Predators of Black Bears

[brobear]

The grizzly is a predator of both black bear species.

From Frank321 to BigBonns...

BigBonns,
There has been more than one instance; to my knowledge they have occured in Hayden Valley, Hoodoo Creek, and Grizzly Overlook. Here is one study that conducted an autopsy on the black bear:

www.greateryellowstonescience.org/files/pdf/ys5-gunther.pdf

I'd also like to make a few comments on grizzly-black bear interaction. In general, both brown and black bears are K-selected species. Black bears evolved differently from their brown cousins in forested areas. These forests that blackies live in allow them to escape predation from grizzlies relatively easily; a boar black bear at about 55% the size of a boar grizzly can climb to much higher branches.Grizzlies on the other hand tend to live in rockier regions and open grasslands. In these areas bears can find food through fossorital behavior or under boulders and rocks. It's when black bears wander too far away from forests that they risk predation from grizzlies. Lacking the shoulder hump of brown bears, they can't power their limbs to move as rapidly as grizzlies and as a result aren't nearly as fast, with black bears moving at about 25-30 mph and grizzlies at over 30 mph (in at least two cases brown bears have been recorded at 40 mph, although in one the bear was a sow and presumably quite light relative to a boar and in another of unconfirmed gender). The foraging behaviors of black bears may lead them out of forests, as a note. For example in spring black bears emerging from their winter hibernation will sniff out newborn elk calves in fields of grass which are outside of their forest biomes. During mating seasons, and because of the competition associated with Darwinian fitness, young boar grizzlies may also be driven into forests temporarily where they may encounter black bears. The case at Hoodoo Creek may be one such case, although I haven't looked into it too much.

Here's moreinformation on the case of the Hayden Valley predation as well:

www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/upload/predation.pdf

[brobear]

The only natural predators of an adult black bear are the tiger and the grizzly. But make no mistake that a large black bear is defenseless.
shaggygod.proboards.com/board/39/felidae-annex

Black Bear Won Battle with African Lion


In 1956 at the winter quarters in Florida of the Ringling Bothers Circus, a
Maine black bear and an African lion were being trained for an act together.
The trainer turned away for a moment and the lion jumped the bear, ripping
its shoulder open. Whereupon, "the bear reared up and hit the lion a mighty
blow with its forepaw. The big cat went backward for several feet and nearly had
its shoulder torn off. The lion was injured so badly that it had to be destroyed,
but the bear was ready to go back to work within few days".

[Deleted]

We all know that brown bears prey on black bears, but has there ever been a recorded instance of a black bear besting a brown bear? Whether it was by killing the larger predator or even just driving it off? I ask this after watching a video of a cheetah mother chasing away a male lion.




The point remains. Has a black bear ever bested the larger grizzly?

[brobear]

Not to my knowledge. But generally, black bears west of the Mississippi are smaller than those of the eastern forests. I have found no data of any confrontations of similar sized bears of different species.

[brobear]

shaggygod.proboards.com/

December 27, 1997 Missoulian Article By Sherry Delvin: Black bear mauled by grizzly.
Attack on hibernating bear is first ever, says Diane Boyd-Heger, wolf researcher.

A grizzly bear apparently looking for one last load of calories before winter's respite, excavated and ate an early denning black bear in the remote North Fork last month.

The incident, documented by wolf researcher Diane Boyd Heger and her husband Ed, is the first record of a grizzly bear hunting and killing a hibernating black bear.

The story of its discovery is a lesson in bear behavior and human misbehavior. the couple said Friday. It goes like this:

On an ordinary overcast, snow-encrusted day in November, Ed Heger took his dog for a walk out behind his cabin, in the North Fork of the Flathead, on the edge of Glacier National Park in far northwestern Montana.

As it often does, Heger's path passed an oversized slash pile, a 35-by-35-foot monstrosity abandoned two decades ago and loaded with dirt and trees and logs. At the edge of the pile, he saw blood on the snow and a drag trail.
CAG Comments
Two decades ago people were in the area trying to eck out a living by cutting timber, posts, poles or whatever. Over the score of years bears have made use of the pile for denning purposes. This further demonstrates that bears do not avoid humans activities in their habitat.
End CAG Comments

He suspected hunters and a deer kill at first, but realized a short way down the trail that there were no human footprints in the snow. And that there were grizzly tracks.

