Category Archives: Kodiak Bear

Kodiak Bear biology, behavior, and news

Kodiak Bear Research

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Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge are responsible for most of the research on Kodiak bears, and much of this research has concentrated on denning behaviors and home ranges of Kodiak bears, with an emphasis on management applications. Today, the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust funds a portion of bear research. The trust was established in 1981 to compensate for potential impacts on Kodiak bears by the construction and operation of the Terror Lake Hydroelectric Project. The trust funds bear research, management, habitat protection, and educational outreach projects. The Kodiak Brown Bear Trust relies on tax-deductible contributions to carry out its mission. If you would like to support Kodiak bear research and habitat protection, please visit www.kodiakbrownbeartrust.org to learn more about the trust and how you can donate.

In 1896, C.H. Merriam visited Kodiak and confirmed reports that Kodiak bears were the largest bears in the world. He named the species in honor of Russian naturalist Dr. A. Th. Von Middendorff. Merriam divided the North American brown and grizzly bears into eighty-six forms based on slight variations in size, fur color, and skull shape. Scientists now know physical differences in these categories can occur within populations and even within family groups. Today, all North American brown bears, grizzlies, and Eurasian brown bears are grouped into the single species Ursus arctos. Kodiak bears are classified Ursus arctos middendorfi, and all other brown and grizzly bears are listed as Ursus arctos horribilis.

The first scientific studies of Kodiak bears were simple hunting and collecting trips to document their size. In the early 1900’s, research was concerned with determining how many cattle and salmon bears were killing and eating. A study by W.K. Clark in 1955 showed although bears are very effective at catching salmon in a stream, they catch few unspawned salmon, making their impact on the salmon run much less than originally believed. 

As the Kodiak bear became a valued trophy for big game hunters, the focus of the research shifted to learning more about the physiology and behavior patterns of bears. Biologists refined techniques for capturing and marking bears and began to use radio telemetry to track the movements of specific bears. This jump in technology provided biologists with information on home ranges, densities, gender and age ratios, and litter sizes.

Most of the early research on Kodiak bears was conducted on the south end of Kodiak Island, but in 1982, construction began on the Terror Lake Hydroelectric Project on the north end of the island, and funds were made available to study if this project would affect bears in the vicinity of the proposed dam. Biologists were surprised when studies on the bears near Terror Lake showed bears in this area had different denning behaviors and preferences than did bears on the south end of the island, indicating that Kodiak bears have adapted well to the slightly different habitats on opposite ends of the island.

In the 1970’s, a study investigated Kodiak brown bear use of alpine habitat during the summer months and preferred plant foods of bears, while a study published by Victor Barnes in 1990 examined the influence of salmon availability on the movements of brown bears.  A 1994 study by Barnes investigated the impact deer hunters have on Kodiak bears, and a 2006 paper by Barnes discussed his study on the impact of bear viewers and photographers at O’Malley River on Kodiak Island. This study showed that while a regimented bear-viewing program impacted bears less than a non-regimented program, bears were still affected much more by a regimented bear-viewing program than they were when the area was closed to public use. I think the important lesson to learn from this study is that any time you step into the bears’ habitat, you are impacting them to some degree.

Next week, I will tell you about recent research on Kodiak bears. As always, thank you for visiting my blog.

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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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Relationships between Kodiak Island Refuge Users and Bears

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How have deer and goat hunters and bear viewers impacted Kodiak bears? This is my third and final post about the complex relationship between humans and bears on Kodiak Island.

Deer Hunters

In the early 1980s, the Sitka black-tailed deer population exploded throughout the Kodiak Archipelago. As a result, the length of the deer-hunting season as well as the bag limit for deer increased. For several years, each hunter was allowed to shoot seven deer. Bears quickly adapted to this new, easy source of food, and conflicts between bears and deer hunters increased in frequency. A questionnaire filled out by hunters indicated 21% of all deer hunters had threatening encounters with bears, and as many as 26% lost deer meat to bears. A heightened emphasis on hunter education and ways to avoid bear encounters has helped solve this problem. Today, the bag limit is three deer per hunter, but bear/deer-hunter encounters still occur.

