[HN Gopher] The Bulky Bears of Fat Bear Week 2021
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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
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(page generated 2021-09-30 23:00 UTC)