Heger and his dog, Beamer, followed the path 50, maybe 60 yards, Heger reaching for his bear spray and lifting off the safety. Beamer nervously watched a stand of lodgepole up ahead.

"She's a border collie and she's very bear smart," Heger said Friday. "She'll let you know there's a bear in the area."

Which was just about when Heger heard branches breaking "Beamer gave a little woof and turned tail. Heger saw the grizzly charging out of the trees.

"The speed at which that bear came out of the woods was unbelievable," he said. "There wasn't time to get scared. It was all just happening."

Heger fired his bear spray in the air and it hung in a big cloud. The grizzly hit the spray about 15 feet from Heger and veered away, never slowing.

"And Ed got the hell out of there," said Boyd-Heger. "The dog was already gone."

A few days later, Heger loaded Beamer into his pickup and drove to the slash pile. But when he rolled down the window, Beamer went into her bear alert and I knew the grizzly was still around, so we left right away."

"I felt bad already," Heger said. "Here was a bear doing what it was supposed to be doing, and here I was invading its territory, doing what I wasn't supposed to be doing.."

Not until two weeks later did Heger returned to the slash pile with his wildlife biologist-wife - each with a can of bear spray, and the dog alongside. That's when they discovered the unusual nature of what Heger had happened upon.

The grizzly had, not long before Heger's arrival, discovered a black bear's den below the old slash pile. Opting not to use the entrance and tunnel already dug by the black bear, the grizzly tore through the top of the den and dragged out its prey.

"I imagine the denning bear was somewhat lethargic," Boyd-Heger said, and surprised. The grizzly dragged the black bear, which Heger believes was a fairly small animal he had seen a month or so earlier near the slash pile, into the lodgepole pines - very near to where Heger was charged.

"Ed didn't know it when he started following the drag trail, but the grizzly bear was right there on a fresh kill," Boyd-Heger said.

"The bear's reaction was very normal and completely justified. Ed was in his territory." Boyd-Heger said the grizzly ate the black bear "to the toenails. There were only a few bone splinters left. And there weren't really any signs of scavengers. The grizzly sat there and ate it all."

There was but one end of a femur to take to the animal museum at the University of Montana for comparison purposes. But from what she saw, Boyd-Heger said, the black bear was fairly small.

And the grizzly, based on its 9-inch-long toe-to-heel hind footprint, was about 250 to 300 pounds either an adult female or a subadult male.

Boyd-Heger said she called "all the bear people I know," asking. if anyone had ever heard of a grizzly bear excavating and consuming a den fling black bear.

They had not.

She found articles on black bears killing black bears and on grizzlies killing grizzlies - and on grizzlies killing black bears encountered by chance ("say, they were feeding on the same huckleberry patch.")

But no one had heard of or recorded an in-the-den attack; thus, Boyd-Heger's plans to publish "a little note" about the North Fork incident as a scientific paper.

"My over-Christmas project," she said.

Boyd-Heger has spent the past 18 years in the North Fork, on the edge of Glacier National Park, studying wolves and, less so, coyotes - "and inadvertently mountain lions and bears."

Black bears, she said, tend to den about a month earlier than the larger grizzlies, who spend the extra time loading up on calories for the long winter.

Most grizzlies den and hibernate when the snow gets deep enough to hinder hunting, but some North Fork animals stay out for part of the winter, she said. "Because we've got wolves and lions in the area, there's a Carrion resource all winter. The grizzlies take advantage of that."

Boyd-Heger and her husband emphasized, though, that he should not have followed the drag trail into the woods when he saw the bear tracks. And that the pepper spray was his salvation.

"I would really emphasize that I was doing something I shouldn't have been doing," Heger said. "But you know how human nature and curiosity are."

