The Bear

So what can I tell you about Bears?

Well, I can tell you the classic stuff everyone knows: bears are apex predators found on most continents, they're ominvorous &, depending on the species, eat anything from berries to large animals, and finally that they hibernate during the winter months. So what else is there?

First is the basic information: bears can live up to about 25 years.¹ The smallest type of bear is the sun bear, which usually weighs about 100 lbs, while the largest is generally considered the polar bear, which can weigh about 1700 lbs.¹ The Kodiak Grizzly bear, which lives in Alaska and in eastern Russia is a very close second to the polar bear, with an average weight of about 1500 lbs.²

Hibernation with bears drives their whole life, pretty much. In Fall of 2020, I kept track of the bears in Fat Bear Week, and they get, for lack of a better word, so chonky. To prepare for winter, they eat up to 20k calories a day, adding about three pounds to their weight (per day).³ When they go to sleep for the winter, they can weigh 1k-2k lbs, then they lose about 15-30 % of their body weight before they wake up again.⁴ Almost aLl of their waking time is spent preparing for hibernation by putting on weight.

Bears are quite intelligent & one of the most intelligent animals native to North America.⁵ According to PBS, they "possess the largest and most convoluted brains relative to their size of any land mammal," giving them a comparable intelligence to a three year old.⁵ They have a remarkable ability to observe & navigate the land, possibly even better than humans do.⁵

Bears are also highly social creatures. They live in a little group called a "sleuth."⁷ Cubs live with their mothers for several years, learning how to take care of themselves and live off the land.⁵ By the time they leave their mothers, they know how to search for & find food, what season foods are available in, and how to harvest their food.⁵

Bears also have some very human-like traits. Bears have been seen to sit and observe mountains and rivers for hours at a time, suggesting they have a sense of beauty.⁵ They also have been observed recently to use tools.⁶ Tool usage in land mammals is actually exceptionally rare outside of primates, so this is significant!⁶

While bears are obviously some really incredible and fuzzy creatures, I will continue to enjoy them from a safe distance, because they're very dangerous! Here are some tips my parents taught me to stay safe from bears when in bear country: