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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 9, 2020 17:02:37 GMT -5
Immobilized mountain tapir with a large, scared-over wound on its flank, likely from an Andean bear attack; the white color is a spray applied to aid healing
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Post by brobear on Jun 13, 2020 8:03:33 GMT -5
Andean bear attacking tapir:
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Post by brobear on Jun 13, 2020 8:06:08 GMT -5
First posted by: OldGreenVulture - Do Andean Bears Attack Mountain Tapirs?
Armando Castellanos Member: Andean Bear Expert Team, Human-Bear Conflicts ET, Captive Bear ET, Tapir Specialist Group, Reintroduction Specialist Group President, Andean Bear Foundation c/o 5393 N. Paseo de la Terraza, Tucson AZ 85750, USA Email: armando@andeanbear.org
Until 1995, biologists and researchers in Ecuador doubted that an Andean bear could prey on cattle. Today we know that they do (Castellanos et al. 2011), and that can also hunt sheep and horses. Later, researchers speculated that the bear could only kill cows because, having been introduced by the Spaniards at the time of the conquest, cattle have not had sufficient time to evolve and adapt to potential predators in the paramo (high altitude grassland) and cloud forests occupied by the Andean bear. The believe was that the native animals like deer (Odocoileus virginianus ustus), rabbits (Sylvilagus brasiliensis) and mountain tapir (Tapirus pinchaque) were fast enough to elude bear attacks, and that when their remains were found in bear excrement, it was because they had been scavenged.
In 2008, biologist Patricio Meza Saltos, while seeking to photograph wild condors (Vultur gryphus) in Hacienda Yanahurco in northeastern Ecuador, captured a sequence in which an Andean bear successfully hunted a rabbit. This photographic evidence supports other former reports from the paramo (Suárez 1985) and led me to think that since the Andean bear could capture something as fast and agile as a rabbit, it could also kill larger wild animals — perhaps even animals as large as the mountain tapir, as reported by Bernie Peyton in the 1980s and by Craig Downer in the 1990s (Peyton 1980; Downer 1996, 1997). On August 29 2011, I was on an expedition in the watershed of the Papallacta River in Cayambe Coca National Park(CCNP), Ecuador, to capture mountain tapirs and fit them with satellite collars, to learn more about this endangered species. That day we trapped a male, which after tranquilizing, I deduced was elderly (~20 years old) and about 190 kg (an average size). On one flank there was a large (12cm X 6cm), old wound; around it were deep, healed scratches. According to our veterinarian, Dr. Leonardo Arias, the original wound would have been at least twice that size and had been healing for about two months.
I am convinced that this tapir had been attacked by an Andean bear. The size of the wound and the width and depth of the surrounding scratches suggests they were made by large, broad claws like those of a bear, rather than the finer scratches typical of a puma. The size and form of the scratches is like that found on trees marked by Andean bears (Torres 2011). The wound location, on the flank, is often seen on cows attacked by Andean bears, whereas pumas tend to go for the jugular (when hunting deer, sheep and foals, on which they specialize).
At least one other tapir (photographed in the same area in 2008) has been seen with old, deep scratch wounds on its shoulder of a size that suggests they were made by a bear. Additionally, park rangers from the CCNP have observed and reported a bear attack on a tapir several times a few years ago.
There have been numerous reports of bear attacks on cattle in this part of Ecuador for at least the last ten years: Eighty dead cows of 87 reported bear attacks on cattle from November 2009 to June 2011 suggest a high success rate for the bears (Castellanos et al. 2011). A wild male Andean bear may weigh 150–180 kg; a domestic cow in this area perhaps 250 kg and mountain tapirs weigh much the same (males up to 200 kg and females even more). Mountain tapirs, although solidly-built, are cautious in nature, can move fast and have much more stamina than a domestic cow. The individual that I observed obviously got away from the bear. Tapir hair has been previously found in bear excrement (Castellanos 2010), possibly suggesting that some tapirs are not so lucky. The tapir project mentioned above runs for another 12 months and has already installed 50 camera traps in the area. We await the photos with interest.
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Post by brobear on Jun 13, 2020 8:17:13 GMT -5
Record of a mountain tapir attacked - by Jaguar: Jaguars consumed collared peccary more frequently than expected while avoiding the comparably abundant and similarly distributed white-lipped peccary and tapir. Large foraging risks and long handling times probably explain why jaguars did not prey on tapir, despite a high probability of consistent encounters along man-made paths, and may explain why tapirs are rarely reported as important jaguar prey from Jaguar (Panthera onca) feeding ecology: distribution of predator and prey through time and space M. Weckel1 , W. Giuliano2 & S. Silver3 ... 06.00106.x
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Post by brobear on Jun 13, 2020 8:22:51 GMT -5
Posted by Warsaw: Abelardo Rodriguez1, Ruben Gomez (1), Angelica Moreno1, Carlos Cuellar (2) and Diego J. Lizcano (3)
"...If Andean bears are able to kill a cow or a horse, which are usually much heavier than mountain tapirs, it is likely that they are also able to prey on a mountain tapir. The picture recorded at Purace NP together with previous records of tapir hairs in bear fecal samples, confirm that Andean bears do attack mountain tapirs, and thus, lends support to the hypothesis that Andean bears prey on mountain tapirs..."grizzly-bear-v-baird-s-tapir-t7119.html
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Post by King Kodiak on Oct 24, 2020 15:23:30 GMT -5
Camera trapping reveals a diverse and uniquehigh-elevation mammal community under threat
"Of particular significance was the first detection (to our knowledge) of the two largest land predators in South America at the same camera location, the spectacled bear and the jaguar, on the highest camera, at 1,920 m. Bears were captured at elevations as low as 1,050 m, and both species were subsequently recorded at a camera station at 1,418 m in Soqtapata Reserve (13.350862°S, 70.84539°W); Rafael Pilares, pers. comm.). It has been suggested that the elevation range of these two species in Peru and Bolivia does not overlap anywhere within a single mountain slope, and overlaps only slightly at c. 900 m throughout the Cordillera Oriental (Servheen et al., 1999)."