"Luckily, the bear spray worked exactly as it should have," Boyd-Heger said. "It was a very successful deterrent, better than a handgun by far. It saved my husband and the bear, most likely." And the story.
bitterroot.com/grizzly/BEARS11.HTM

[brobear]

shaggygod.proboards.com/

‘It had been completely consumed’:
Grizzly bear eats black bear in Banff


Colette Derworiz, Postmedia News | 22/08/13 |


A large male grizzly bear is showing everyone who’s boss in Alberta’s mountain parks.

Earlier this month, officials closed the Sundance Canyon area in Banff National Park after a group of hikers came upon a bear known as No. 122 feeding on a carcass. They reopened the trail late Tuesday after he moved on.

During the investigation into the incident, officials determined the carcass was a small black bear.

“It had been completely consumed,” said Steve Michel, a human wildlife conflict specialist with Banff National Park. “There was nothing remaining other than a skull, a hide, the four paws and some bones.”

It’s believed it was a predatory attack on the black bear.

“There were indications the black bear was foraging on the trail at the time,” he said. “It looks like that black bear just happened to find himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when a very large grizzly bear came by.”

Michel said he didn’t expect there was much of a fight.

"I don’t think there would have been much of a brawl that took place. It would have been fairly quick."

“This is grizzly bear No. 122, so he’s a very large grizzly bear,” he said, noting it’s a 225- to 275-kilogram grizzly bear killing a 45-kilogram black bear. “I don’t think there would have been much of a brawl that took place.

“It would have been fairly quick.”

Although it’s not a common occurrence, Michel said there are other documented cases of grizzly bears feeding on black bears — including No. 122 eating another small black bear around the same time last year.

“He’s definitely the dominant animal out on the landscape, so there are very few animals that would compare against him in terms of size,” he said.

Meanwhile, another closure was put in place in the Marble Canyon area in Kootenay National Park due to a large grizzly bear feeding on an elk.

“We did have a situation where people inadvertently passed really close by,” said Omar McDadi, spokesman for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay national parks.

The closure, which will be in place until the bear finishes the carcass, includes the Marble Canyon interpretive trail and surrounding area, the Tokumm Creek trail up to Kaufmann Lake, the connector trail to the Ochre Trail junction and the Helmet/Ochre trail.

It’s possible the bear is again No. 122, although McDadi said that hasn’t yet been confirmed.

As a precaution, officials have evacuated 12 backcountry users from Rockwall trail by helicopter.

“Their main access point is through Marble Canyon,” he said, noting people who are still on the trail are being asked not to come down through the closed area.

[brobear]

shaggygod.proboards.com/

Nature Shock - The Bodiless Bear
The fascinating documentary series examining freak occurrences in the natural world continues. This programme looks at a series of brutal attacks on black bears in Yellowstone Park, including the extraordinary case of a severed bear head. As experts examined the seemingly unrelated cases, they found evidence that the killings were the work of the black bear’s more aggressive relative, the grizzly bear.
In 1990, whilst hiking through Yellowstone National Park, bear expert Dr David Mattson came across a most hideous and unbelievable sight: the severed head of a black bear. Mattson describes his grisly find as “one of the most macabre things I’ve ever seen”. The case of the bodiless bear, and three subsequent bear slayings, would go on to shed new light on what scientists understand about bears and their habitat.
All the evidence indicated that the bear without a body had fallen victim to a larger, more savage predator that had killed it for food. But biologists only began to understand the case when a second black bear was found dead on an open stretch of land. This bear had been brutally attacked and its penis had been ripped off. Judging from puncture marks on the corpse, it was clear that only one predator in Yellowstone could have been responsible. “If you look at the preponderance of evidence, it leads us to conclude that he had been killed and eaten by a grizzly bear,” says biologist Dr Charles Schwartz.
Grizzlies are almost twice the size of their more placid black bear cousins. They are among the most fearsome predators in North America, standing at a height of eight feet and capable of running at up to 30mph. However, whilst it was known that bears sometimes turn on their own kind, there had never been a documented case of grizzlies killing black bears in Yellowstone.
The bears’ habitat provided a possible explanation. Black bears are primarily forest dwellers, whilst grizzlies rule the open spaces. However, both species sometimes overlap in the trees when foraging for food. The first killing could have been an opportunistic attack by a grizzly; the second was a clear case of a black bear straying onto grizzly territory.
The third incident, however, was more surprising. A team of researchers monitoring bears tagged with radio transmitters came across the dismembered body of a black bear in the forest. Body parts were strewn about a clearing and the bear’s skin had been pulled inside out. This was the first case of a grizzly attack deep inside black bear territory. After close investigation, the team concluded that the beasts had been foraging in preparation for winter hibernation when they encountered each other. “The bear spends most of its active period in the fall searching for and consuming foods,” explains Schwartz. The grizzly was looking for fattening pine cones when it decided to feast on its opponent instead.
The fourth victim was found in a scene eerily similar to the last – but with the crucial difference that it was killed at the end of winter. Grizzlies awake from hibernation before black bears, and it is believed that one such creature – driven by hunger – detected its sleeping cousin and took the opportunity to strike while it was in its den. The research team was even able to track down the grizzly responsible from a ripped-off claw that it left at the scene.
These four shocking cases have provided biologists with concrete evidence of grizzly predation on black bears for the first time, and offer striking insight into the behaviour of bears. “No two bears are alike,” affirms Dr Mattson. “I’ve known some bears that I would consider to be well adjusted and... some bears that probably could be called psychotic.” The bear slayings of Yellowstone Park have helped scientists to understand more about how these remarkable creatures co-exist in the wild.

