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Brown Bears

ramonmercado

ramonmercado

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Actually, in the image it looks as if the bear is using a mobile phone!

Wild brown bear observed using a tool
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-wil ... -tool.html
March 7th, 2012 in Biology / Plants & Animals

Image (c) Volker Deecke

(PhysOrg.com) -- Because brown bears are so reclusive, not to mention dangerous to be around, not a lot is really known about their brain power. This is actually rather odd because bears have the largest brains for their body size of all carnivores and are thought to be rather clever, though mostly through anecdotal evidence. Now comes news of British researcher Volker Deecke of the University of Cumbria, who while on vacation in Alaska, came across a brown bear using a rock covered with barnacles to help alleviate the itch associated with molting. Deecke photographed the use of the tool by the bear and has published his findings in Animal Cognition.

Bears of many varieties have very often been seen rubbing themselves against trees and rocks to help ease the itching that results when they replace their winter fur with a lighter summer coat. But never before has a bear of any kind been spotted picking up rocks to use as tools to help them better get at those places that itch. In fact, this discovery is only the fourth observed use of tools by any non-primate animal. Elephants commonly use branches to ward off flies and dolphins have been caught using sponges to hide their rostrum and some whales use bubbles to help in catching fish. Using a rock specifically chosen to perform a certain task, however, is clearly a demonstration of higher intelligence.

Deecke, who normally studies whales, was watching a couple of brown bears feed on a whale carcass on the shores of Glacier Bay, when one of them began searching the bottom of the sea for something. A moment later, the bear reached down and grabbed a rock, which Deecke could clearly see was covered with barnacles, and began rubbing it against its face and neck. Thus it appeared that not just any rock would do, it had to be covered with barnacles which would do a better job in scratching. It wasn’t just a fluke either. After a while, the bear dropped the rock, moseyed around, and after some time searched for and retrieved another rock. In all the bear repeated the whole exercise three times, retrieving three different rocks, all covered with barnacles, which he used for scratching at his itchy hide. Deecke also noted that the bear manipulated the rock in his paw before scratching, moving it into the optimal position for the best possible scratch, a type of activity previously only seen with humans and other primates.
Deecke suggests that more research ought to be focused on bears because clearly they are capable of far more than has been realized.

More information: Tool-use in the brown bear (Ursus arctos), Animal Cognition, DOI: 10.1007/s10071-012-0475-0

Abstract

This is the first report of tool-using behaviour in a wild brown bear (Ursus arctos). Whereas the use of tools is comparatively common among primates and has also been documented in several species of birds, fishes and invertebrates, tool-using behaviours have so far been observed in only four species of non-primate mammal. The observation was made and photographed while studying the behaviour of a subadult brown bear in south-eastern Alaska. The animal repeatedly picked up barnacle-encrusted rocks in shallow water, manipulated and re-oriented them in its forepaws, and used them to rub its neck and muzzle. The behaviour probably served to relieve irritated skin or to remove food-remains from the fur. Bears habitually rub against stationary objects and overturn rocks and boulders during foraging and such rubbing behaviour could have been transferred to a freely movable object to classify as tool-use. The bear exhibited considerable motor skills when manipulating the rocks, which clearly shows that these animals possess the advanced motor learning necessary for tool-use. Advanced spatial cognition and motor skills for object manipulation during feeding and tool-use provide a possible explanation for why bears have the largest brains relative to body size of all carnivores. Systematic research into the cognitive abilities of bears, both in captivity and in the wild, is clearly warranted to fully understand their motor-learning skills and physical intelligence related to tool-use and other object manipulation tasks.
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Old news really, anybody that has had a pick-i-nic basket stolen will know how smart bears are. :D
 
Still no match for teh one on the john west salmon advert.

And the three bears who lived in a house made their own porridge.
:D
 
ramonmercado said:
Actually, in the image it looks as if the bear is using a mobile phone!
Click to expand...

Probably from the future.
 
Probably a bear-market trader. :)
 
In fact, this discovery is only the fourth observed use of tools by any non-primate animal. Elephants commonly use branches to ward off flies and dolphins have been caught using sponges to hide their rostrum and some whales use bubbles to help in catching fish.
Click to expand...
Does this mean New Caledonian Crows are primates?

And wasn't there a report of sheep using sticks to clear away snow so they could get at the grass underneath?
 
The abstract says "non-primate mammal" the first part changes it to animal, as obviously the terms are interchangeable. :roll: [/b]
 
Anome_ said:
In fact, this discovery is only the fourth observed use of tools by any non-primate animal. Elephants commonly use branches to ward off flies and dolphins have been caught using sponges to hide their rostrum and some whales use bubbles to help in catching fish.
Click to expand...
Does this mean New Caledonian Crows are primates?

