Grizzlies are omnivores, which means that like humans, they eat both plants and animals. They are also opportunists, meaning they take advantage of whatever is available. Most of their diet is from vegetable materials such as berries, roots, and grasses. They also scavenge meat from winter-killed animals, dig for rodents, and eat termites, ants, grubs and other insects. If the opportunity arises they can become adept at fishing and hunting.

Eating occupies much of a grizzly bear's time during the spring, summer and fall, but they also engage in a wide range of other activities. Grizzly bears are extremely intelligent animals and each individual has a personality of its own. Adult bears are sometimes observed on the highest peaks. Entire family groups of mothers and cubs have been seen sliding down steep snow slopes on their rumps and then climbing back up to do it again.

Although Yellowstone has the highest concentration of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states, we have never had any bear problems. We are extremely particular about food handling, cooking, cleanup, camp setup and hanging of all food and ordorous objects. For added safety, the horses/mules are hobbled around the campsite and with this added activity the bears avoid the immediate area.

Yes, we have both grizzly and black bears in the backcountry of the Tetons and Yellowstone. Click here to read more about how to prevent and handle bear encounters.

Young grizzlies can climb trees as effectively as most black bears, but some mature bears have more difficulty. Most grizzlies can "ladder up" trees with branches, but their weight and claw structure prevents them from climbing as efficiently as black bears. Three of the 23 documented bear-induced human injuries in Denali involved grizzlies pulling humans out of trees.

In 1983, a Washington Department of Game researcher collected and classified grizzly bear observations from the North Cascades. For the U.S. portion of the North Cascades, more than 20 reports between 1960 and 1983 were rated as highly reliable. One of the reports described the killing of a grizzly bear on Fisher Creek south of Ross Lake in 1967. Biologists of the Washington Department of Game inspected this bear and recorded a detailed description of it.

The Endangered Species Act requires recovery of threatened or endangered plants and animals. Grizzly bears were listed as a threatened species in 1975. A national grizzly bear recovery plan was prepared in 1982. It identified four ecosystems that had grizzly bears and sufficient habitat to support a viable bear population and two that needed to be evaluated. The North Cascades was one of those two.

While timber harvest activity may temporarily displace bears, it does not necessarily cause long-term detrimental effects if road access is limited after the activity is complete. Logging can sometimes improve bear habitat by providing openings favorable to plants that the bears use for food. This increased food value lasts as long as the bear foods produced by removal of the tree canopy persist.

The potential for having an adverse encounter with a grizzly bear is extremely low. Even when they occur, most bear encounters do not lead to human injury. Adverse encounters can usually be avoided through awareness of conditions that may cause an encounter. Keeping a clean camp, not approaching wildlife too closely, and avoiding situations that might unknowingly surprise a bear will greatly decrease the risk of having an unwanted bear encounter, or causing someone else to have one.

The average spring weight of an adult male bear in the Rockies is 350-400 pounds; a female weighs about 250 pounds. A grizzly may gain 50-100+ pounds during the summer and fall. Brown and Kodiak bears are the same species as our grizzly bears, but they are much larger as a result of their richer food source and the dominance of larger bears in breeding.

Yes. Grizzlies sometimes prey on elk calves and deer fawns. They generally are not very proficient at killing adults of those species. In some areas, such as Yellowstone, big game can be an important food source. However, carrion (often winter kill) often makes up the largest portion of big game consumed by bears.

No. This would not happen without an extensive process that involves an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). However there is a plan being considered by British Columbia authorities to augment the population in that Province.

Many biologists believe that the only way to facilitate recovery and reduce the risk of extinction is through an augmentation program. They estimate there are currently very few grizzly bears in the North Cascades, perhaps as few as 5-20 animals in the U.S. portion. Small populations such as this are highly vulnerable to extinction.

There are many specific things people can do to avoid attracting bears, either grizzly or black. Good sanitation is key to many of these. Odors attract bears to potential food items; their curiosity can even attract them to items that are not food, such as petroleum products and toiletries. Carefully controlling odors associated with food and products which humans use helps prevent bears from being habituated to being near people.

Approximately 75-85% of the black bear diet is vegetable matter. Common foods in northern Minnesota include clover, dandelions, chokecherry, pin cherry, sarsaparilla, wild plum, blueberry, cranberry, hazelnuts, acorns, wild oats, and the larvae of ants, bees, and hornets. Black bears are not very effective predators, but they will occasionally catch and eat fawns, moose calves, and beaver. Bears are also attracted to human foods at campgrounds and garbage dumps when natural foods are scarce.

Polar bears have a great sense of smell and can detect a dead whale or seal from twenty miles away! Since they eat mostly seals, they catch a live seal by sitting by a seal air hole in the ice and then sneak up on the seal when it comes up to breathe. Did you know polar bears don't drink water? They get all the moisture they need from the food they eat.

Humans are not a staple in a black bears diet. There have been no recorded instances of a Black bear killing a person in Michigan at all. Bears are more likely to run from a person, or steal their food, than to attempt to make a meal of them.

The main part of the polar bears' diet is ringed and bearded seals. Ringed seals, often the pups, are caught in the ice, either by smashing through the ice and grabbing newborns in the birth lair, grabbing them after waiting by their breathing hole, or by stalking the seals on the ice.