Goat Hunters

The mountain goat population on Kodiak has also rapidly increased within the last decade, and in many areas, permits for hunting mountain goats have gone from a restricted drawing to an open registration. Several goat-hunter/bear conflicts have occurred in the last few years, but goat habitat is difficult to reach, so there are fewer goat hunters than deer hunters and therefore fewer goat-hunter/bear conflicts than deer-hunter/bear conflicts.

 

Bear Viewers and Photographers

The interest in bear viewing and photography has steadily increased on Kodiak since the 1980’s. The Refuge classifies bear viewing as “non-consumptive” use as opposed to “consumptive” use by bear hunters, but “non-consumptive” is a misleading term. Bear viewers can be very disruptive to bears and the habitat, and their impact or potential impact is not easy to measure or predict. The challenge the Refuge has faced in recent years is to learn how to limit the impact of non-consumptive users on bears while allowing as many people as possible the thrill of watching a Kodiak bear in its natural habitat.

Bear viewing on Kodiak occurs almost exclusively in the summer months when bears are concentrated on streams or in shallow, saltwater areas at the heads of bays, feeding on salmon. Bears must consume large amounts of protein and fat in the summer to sustain them through the following winter’s hibernation. It is especially critical for sows with cubs and pregnant sows to receive adequate nutrition.

Bear viewers can force bears away from prime feeding areas. This impact is difficult to measure, and it is likely bear viewers or photographers will not even realize they are impacting the bears, because some bears are more tolerant of humans and will stay and feed in their presence, while other bears will leave the area as soon as they detect humans nearby. These less-tolerant bears may then be forced to fish in less-productive areas or at different times of the day when tides and light conditions are not as good.

Management Decisions

Biologists are now studying and trying to understand the impacts bear viewers, sport fishermen, rafters, and hikers have on Kodiak bears, and they hope to use what they learn to develop regulations to manage these impacts on Kodiak bears and their habitat.

Over the next few weeks, I plan to cover past and present scientific research on bears, including one recent controversial study.

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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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Humans and Bears on Kodiak Island from the 1960s through the 1980s

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Last week, I wrote about the early relationship between humans and bears on Kodiak Island. Over the next two weeks, I’ll tell you the rest of the story.

Over the 1940s and 50s, the government of Alaska denied ranchers’ requests for stricter predator-control measures against bears, but policies changed in the 1960s when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game worked with ranchers to pursue and kill bears suspected of killing cattle. The Department of Fish and Game went so far as to quietly hire two WWII fighter pilots to shoot bears with a semi-automatic M-1 Garand rifle mounted on a Piper Super Cub aircraft. A group of irate Kodiak hunting guides informed Outdoor Life, and the magazine ran a sensational cover story titled “The Kodiak Bear War.” In 1970, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game decided it was not appropriate for the agency to be involved in a predator-control program on brown bears and it ceased its relationship with the ranchers.

Also in the 1960s, the number of sport-killed bears greatly increased, causing the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge to enact stricter hunting regulations and seasons, and by the mid-1970s, a well-regulated permit system was in place.

During the 1970s and 1980s, concern and research focused more heavily on Kodiak-brown-bear habitat. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law on December 18, 1971. As a result of ANCSA, local native groups on Kodiak selected as their land much of the coastline of Kodiak, the Karluk River drainage, and several other smaller islands in the archipelago, causing the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge to lose control of 310,000 acres of prime bear habitat.

In 1979, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission began working on an environmental impact statement for a proposed hydroelectric project and dam at Terror Lake on the north end of Kodiak Island. The public and various agencies were concerned the project would disturb bear denning and feeding areas, and finally, a settlement was reached in 1981, providing funds to support research on project impacts on salmon, mountain goats, and bears. This agreement established The Kodiak Brown Bear Trust, which is still a source of funds for brown bear research and habitat protection. Research indicated the hydroelectric project had few long-term negative impacts on bears, and the project supported highly beneficial research.

On March 24th, 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled eleven million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound. As the oil spread, ocean currents carried it to Kodiak, killing seabirds, eagles, sea otters, harbor seals, and killer whales. Oil washed onto the beaches, causing habitat destruction and resulting in reduced salmon runs in the following years. I have read several articles stating no bears were directly killed by eating oiled birds or animal carcasses, but I believe this statement is inaccurate. I personally saw two dead bears on remote beaches during the summer of 1989, and while necropsies were not performed on the animals, it is unusual to see a dead bear on the beach, and I think it is likely their deaths were directly linked to the contaminated beaches and the oiled bird and animal carcasses that had drifted onto those beaches. Furthermore, if I saw two dead bears, it is not only possible but probable there were more. The vegetation on Kodiak is very dense in the summer, so it would be difficult to spot a sick bear if it wandered into the brush and died. One positive development from the oil spill was that much of the money from the Exxon Valdez Settlement Fund was used to buy back Refuge lands and critical bear habitat previously lost due to ANCSA.

Next week, I will explore how deer and goat hunters and bear viewers affect Kodiak bears. The debate over how much humans should be allowed to impact wildlife will never end. While it would be wonderful if animals could roam free with no interference from humans, consumptive and non-consumptive human users provide the necessary funds to protect wildlife and the habitat.

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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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The History of the Relationship between Humans and Kodiak Bears

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According to archaeological evidence, Kodiak Island has been inhabited by humans for the last 7500 years, and bears were already on the island when humans arrived. The earliest human occupants are referred to as the Ocean Bay tradition, and while little is known about the relationship Ocean Bay people had with bears, bear bones have been found in archaeological digs of sites dating from this period, indicating they did hunt bears. Interestingly, though, few bear skulls have been found in excavations of Ocean Bay sites, suggesting that the head may have been left in the field as part of a ceremonial practice or a sign of respect for the animal. If the Ocean Bay culture was similar to other early northern cultures, then it is likely bears were revered and perhaps even viewed as emissaries between man and the spirit world.

The Ocean Bay tradition lasted 4000 years and was replaced by the Kachemak tradition which lasted approximately 3200 years and was gradually replaced, beginning 900 years ago, by Alutiiq (Koniag) society. As time progressed, the human population on Kodiak grew, and conflicts between humans and bears undoubtedly increased as well. Excavations at Koniag village sites uncovered a greater number of bear skulls than were found in more ancient sites, indicating either bears were more heavily hunted, or the humans had abandoned the practices that forbade bringing skulls into the villages.

Russian explorers arrived on Kodiak in the early 1760s, and while the Russians were impressed by the huge bears inhabiting the archipelago, their main interest was harvesting sea otters and shipping the valuable pelts to China. Bears were also hunted, but a bear hide was only worth two percent as much as a sea otter pelt. Once the Russians depleted the sea otter population, they more actively sought out other fur-bearing animals including bears, and between 1821 and 1842, 268 bear hides per year were shipped from the Alaska colonies. In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia, and the brown bear harvest more than doubled, with an average of 548 hides shipped per year from 1867 to 1880.

Russians brought livestock to Kodiak, and when bears began killing the livestock, especially cattle, they were considered a nuisance to be eliminated. At nearly the same time, more efficient methods of fishing by commercial fishing operations on the island led to a depletion of salmon stocks and created greater competition between humans and bears for the fish. Although the U.S. government never set an official bounty on bears as they did on eagles and Dolly Varden, bears were routinely shot, and some canneries offered private bounties on bears.

The Boone and Crockett Club, a wildlife conservation organization, was formed in 1887, and one of its goals was to work for the preservation of wild game in the United States. Thanks to the efforts of the Boone and Crockett Club, the Game and Wild Bird Preservation and Disposition Act, or the Lacey Act as it is commonly called, was signed into law in 1900. This important law provided the first legal protection for wildlife, including the Kodiak bear, in the U.S.