(a) Panthera onca and (b) Tremarctos ornatus (both captured at the same camera trap, at 1,920 m) www.cambridge.org/core/journals/oryx/article/camera-trapping-reveals-a-diverse-and-unique-highelevation-mammal-community-under-threat/EA00498DD045A67DF6A96C001C94C430/core-reader
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Oct 24, 2020 21:27:35 GMT -5
It is just as hard (or more so) to see an interaction between these two animals compared to an Ussuri brown bear and Siberian tiger interaction.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 13, 2021 3:09:01 GMT -5
It is just as hard (or more so) to see an interaction between these two animals compared to an Ussuri brown bear and Siberian tiger interaction. Its often written that Andean bear appear to avoid jaguars. Is that true? I think no.
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Post by brobear on Feb 13, 2021 3:31:37 GMT -5
( IMO ) There is likely a mutual avoidance. I doubt that either animal truly fears the other. The jaguar knows that the bear is not hunting him. The adult male Andean bear knows that he is highly unlikely to be ambushed by a jaguar. Neither is there any recorded event of a jaguar ambushing a she-bear; but it might happen. An American black bear was once ambushed and killed by a jaguar. ( at least one known event ). As for what we know for certain; there is no recorded event of an adult Andean bear ever killed by either the puma or the jaguar.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Feb 13, 2021 4:09:21 GMT -5
I think there was one account of a female spectacled bear being killed by a cougar but other than that no records of cougars or jaguars killing the last member of the running bears.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Feb 13, 2021 4:10:10 GMT -5
It is just as hard (or more so) to see an interaction between these two animals compared to an Ussuri brown bear and Siberian tiger interaction. Its often written that Andean bear appear to avoid jaguars. Is that true? I think no. There was only one account written. Nothing more.
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Post by brobear on Oct 18, 2022 7:15:35 GMT -5
Andean bears have a varied diet. Andean Bear Foundation - www.facebook.com/AndeanBearFoundation/ Andean bears have a varied diet. Taxonomically they are classed as carnivores, although they are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders and in reality are predominantly vegetarian. Like all ursids (bears) they have a sweet tooth and enjoy honey from any bees' nests or honeycombs they find. In the forest the bears eat palmitos (hearts of palm), the soft insides of suro (Chusquea sp.) (a kind of bamboo), the soft bases of huaycundos (bromeliads), and various types of fruits. In the paramo, they eat the soft bases of puyas (Puya sp., see photo to the right) and a huckleberry-like fruit called mortiño (Vaccinium sp.). With forests increasingly being felled and replaced by cornfields, bears have developed the taste for sweet corn or maize. Although this is not a natural food source, in the corn season a bear's diet consists of a large proportion of maize. Like all carnivores, Andean bears need a source of protein for tissue growth. The bears dig in the earth in search of beetles, worms and insects as a source of protein, and occasionally feed on small mammals. In very rare cases, in a few parts of their range, there have been incidents of male bears attacking livestock. This is believed to be due to a lack of food in the forest forcing bears to search for food elsewhere. Unlike felines, the bears don’t go for the jugular, but jump on the cow's back and take chunks out of the tender shoulder region while the cow is still alive. Even if the cow survives this attack, it will probably be killed as its neck or spine snap when the bear drags it to a more sheltered spot to eat. Andean bears are very strong and an adult male can drag a fully-grown cow or even a bull. Taxonomy: the Andean bear is classified as a mammal, a carnivore, an Ursidae (bear) and the only surviving species of the shortfaced bears, the Tremarctinae.
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Post by Montezuma on Dec 11, 2022 10:05:43 GMT -5
From Susan Paisley, an Andean bear expert who was awarded in 1997 for her brilliant work.
"Bolivia is widely considered to be the most critical country for research and conservation of this species. The endangered spectacled bear, Tremarctos ornatus, is the only South American bear. A less confrontational descendant of the giant running bear (the largest mammal carnivore ever to roam the earth), spectacled bears are amongst the least studied of all terrestrial carnivores: little is known of their ecology or complex role in Andean mythology and culture.
Susanna’s project inaugurated research on the eastern flanks of the Apolobamba range northeast of Lake Titicaca, a region estimated to hold one of the richest assemblages of terrestrial biota on earth. Bolivia’s cloud forests, the prime natural habitat for the bears, have been degraded as escalating rural poverty has led to deforestation. Increasingly excluded from their prime habitat, the bears are frequently shot for raiding crops or for apparently killing livestock.
Local trade in bear products has further endangered the species. Bear bile, fat and bones are highly sought after for use in local medicine; internationally, a chemical found in bear bile can command a price many times that of heroin.
Investigating and implementing practical solutions, Susannna’s research into human-bear interaction involved an unusual combination of scientific and social fieldwork. Using radio-telemetry, a technique never before attempted with wild bears of this species, Susanna was able to track and assess the bears’ behavioural ecology and home range size. Bolivian students and scientists are also involved in all phases of the study and the project’s headquarters provide a much-needed field research station for the Bolivian Institute of Ecology.
Susanna’s findings formed the basis of her doctoral degree from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology of the University of Kent, and have been published in journals as diverse as the Journal of Zoology and World Archaeology. The Bolivian national conservation body and the non-governmental organisations have gone on to use Paisley’s research to develop local education initiatives and further define strategies for the future management and conservation of the species."
whitleyaward.org/winners/conservation-of-the-spectacled-bear-in-the-bolivian-andes/
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