Stimulating Natural Behavior in Captive Bears

January 1, 2001

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Brown bears (Ursus arctos) in zoos are often kept under sub-optimal conditions and have behavioral time-budgets that differ from their wild counterparts. We conducted 2 experiments using novel feeding conditions for captive European brown bears (scattering food rather than piling and increasing feeding frequencies from 3 to 6/day) in the Bear Forest (BF), a 2-ha forested enclosure in Rhenen, the Netherlands. No significant differences in any behavioral category were found when food was scattered rather than piled. We found significant differences in active and foraging behavioral categories when feeding was increased form 3 to 6 times daily, suggesting a more natural behavioral pattern. We speculate that this effect will increase when scattering food and increasing feeding frequency are combined into a new feeding condition.

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