When exotic big-game hunters learned about the huge bears on Kodiak Island, many journeyed to Kodiak in pursuit of a trophy, and the Kodiak bear gained a reputation as one of the ultimate trophy animals in the world. As interest in guided Kodiak bear hunts increased, the Alaska territorial government set strict limits on commercial hunting and selling of bear hides. In 1925, the Alaska Game Commission required any nonresident hunter in Alaska to be accompanied in the field by a registered big-game guide. In the late 1920s and 1930s, commercial and sport hunting were strictly regulated on Kodiak, while shooting bears to protect cattle was not only encouraged but was government sanctioned.

On August 19th, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8857, creating the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge which encompassed Uganik Island and most of the southwestern portion of Kodiak Island. The purpose of the refuge was to preserve the natural feeding and breeding range of the Kodiak bear and other wildlife.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, cattle ranchers and those involved in the salmon industry fought for stricter predator-control measures against Kodiak bears, while bear hunters and conservationists from across America voiced loud opinions against the concept of bear control, alarmed that the Kodiak bear could easily be wiped out in a few years. After considering all opinions, the Alaska Game Commission in the late 1950s opted against any form of bear control and did not increase the length of the hunting season on Kodiak.

This interesting, complex relationship between humans and bears continues to this day. I’ll tell you more about this relationship over the next two weeks, beginning with the battle between ranchers and Kodiak bears in the 1960s.

As always, I would love to hear your comments and opinions. If you would like to receive my free newsletter on true murder and mystery from Alaska, sign up on the following form.

My publisher recently released a webinar about how I became a published author and why I write Alaska wilderness mysteries. I invite you to watch it and to download a free copy of one of my novels at the end of the webinar. The link is: http://bit.ly/2pcCOo6 .

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How Do Bears Regulate Their Body Temperature, And What Diseases Do They Get?

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TEMPERATURE REGULATION

A bear’s body temperature is similar to a human’s and ranges between ninety-eight and ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit (36.7- 37.2C).  Bears do not have sweat glands, though, and the lack of sweat glands coupled with their insulating fur can make staying cool on a hot, sunny day a challenge. Bears employ a variety of techniques to solve this problem, including resting in the shade, stretching out on their bellies on the cool ground, panting like a dog, sitting or lying in a cold stream or the ocean, sprawling on snow patches, and shaking off water when they emerge from a stream. They are also able to dissipate heat through their paws which are well supplied with blood vessels, and they lose heat through areas with minimal fur such as the face, ears, nose, belly and the insides of the legs. To cool down, bears sometimes recline on the ground and spread their legs wide.

 

DISEASES

Bears are susceptible to a variety of diseases and parasites. Internal parasites include the trichinella worm (trichinosis), trematodes, nematodes, lungworms, hookworms, flukes, blood parasites, intestinal worms, and tapeworms. Tapeworms are especially prevalent in Kodiak bears because they eat large quantities of raw fish. It is not uncommon to see a bear in the summer months with a several-foot-long tapeworm trailing from its anus. Notice the tapeworm in this photo.
Bears can also suffer from many of the same ailments that affect other mammals, including arthritis. Traumatic injuries can be very devastating to a bear, especially if the injuries affect the bear’s ability to procure food or protect himself. Poor teeth can directly impact a bear’s ability to eat, and any factor leading to inadequate fat reserves before hibernation can result in starvation.

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The Kodiak Archipelago is home to 3500 bears and 13,600 humans, so how do the bears and humans interact? Next week,  I’ll tackle the topic of bears and humans.

I invite you to watch my webinar about how I became a published author and the true-life adventures that provide the inspiration for my Alaska wilderness mysteries. Stay until the end of the webinar and receive a free e-book of one of my novels. This is the link : http://bit.ly/2pcCOo6 . Also, please sign up below for my real-life mystery newsletter.

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Kodiak Bear Cubs

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A Kodiak bear cub fetus develops for only two-and-one-half months, so the cubs are very underdeveloped when they are born. No other mammals except marsupials have such immature offspring at birth. The cubs weigh 1/400 to 1/1000 of what they will weigh as adults. If the same were true for humans, a grown man might weigh as much as 8000 lbs. Cubs are born at such a premature stage of development because the mother must provide nutrients for her unborn young while she is in hibernation and not eating. She provides these nutrients by breaking down her body protein, which causes her to lose muscle mass. If she carried the cubs longer, she would lose too much muscle mass and would not be able to move by the end of hibernation. While a shorter gestation period produces underdeveloped cubs, the mother maintains enough physical strength to be able to care for her offspring. Cubs continue to develop after they are born.

