West Virginia residents’ attitudes and opinions toward American black bear hunting
American black bear (Ursus americanus) hunting has come under close scrutiny over the past decade. As black bear populations have increased and expanded, wildlife agencies have been faced with new challenges on how to set population and harvest goals. Wildlife agencies have altered proposed regulations or have had seasons entirely stopped because of public opposition, […]
Leptin as a surrogate indicator of body fat in the American black bear
We investigated the potential use of leptin as a wildlife management tool to monitor adiposity in American black bears (Ursus americanus). Body mass (BM), body condition index (BCI), serum leptin concentration, and percent of body fat were measured in semi-free ranging (SFR) adult male (South Dakota, Oct 2003-Jun 2004) and free-ranging (FR) adult females (Colorado […]
Recovery of grizzly and American black bears from xylazine, zolazepam, and tiletamine
Field workers handling bears continually strive to improve their field methods and reduce risks to animals during capture. Zolazepam-tiletamine (ZT) is the standard anesthesia currently used in bear captures, but has a prolonged recovery because there is no antagonist.Researchers are increasingly using xylazine, zolazepam, and tiletamine (XZT) in combination as an improvement to ZT alone. […]
A practical method for measuring horizontal cover
We propose a new cover cylinder as a useful tool for a single observer to measure horizontal cover in the field. We compared it with 4 other methods for measuring horizontal cover at brown bear (Ursus arctos) beds, with all measurements taken 10 m from beds in the 4 cardinal directions. We also compared cylinder […]
Identifying polymorphic microsatellite loci for Andean bear research
The Andean (spectacled) bear (Tremarctos ornatus) is the only extant species of bear in South America. This species is considered Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although current population sizes are unclear. To study Andean bears using DNA and non-invasive sampling, we screened 13 microsatellite loci using DNA extracted from blood, […]
Food habits of American black bears as a metric for direct management of human-bear conflict in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California
The management of human-American black bear (Ursus americanus) conflict has been of significant concern for Yosemite National Park (YNP) personnel since the 1920s. Park managers implemented the YNP Human-Bear Management Plan in 1975 in an effort to reduce human-bear conflicts, especially in the extensively developed Yosemite Valley (YV). We used scat analysis to estimate annual […]
Effects of sex and age on den site use by Scandinavian brown bears
We asked whether den site characteristics of Scandinavian brown bears (Ursus arctos) were related to bear sex or age by analyzing the nearest distances to human structures within 10 km, the forest composition within 50 m, and topography within 5 m of 391 winter dens used by 114 individuals during 1986-2003 in south-central Sweden. Subadult […]
Contributions of vital rates to growth of a protected population of American black bears
Analyses of large, long-lived animals suggest that adult survival generally has the potential to contribute more than reproduction to population growth rate (λ), but because survival varies little, high variability in reproduction can have a greater influence. This pattern has been documented for several species of large mammals, but few studies have evaluated such contributions […]
A 6,000+ year-old specimen of a spectacled bear from an Andean cave in Peru
We report the discovery of a partial skeleton of the oldest spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus) known to date. It was found at 2,950 m elevation in the Chaquil cave, in the Departamento de Amazonas, north central Peru. Its age, as determined by accelerated mass spectrometry conventional radiocarbon dating, was, within 50 years, 5,980 years before […]
Building a reliable snare cable for capturing grizzly and American black bears
Wildlife researchers and managers have been using Aldrich foot snares to capture American black bears (Ursus americanus) and grizzly bears (U arctos) for decades. Recently, failures have been reported in snare cable assemblies, resulting in escapes of both black and grizzly bears. We tested different configurations of snare cable and hardware using a hydraulic pull […]