And wasn't there a report of sheep using sticks to clear away snow so they could get at the grass underneath?
Click to expand...

Next the sheep will use the sticks on collies.
 
Don't feed brown bears when you've had beer.

'Drunk' man has his hand savaged by a bear after trying to feed it condensed milk at a Russian roadside cafe
  • A 42-year-old 'drunk' man in Russia has been brutally mauled by a brown bear
  • Andrey Sakharovsky has lost his arm after trying to feed bears at a roadside cafe
  • Cafe staff sold him condensed milk to feed the animals, kept as an attraction
  • Mr Sakharovsky's family is now seeking fiancial compensation from the cafe


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4796544/Drunk-man-loses-arm-bear-Russia.html#ixzz4q3F5njWT
 
Bears got the same common ancestor as dogs, so perhaps their intellect is on the same level.
 
Keeps the mummy bears safe as well.

Brown bear cubs living in the forests of Sweden are spending longer with their mothers.

Baby bears stay by their mother's side until they are aged two-and-a-half - an extra year compared with a few decades ago, according to a study.

Although the size of the bear population remains stable, hunting pressures appear to be altering the bear's life history, say scientists.

Bears can be legally hunted in Sweden, except when they have cubs.

The shift towards extended care may be due to hunting regulations that protect females with dependent cubs, said Joanie Van de Walle of the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada.

The longer females stay with their cubs, the more they avoid being killed.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43518365
 
This grizzly soon realised that trouble was bruin when he attacked Amber.

A 28-year-old woman walked away with a fractured skull after managing to fight off a grizzly bear in the US state of Montana.

Amber Kornak had just started her dream job researching the fearsome animals when she was mauled by one on a remote mountain range this month.

She managed to fend off the creature using Mace-like bear spray, then walked nearly two miles to her vehicle.

Ms Kornak is in a stable condition in hospital, a friend said.

Ms Kornak accepted a seasonal position as grizzly bear wildlife technician for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Libby, Montana, on 10 May.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44243418
 
Apparently the bear attacks are because of people leaving litter around, thus the bears get used to humans they would usually run away from. So it's the litterbugs' fault.
 
ramonmercado said:
Brown bear cubs living in the forests of Sweden are spending longer with their mothers.

Baby bears stay by their mother's side until they are aged two-and-a-half - an extra year compared with a few decades ago...
Click to expand...

They’re triggered by the world’s microaggressions. Mum won’t buy them an iPhone X, so they’ll stay in their caves listening to Morrissey and The Cure until it’s time to go to “Uni”.

Their 2:2 in “Peace Studies” will make the world a better place for bears. If they can ever get beyond a job as a barista.

maximus otter
 
Hive owners feel the sting.

Wild bears are causing thousands of euros' worth of damage as they raid beehives for food across Finland and Estonia, it's been reported.

While the image of Winnie-the-Pooh feeding himself full of honey might be an appealing one, the reality is rather different as wild animals come ever closer to populated areas to find food.

It's become a particular problem in Finland, with national broadcaster Yle sayingsome 70 hives have already been destroyed this year. In one case, Yle reports, the bear was undeterred by an electric fence and tore down two hives 100 metres from a house.

According to Maaseudun Tulevaisuus, which reports news for the agricultural community, over 124,000 euro ($143,000; £108,000) was paid out to farmers in compensation for bear damage to hives.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-44290512
 
At least they weren't attacked by vampires.

Bear scares Transylvania political summer camp
  • 27 July 2018
A summer camp for young Transylvania political activists is reeling from close encounters with a bear in the mountains of northern Romania.

The local members of the ethnic-Hungarian minority were looking forward to lively debates at the annual Tusnadfurdo gathering of their branch of Fidesz, the right-wing populist party that governs neighbouring Hungary, according to the Budapest Sztar Klikk news site.

But the first sign that events might be taking a livelier course than usual came on Wednesday night, when a female bear entered the camp at Baile Tusnad and bit a man on the arm and clawed his leg. He is receiving treatment in a local hospital, the Romanian newspaper Adevarul reported.

But when the bear reappeared in the parking lot the following evening, many of the participants "ran screaming in panic", Sztar Klikk said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-44987170
 
The mother and baby come to a grizzly end. Just shows that even experienced people are at risk.

A mother and her 10-month-old baby were killed by a grizzly bear while taking a walk around their remote cabin in Canada’s Yukon territory, authorities say.

The child’s father, Gjermund Roesholt, found Valérie Théorêt, 37, and baby Adele Roesholt around 3 p.m. on Monday, the Yukon Coroner’s Service said in a statement. Théorêt, a teacher, was on maternity leave. She and Roesholt — both “experienced bush people” or ardent outdoors people who have spent a lot of time in the wilderness — decided to use some of that time to trap animals for fur near Einarson Lake, the CBC reports.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...cid=newsltushpmgnews__TheMorningEmail__112918
 
Fighting off a grizzly with just a pocket knife. (The man had the knife, not the grizzly.)

Colin Dowler might not be alive today if it weren't for a small pocket knife with a two-inch blade and five forestry workers.

The Canadian man was mountain biking on a logging road in the remote backcountry of British Columbia, roughly 300km (185 miles) north of Vancouver. He was exploring potential hiking routes on Mount Doogie Dowler - he and his brother had plans to climb the mountain named after their grandfather.

He was heading back home after spending the night in the woods when he came around a bend and saw a grizzly bear. At the time he didn't know that he would end up in a life-or-death struggle with the animal - and that his luck would turn after the attack. He was hoping that like most bears, it would prefer to avoid human contact and head back into the woods. Unprovoked bear attacks - provincial conservation officers believe this is such a case - are extremely rare. He was about 100ft (30 metres) from the bear - "too close in my opinion", he told the BBC by phone from his hospital bed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49186379
 
Funnily enough, I couldn't sleep last night and ended up watching a bunch of youtube clips about wild animals appearing out of the woods and chasing cyclists. :) It is becoming too common, in my opinion. I think maybe this year is particularly bad because the salmon run is a staple for the BC bears and their path is blocked by a rock slide.

"A number of the chinook runs are already circling and waiting to get up. The sockeye run, which is perhaps two million, will start to arrive within a couple weeks. So, we expect somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000 fish per day arriving below the rock slide."

He said rock scalers, engineers and blasters are trying to find a solution to the natural disaster.

"It is imperative we do whatever we can to enable as many fish as possible to pass through the slide to secure sustainability of these runs, and obviously the communities who rely on these stocks," Wilkinson said.
Click to expand...


https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/fraser-river-slide-salmon-1.5238237
 
Dragged away by the grizzly.

A Franco-Canadian man died after being attacked by a grizzly bear in a remote area of Canada last week, police announced on Monday.

Julien Gauthier, a 44-year-old musician, was surprised by the animal in his sleep. He was travelling along the Mackenzie River to record sounds of nature for a musical project. Unprovoked grizzly bear attacks are usually very rare, conservation officers say. On 15 August, at approximately 07:45 local time (13:45 GMT), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was alerted by the launch of a distress beacon in the Tulita area on the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, a largely isolated area accessible only by sea or air.

Camille Toscani, a biologist who had been travelling with Mr Gauthier and raised the alert, said he had been dragged away by a grizzly bear in the middle of the night.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49412385
 
ramonmercado said:
Dragged away by the grizzly.

A Franco-Canadian man died after being attacked by a grizzly bear in a remote area of Canada last week, police announced on Monday.

Julien Gauthier, a 44-year-old musician, was surprised by the animal in his sleep. He was travelling along the Mackenzie River to record sounds of nature for a musical project. Unprovoked grizzly bear attacks are usually very rare, conservation officers say. On 15 August, at approximately 07:45 local time (13:45 GMT), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was alerted by the launch of a distress beacon in the Tulita area on the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, a largely isolated area accessible only by sea or air.

Camille Toscani, a biologist who had been travelling with Mr Gauthier and raised the alert, said he had been dragged away by a grizzly bear in the middle of the night.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49412385
Click to expand...

Yikes, this is getting out of hand in my neck of the woods.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/woman-grizzlies-dogs-1.5253870
 
There's a claws in the legal code ...

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — A Montana man told authorities that he cut off a grizzly bear's claws as a memento after shooting it in self-defense because he was mad that the bear was going to eat him, according to court records.

Bryan Berg, 35, appeared in court on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Missoula after pleading guilty to illegal transport of grizzly bear claws, a misdemeanor, according to the Flathead Beacon. A judge sentenced the man from the northwestern Montana town of Marion to three years of probation and ordered him to pay $5,000 in restitution.

Grizzly bears in northwestern Montana are classified as a threatened species.

Prosecutors said Berg shot the bear in self-defense in the Bob Marshall Wilderness in 2017. He cut off its claws and pushed the carcass over the side of the mountain.

Berg never reported the shooting to law enforcement and he later took the bear claws to Washington state, prosecutors said.

https://news.yahoo.com/man-kills-grizzly-self-defense-191136855.html
 
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