At birth, brown bear cubs are nearly helpless. They can detect temperature changes and move closer to their mother to seek warmth, and they are also able to find the sow’s nipples to nurse. They weigh about one pound (.5 kg) and are blind, deaf, and unable to smell. They are covered by a fine hair and are toothless, weak, and uncoordinated.

A brown bear sow has three pairs of nipples. She may nurse on her side in the den but normally nurses in a sitting or partially-reclined position after emerging from the den. A bear’s milk contains an average of 33% fat, as compared to human milk which contains 3.5% fat. Bear’s milk consists of 11 to 15% protein and 0.3 to 0.6% carbohydrates. Due to this diet of rich milk, brown bear cubs grow rapidly.

A cub’s eyes open about four weeks after birth, and he begins to walk at six weeks. A Kodiak bear cub’s weight doubles every two months during the first year. The cubs are completely dependent on nursing for 24 weeks and may continue to nurse for as long as 82 weeks.

On Kodiak, most cubs stay with their mothers for three years, and nearly half of all Kodiak bear cubs die before they leave their mothers. Causes of death range from starvation, accidental separation from their mother, deliberate abandonment by their mother, fights with other bears, accidents, and infanticide, most often, but not always, by large boars.

Researchers have postulated that the reason for infanticide, the killing of the young of one’s species, is so the male can eliminate the offspring of another male, bring the female into estrus, mate with her, and pass along his genes to the next generation. While this theory might prove true for some species, it doesn’t make sense for bears. For one thing, bears are seasonal breeders in the spring, but boars often kill cubs in the summer when the female cannot go into estrus again. During the mating season, a boar would have to kill all the cubs in the litter for the mother to go into estrus, and even then, the female would not become sexually receptive for several weeks. Unless he waited around for the sow to be ready to mate again, the boar who killed the cubs probably would not be the bear who eventually mates with the mother. Also, females are sometimes the perpetrators of infanticide.

A friend of mine saw a large male bear walk up to a den, stick his head in the den, pull out a cub, shake it to death, and continue on his way. It is difficult to coordinate the actions of that boar with any biological theory. We humans often feel the need to understand the purpose behind every animal behavior, yet we do many things with little or no purpose in mind.

Next week I’ll write more about bear biology and behavior. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

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How Large is a Kodiak Bear’s Home Range?

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Brown bears are not considered territorial, but they do have home ranges. A home range is a geographical area a bear inhabits over the course of a year. The ranges of separate bears overlap and vary in size depending on several factors. The ranges tend to be smaller in regions with abundant food and where the food supply is near denning habitat. Kodiak bears have smaller home ranges than most other brown bear populations in North America because of the abundant food supply on the island. Males tend to have larger home ranges than females, and home ranges may increase in the fall when there is less food available, and bears are attempting to build their fat reserves for the winter. Home ranges of females on Kodiak average 50 sq. mi. (130 km²), while the ranges of males average 97 sq. mi. (250 km²).

Several scientific studies have been conducted on Kodiak to understand home ranges and the movements of bears relative to salmon runs and food sources. Studies near Karluk Lake show bears move extensively between different drainages and often time their arrival at a particular stream to exactly coincide with the arrival of the salmon run for the stream. This would not be so exceptional if the salmon returned at the same time every year, but the runs often vary by several weeks from year to year.

 

Recent research by Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge biologist William Leacock and his team provided detailed information on the daily movements of radio-collared bears in the Karluk drainage. During 2010 and 2011, this team fitted eight female bears with GPS collars that broadcasted information at one-hour intervals. This information allowed the researchers to track not only the seasonal movement but the daily and even hourly movements of these bears and to coordinate their travels in response to food sources and bedding areas. Some surprising results emerged from this study, and what struck me was how much the movement patterns, home ranges, and bedding habits varied from sow to sow. This study, as well as any, points out that bears, like humans, are individuals and one bear may have a very different behavior pattern from another bear.

