We are pleased to share these recent Ursus articles with you. Thanks to the support of subscribing institutions and the global library community, the BioOne Subscribe to Open (S2O) threshold has been reached, making all Ursus articles open access for 2026. This milestone represents a significant step forward in making research accessible to everyone. Read the announcement from BioOne.
Odor preference and taste-potentiated odor aversion in grizzly bears
Heather L. Havelock, Jazmin O. Gonzalez, Charles T. Robbins, Heiko T. Jansen
Ursus 2026 (37e14), 1-19, (3 November 2026). https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-25-00009R1
KEYWORDS: bears, behavioral conditioning, conditioned food aversion, human–wildlife conflict odor cue, odor preference, taste-potentiated odor aversion, TPOA, wildlife management
Odors are important drivers of behavior for many species. Bears use odors to make critical foraging decisions. Little systematic work has been conducted to quantify odor preferences in bears. We tested 12 odors that were purposefully selected as possible attractants, repellants, or neutral with captive grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) at the Washington State University Bear Center. These odors included bear lure, honey, lemon oil, fish oil, star anise, and conspecific urine, among others. The bears preferred honey and bear lure over all other odors, while lemon oil remained neutral. We subsequently used those results to determine whether we could establish a conditioned food aversion to an odor (taste-potentiated odor aversion; TPOA). We used a high value food (Froot Loops®) and the aversive agent thiabendazole (TBZ) paired with lemon oil as an unfamiliar odor cue. The aversion was strongest in wild-born bears compared with captive-born bears. Overall, aversion strength was weaker during autumn hyperphagia compared with the summer. More exposures to TBZ were given to bears with weaker aversions for reinforcement, resulting in a negative correlation between number of treatments and aversion strength. However, grizzly bears are very capable of forming an association between a neutral odor and an aversive agent when sprayed on food and thereby can avoid eating treated food. Thus, TPOA could be a nonlethal method used to reduce economic losses to crops, bear–human conflicts, and bear mortalities.
Jurisdictional survey of American black bear management across the United States and Canada
Shelby S. Shiver, Carl W. Lackey, Vanessa Hull, David Telesco
Ursus 2026 (37e15), 1-17, (2 November 2026). https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-25-00012
KEYWORDS: black bear, management strategies, population, population trend, range, RECOLONIZATION, survey, Ursus americanus
Across North America, American black bears (Ursus americanus) are managed by individual jurisdictions (e.g., states, provinces, territories), which do not have efficient means of sharing management data. This has resulted in the absence of a comprehensive summary of range-wide management trends and patterns, which has hindered the ability of wildlife managers to compare the prevalence and effectiveness of management actions. We fill that gap by compiling information from a 2022 survey of managers on black bear population trends, management strategies, and human–bear interactions throughout the United States (U.S.) and Canada. There were a reported 937,704 (range H 877,022–998,386) black bears across the U.S. and Canada. Regulated hunting and vehicle strikes were the first and second leading causes of documented mortality, respectively. Of the 51 (82.2%) jurisdictions with resident bear populations, 25 (49%) reported increasing populations, and 27 (52.9%) reported increasing bear range. Most jurisdictions (88.2%) with resident bear populations have regulated bear hunting seasons. Public outreach was the most reported management strategy, and almost all jurisdictions (98%) with resident bear populations utilized this method. We also aggregated population estimates from surveys conducted from 1984 to 2015 to evaluate broad temporal trends and estimate annual population growth across the U.S. and Canada. Results suggest an annual bear population growth rate of about 1.1%, although the methods used by each jurisdiction to generate population estimates were unclear. We assume some estimates were given as expert opinion based on the best available data as opposed to being empirically derived; therefore, our estimated annual growth is not statistically rigorous and represents an informed estimation from available data. Our findings reveal the management similarities and differences between jurisdictions and indicate potential opportunities for more coordinated management initiatives on topics such as feeding prohibitions, regulations and resources for use of bear-resistant garbage containers, and multimethod monitoring programs.
Mapping anthropogenic food sources that drive brown bear activities in settlements
László Gál, Írisz-Barbara Dobos, István Maák
Ursus 2026 (37e16), 1-13, (10 November 2026). https://doi.org/10.2192/URSUS-D-25-00007
KEYWORDS: attractant mapping, brown bear, electric fence, fruit trees, garbage receptacles, human–bear conflict, management strategies, urban wildlife, Ursus arctos
Human–wildlife conflicts often arise from overlapping resource use and the availability of human-derived foods. Over the past century, human waste, as well as small-scale household horticulture and agriculture, have created predictable anthropogenic food sources in and around settlements that attract various wild animals, including brown bears (Ursus arctos), into close proximity to people, often leading to negative outcomes. Identifying and characterizing these attractants is therefore essential for effective conflict mitigation, particularly in parapatric landscapes. In this study, we mapped the location, type, abundance, and accessibility of anthropogenic attractants for brown bears within the town of Bàile Tuşnad, Romania, and assessed indicators of local human awareness by evaluating the use of protective measures during a 5-day survey from 26 June to 1 July 2022. We documented 711 potential feeding points, including 82 garbage receptacles and 629 fruit trees, most of which were accessible to bears (85.67% of garbage receptacles and 89.45% of fruit trees). Our results indicate that even relatively small amounts of anthropogenic food can incentivize bears to enter urban areas in search of predictable and easily accessible resources. These findings underscore the need for targeted management strategies that reduce attractant availability, particularly unsecured human waste, in settlements bordering forested habitats. Implementing such measures is crucial for sustainable bear conservation and for minimizing human–wildlife conflicts in human-dominated landscapes.