The food habits and distribution by elevation of black bears (Ursus americanus) in Banff National Park, Alberta, were investigated during a 3-year radio-telemetry study. Analysis of feeding signs indicated that the typical year is divided into the following bear food seasons: 1) green-up (den exit to mid-June), when horsetails (Equisetum sp.) and graminoid vegetation (grasses, sedges and rushes) formed the major portion of the diets of bears, with importance values of 38.2 and 34.2%, respectively; 2) ant (mid-June to mid-July), when bears consumed ants (Formicidae) and ant larvae to a large extent (69.3%); 3) buffaloberry (mid-July to end-August), when bears fed upon buffaloberries (Shepherdia canadensis: 91.4%) once they ripened in mid-summer; 4) post-buffaloberry (end-August to den entry), when, once buffaloberries had fallen from the bushes, bears switched to alternate foods such as crowberries (Empetrum: 85.1%), bearberries (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi: 11.1%) and juniper (Juniperus communis) berries (0.7%). Some bears were found to feed primarily upon crowberries during this season, while others mainly ate bearberries. The mean elevation at which all collared bears were located ranged from 1,500-1,543 m during the first 3 seasons, but increased to 1,694 m during the post-buffaloberry season. Some bears, however, stayed at low elevations (x̄ = 1,463 m) during the fall and fed upon bearberries. Those that fed upon crowberries during the post-buffaloberry season had a mean elevation of 1,768 m, while those that fed upon high-elevation bearberries and white-bark pine (Pinus albicaulis) nuts had a mean elevation of 1,818 m.
- Volume 8
- Issue
- Pages 297-304
- Publication Date 1 January 1990
- DOI 10.2307/3872932
- File Size 303.30 KB
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