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As always, I welcome your comments on this or any other post. I love to hear what you think.

Be sure to watch my webinar about how I became a published author and why I write Alaska wilderness mysteries. I think you will enjoy the beautiful photos taken by my husband Mike and my friend Ryan Augustine. Stay until the end, and you will receive a coupon for a free e-book of one of my novels. The link is: http://bit.ly/2pcCOo6  

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Summer Update

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This week, I would like to give you a summer update. Last week, I wrote about the difficult spring and summer I have had, but I didn’t want to leave things on a negative note. I began writing my last post a few weeks ago, and since then, I have gotten stronger and am beginning to recover the use of my muscles. Lately, I’ve been going out on the boat nearly every day with our summer guests; although, I will admit I’m not much help.

While I have been challenged by the physical demands of my job this summer, spending my days with our guests and the wildlife of Uyak Bay has done much to repair my psychological health. Mike took the above photo one day when a pod of Orcas fed and frolicked near our lodge. An abundant, sustained pink salmon run this summer has provided food for everything from Orcas to bears to eagles. Our fishermen have also enjoyed catching salmon.

Soon after my return from the hospital (you can read about that drama in my last post), a group of Australian guests involved us all in an interactive murder game, lasting their entire stay. The game was great fun and had us each trusting no one else in camp. It did not surprise me when Mike (my husband) won the game by murdering the most people. As if my summer hadn’t already been bad enough, Mike even murdered me!

The most uplifting news for me this season was to learn that a sow we have watched for the past eight years showed up this summer with three newborn cubs. The sow was badly injured by another bear when she was very young, and her rear end was flayed open. The injury was so bad, we didn’t think she would survive. We were happy and surprised to see her the next summer, and while the scar has faded over the years, it is still obvious. She has always been a favorite bear for us and our guests because she seems to like to perform in front of us, often catching a fish and then turning toward the photographers, fish held high while the cameras whir. The walls in our dining room are covered with photos of bears, and many of the photos are of her. As the years passed, and she appeared by herself summer after summer, we assumed she was a barren sow and wondered if the horrific injury she received when she was little more than a cub had anything to do with her inability to reproduce. We couldn’t have been more surprised when she showed up this summer with three tiny cubs trailing behind her, and I immediately began e-mailing some of our past guests to tell them the exciting news. From all accounts, she is a good mother, and all those years of fishing on her own have made her a proficient provider. She still doesn’t seem afraid of us, but she keeps her distance from humans now because she has more than herself to worry about.

We still have several weeks left of our summer season, and if nature follows its usual trend, fishing will peak in late August, and bear viewing will get better every day right up until our last day of the season in mid-September. Every year, nearly 50% of our guests are returnees, and this year is no exception. We love the mix of returnees and new guests, and I like to think of it as old and new friends.

No matter how bad the first part of my summer was, I knew things would improve once I climbed onto our boat, the Mary Beth, and began enjoying adventures with our guests.

You can read more about our lodge at www.munseysbearcamp.com .

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What Do Kodiak Bears Eat?

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One of the main reasons Kodiak bears grow so much larger than inland grizzly bears is due to the abundance of food on Kodiak. Not only can bears feast on protein-rich salmon in the summer, but the archipelago is loaded with nutritious vegetation and sugar-packed berries. A brown bear’s jaws have powerful muscles and teeth that have evolved to adapt to an omnivorous diet of both plants and animals. Kodiak bears are opportunistic feeders. They eat roots, berries, grasses, sedges, wildflowers, wild celery, and other plants, as well as rodents, insects, large mammals (including deer and mountain goats), fish, carrion, and yes, unfortunately, garbage and pet food.