[Deleted]

Not even something simple such as a mother black bear chasing away a grizzly eyeing down on her cubs? You know there are VERY RARE instances of leopards actually killing tigers? The underdog winning. I would imagine that there's some evidence of the black bear getting the better of the larger brown bear.

[brobear]

Nothing found. Keep in mind though, there is much more that happens in the wilderness than what any person will witness. You are correct though. What animal can best another cannot be determined in a single fight. I feel that it is safe to say that the grizzly is the better fighter above both the lion and the tiger after reading of so many confirmed face-offs with the grizzly coming out on top each and every time.
I still believe that there have been cases of a big cat defeating a grizzly. The big cats are full-time killers; natural assassins armed with deadly weapons. But thus far we have come up short with no evidence to support this idea.

[brobear]

From topic: "Any case of the underdog winning?" by malikc6: You know there are VERY RARE instances of leopards actually killing tigers? The underdog winning.

In other words, sometimes Crap happens. Of course, so much not told here. Cougars prey on black bear - cubs and sub-adults.

[Deleted]

Black bears against cougars is almost like a smaller version of tigers against brown bears. Either way, black bears have been known to steal/usurp cougar kills when possible.

[brobear]

No cougar in its right mind ever has or ever will consider a full-grown bear of any species as potential prey. Not happening.

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2018 17:48:30 GMT -5 brobear said:

No cougar in its right mind ever has or ever will consider a full-grown bear of any species as potential prey. Not happening.

This is another example of why I support a smaller leopard over a cougar. The leopard is considerably more aggressive and more willing to fight against competitors. Cougars are known from running away from prey when it's willing to fight back. Unarmed human beings have chased away cougars after being attacked. Baby bears have chased them away. Not putting cougars down, but a large black bear as you said is very unlikely to be on the cougar's prey menu unless highly exceptional. 

[Deleted]

I think even black bears can hold their own against cougars.

[brobear]

Black bear vs cougar, both full-grown and same sex, I would bet the farm on the bear.

shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/1076/bear-puma-relations?page=1

"Grizzly and Black bear visited 24% of cougar kills in GNP and YNP and displaced cougars from their kill 10% of carcasses. Bears gained up to 113% and cougars lost 26 % of their respective daily requirements from these encounters. Bear predation and incomplete consumption of carcasses (especially salmon) provide food for a variety of scavengers."

ear Mortality by Cougars

I think recent research show both black/grizzly bears to benefit from cougar production of animal matter. Honestly, I have a hard time believing old 19th century American West accounts of the larger grizzly and black bear fatality involving cougars (35-85 kg) who rarely exceed 200 lbs. After a strong search of the literature, the only piece of information I found was a percentage (%) occurrence of prey calculation by authors Kerry Murphy and Toni K. Ruth (see below reference) showing black bears in Montana/Wyoming to make up 1% of cougar diet. No additional victim profile information (e.g., cubs) is given. The authors do note that scat analysis of animal matter does not always mean predation explaining how cougars can also scavenge carrion.

