs and rocks, a bear can often swat
mice or chipmunks. Finally, like humans, bears occasionally get into
cannibalism, usually ingesting other bears caught in traps, and rarely a
male bear will eat cubs.
During dry years like the
present, bears come to lower areas and sometimes into human territory in
search of food. Two black bears were sighted in PBH this August, a small one
on North Cedar Brook on the ridge, and a "big one'', 200-300 pounds, at
Timber Lane and Highview. A few days after that sighting, a large trash bin
on Timber Lane
was tipped and trashed, probably by that same bear. Two weeks later, bear
scat was found twice on the driveway at 420 Alpine Way.
In autumn, the "fall
shuffle'' begins with eating up to 24 hours a day, as much as 21,000
calories, during which the bear may range beyond its regular territory.
Weight gain is from 3/4 to 4 pounds a day, with four inches of subcutaneous
fat accumulated by onset of hibernation, usually in November. Fall diet
additions can include nuts, corn, wheat, apples and honey. The food of back
country campers is always welcome, as are the contents of your bird feeder.
Mating takes place in June
and July. Through the process of delayed implantation, the fertilized ovum
remains floating in the uterus until hibernation begins. Implantation then
occurs and the cubs have 45 to 55 days to develop before birth in January.
Their birth weight is only 1/2 pound All this would seem to conserve
precious energy during the five months of sleep during which the female bear
eats and drinks nothing, produces no urine or feces, her “cuisine” being her
own fat, with a weight loss of 20-25% by spring. The fat provides calories
and water.
As for the “cuisine” of the
two to three cubs that are usually born while the mother is still asleep,
there are six teats to choose from, yielding milk extremely rich in fat,
25-35%, compared to 3% found in human and cows milk. Weaning usually occurs
by August.
A couple of bear factoids in
closing:
1) George Bush won’t eat
broccoli; bears won’t eat liver.
2) Humans can run a maximum
of 28 mph. Bears have been clocked at 33 mph. Remember that!
From The Pine Brook Press, Fall 1994 |