 Bears’ stomachs contract during hibernation, and when they first leave their dens, they aren’t hungry. They eat little at first, concentrating on emerging plants and their roots. As the spring progresses, Kodiak bears can be seen feeding in grassy meadows and look much like grazing cattle. Their diet switches to salmon in the summer months, when they chase and catch fish in shallow streams or on the tidal flats near the heads of the deep, narrow bays on Kodiak. Bears also consume dead salmon that have washed up on shore. When the salmonberries, elderberries, crowberries, blueberries and other berries begin to ripen on Kodiak in late July and August, most bears spend at least part of their day in berry thickets, pulling the berries from the bushes with their lips and mouths. Salmon provide bears with fat and protein, and berries are high in natural sugars, all of which are important for building up a fat reserve for hibernation. As fall progresses, bears increase their consumption of salmon and berries as they strive to build up their fat layer before entering the den for hibernation. A diet rich in berries has its downside, though. Bears are one of the few wild animals susceptible to tooth decay. Abscessed teeth are not uncommon, and rotten teeth may affect the bear’s ability to eat and may even lead to starvation.

 One of the most enjoyable aspects of bear viewing is watching a bear chase and catch a salmon. Sows teach their cubs how to fish and will often corral a salmon toward the cub in shallow water and then encourage the cub to chase the fish. A sow with newborn cubs that are still nursing will only allow her cubs to eat a small part of her catch after she has had her fill because she needs the extra protein to produce the milk to nurse her cubs, and the cubs are receiving most of their nutrition from her. As the cubs age, they nurse less, and the sow shares more of her catch with them. Finally, when they are old enough, she encourages them to fish on their own, and by the time the cubs are two years old, they can usually chase and catch a few salmon without the help of their mother.

Fishing is a skill bears learn with much practice over time, so young bears are often clumsy fishermen. A sub-adult bear may gallop back and forth in a stream for thirty minutes without successfully landing a salmon, while an older bear walks slowly downstream and pounces on a passing salmon with little effort. A bear may also develop his own unique fishing technique. One bear may sit on a fallen log hanging low over a stream and attempt to grab fish as they swim past. A second bear may “submarine” by dunking his head under water to watch for fish, and a third may obtain his fish by chasing another bear and stealing that bear’s catch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Kodiak Bear’s Fur and Claws

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A Kodiak bear’s coat may range from dark brown to nearly blonde.  Bears are typically darker in the fall when they begin growing their winter coat, and older bears are often darker than younger bears, but these are just generalizations.  One cub from a litter may be light, while his brother is dark brown.

 Cubs often have a natal collar, a white band around the neck and shoulder.  Some cubs have no natal collar, and others have a collar that is bright and distinct.  This band gradually fades over time, and it has usually disappeared by the age of three, but occasionally, you will see a four-or-five-year-old bear that still has remnants of a collar.

 A bear’s fur is an excellent insulator.  It is dense and oily, keeping the bear warm and preventing water from penetrating.  The fur consists of two types of hair, the “guard hair” and the “under-fur.”  Bears shed both the guard hair and underfur annually.  In the summer, Kodiak bears often appear shaggy and matted.  The bear in the photo below looks as if she is sporting dreadlocks.  To help remove their fur, bears rub against trees and rocks, often standing on their hind legs, backing up to a tree and rubbing up and down.  It is humorous to watch a bear “scratch his back” in this manner.  While the old coat is shedding, a new coat is growing, and by September on Kodiak, most bears appear darker in color and well-groomed.  The old, loose fur is gone, and only the new fur remains.

 

CLAWS

Brown bears have non-retractable claws up to four-inches long.  The claws of young bears are typically dark brown and then lighten with age.  Although some young bears have light-colored claws, beautiful, pearly-white claws are usually seen on an old sow or boar.  Look at the photos and notice the difference in claw coloration between the sub-adult bear and the old sow.

Brown bears use their claws to defend themselves and fight with other bears, but Kodiak bears primarily use their claws to dig for roots and other food and gripping food.  Even though their claws look large and clumsy to us, they are quite dexterous and capable of manipulating small objects. Kodiak cubs use their claws to climb trees, but adult brown bears are poor climbers due to their body weight and the structure of their claws.  It is not uncommon to see a sow send her small cubs up a tree if she senses danger, and they stay in the tree until she vocalizes the signal that it is safe for them to come down.