IMO, one of the best, comprehensive cougar publications came out a few years ago: Hornocker, M., and S. Negri (Eds.). 2009. Cougar: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL.


The book has terrific data on cougar predatory/prey relations and cougar interference competition dynamics as it relates to bears covering both North & South America including black & grizzly bear relations and to some extent (if one interprets the absence of data as information) spectacle bear relations. On the latter, there were no spectacled bear signatures in South American cougar diet analysis.

[brobear]

shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/1076/bear-puma-relations?page=1

Abstract: Pumas (Puma concolor) and black bears (Ursus americanus)
are large carnivores that may influence scavenger population
dynamics. We used motion-triggered video cameras deployed at deer
carcasses to determine how pumas and black bears affected three
aspects of carrion acquisition by scavengers: presence, total feeding
time, and mean feeding-bout duration. We found that pumas were
unable to limit acquisition of carrion by large carnivores but did limit
aspects of carrion acquisition by both birds and mesocarnivores.
Through their suppression of mesocarnivores and birds, pumas apparently
initiated a cascading pattern and increased carrion acquisition
by small carnivores. In contrast, black bears monopolized carrion
resources and generally had larger limiting effects on carrion
acquisition by all scavengers. Black bears also limited puma feeding
behaviors at puma kills, which may require pumas to compensate
for energetic losses through increasing their kill rates of ungulates.
Our results suggest that pumas provide carrion and selectively influence
species acquiring carrion, while black bears limit carrion availability
to all other scavengers. These results suggest that the effects
of large carnivores on scavengers depend on attributes of both carnivores
and scavengers (including size) and that competition for carcasses
may result in intraguild predation as well as mesocarnivore
release.

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2018 3:28:49 GMT -5 brobear said:

Black bear vs cougar, both full-grown and same sex, I would bet the farm on the bear.

shaggygod.proboards.com/thread/1076/bear-puma-relations?page=1

"Grizzly and Black bear visited 24% of cougar kills in GNP and YNP and displaced cougars from their kill 10% of carcasses. Bears gained up to 113% and cougars lost 26 % of their respective daily requirements from these encounters. Bear predation and incomplete consumption of carcasses (especially salmon) provide food for a variety of scavengers."

ear Mortality by Cougars

I think recent research show both black/grizzly bears to benefit from cougar production of animal matter. Honestly, I have a hard time believing old 19th century American West accounts of the larger grizzly and black bear fatality involving cougars (35-85 kg) who rarely exceed 200 lbs. After a strong search of the literature, the only piece of information I found was a percentage (%) occurrence of prey calculation by authors Kerry Murphy and Toni K. Ruth (see below reference) showing black bears in Montana/Wyoming to make up 1% of cougar diet. No additional victim profile information (e.g., cubs) is given. The authors do note that scat analysis of animal matter does not always mean predation explaining how cougars can also scavenge carrion.

IMO, one of the best, comprehensive cougar publications came out a few years ago: Hornocker, M., and S. Negri (Eds.). 2009. Cougar: ecology and conservation. University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL.


The book has terrific data on cougar predatory/prey relations and cougar interference competition dynamics as it relates to bears covering both North & South America including black & grizzly bear relations and to some extent (if one interprets the absence of data as information) spectacle bear relations. On the latter, there were no spectacled bear signatures in South American cougar diet analysis.

Great link. Know I know that black bears actually benefit from cougars. It also says that grizzly view cougars as a gravy train.

[King Kodiak]

Sept 29, 2018 3:17:43 GMT -5 BruteStrength said:

I think even black bears can hold their own against cougars.

You are absolutely right, you have to remember that black bears also steal kills from cougars. Here is a video of a black bear making a cougar run away.

[brobear]

Nice, Kodiak. Many years ago ( classic Disney - 1950s ) I loved those nature films; always narrated by that same voice.

[BruteStrength]

America's celebrity jaguar 'El Jefe' is a bear hunter

www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/predator-vs-prey/americas-celebrity-jaguar-el-jefe-is-a-bear-hunter/