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Post by brobear on Mar 7, 2020 9:08:26 GMT -5
This is the smallest yet most aggressive of the subspecies Ursus arctos horribilis still living in North America. www.jstor.org/stable/1375959?seq=1 JOURNAL ARTICLE Further Evidence about the Barren-Ground Grizzly Bear in Northeast Labrador and Quebec C. S. Elton Journal of Mammalogy Vol. 35, No. 3 (Aug., 1954), pp. 345-357
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 7, 2020 12:38:35 GMT -5
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 7, 2020 12:44:49 GMT -5
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Post by brobear on Mar 21, 2020 7:00:12 GMT -5
From Warsaw: Note the much greater variability in bears ,as general rule (spring bear vs fall bear) But here is true record : "The best-documented sighting during this period was by biologist Mitch Taylor: during a helicopter survey of Viscount Melville Sound on 4 May 1991, he observed a grizzly bear on the sea ice (73˚ 47' N, 112˚ 17' W) about 60 km south of the Dundas Peninsula, MelvilleIsland (Taylor, 1995). This bear was tranquillized and examined; it weighed 320 kg and was apparently in good health. The bear’s tracks, and the remains of two seal pup kills in the vicinity, suggested that it had been hunting on the sea ice. Three days later, Ulukhaktok resident Joseph Haluksit observed a grizzly bear. Taylor (1995) suggested that this could have been the same bear, and that it had probably killed a two-year-old polar bear cub (Ursus maritimus), whose partially eaten carcass had been found nearby" pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic60-3-271.pdf 320 kilograms is equal to 705.48 pounds (avoirdupois) *Makes sense that a barren ground grizzly feeding on seal blubber would become a big bear.
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 21, 2020 9:56:05 GMT -5
Reply #3. That is a very large Barren ground grizzly, that should be the normal max weight. And it killed a polar bear cub, very rare also. Can we speculate that this grizzly bear chased off the mother? Or maybe it had no mother as she died somehow?
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Post by brobear on Mar 21, 2020 10:40:09 GMT -5
Reply #3. That is a very large Barren ground grizzly, that should be the normal max weight. And it killed a polar bear cub, very rare also. Can we speculate that this grizzly bear chased off the mother? Or maybe it had no mother as she died somehow? Yeah; you figure that those barren ground grizzlies are, in fact, U.a.horribilis but normally surviving on very meager food availability in a harsh barren environment ( arctic tundra ). Feed one well and he can be as big as any other inland grizzly.
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 21, 2020 11:11:09 GMT -5
In the link in Reply #3, they report that seals as well as female polar bears as well as cubs have been killed by barren ground grizzlies.
My opinion:
This situation will increase over time as grizzlies travel more and more to the Southern Canadian artic.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Mar 23, 2020 2:33:31 GMT -5
In the link in Reply #3, they report that seals as well as female polar bears as well as cubs have been killed by barren ground grizzlies.
My opinion:
This situation will increase over time as grizzlies travel more and more to the Southern Canadian artic.
These barren ground grizzlies are after the polar bear cubs and sometimes would even kill the female polar bear as well. A mother polar bear like a mother brown bear will defend her cubs to death. This is the process of displacing a competitor.
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Post by brobear on Mar 23, 2020 2:59:42 GMT -5
Quote: This is the process of displacing a competitor. Possibly. But grizzly bears are not known for eliminating competition. Normally, having other predators around is beneficial for a grizzly. More likely, its only about procuring food ( the polar bear cubs seen as food ) - harsh reality.
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 23, 2020 6:03:09 GMT -5
Quote: This is the process of displacing a competitor. Possibly. But grizzly bears are not known for eliminating competition. Normally, having other predators around is beneficial for a grizzly. More likely, its only about procuring food ( the polar bear cubs seen as food ) - harsh reality. This situation should be a little different. If polar bears and barren ground grizzlies normally shared a habitat, the polar bears will most likely start fighting back. I dont think the barren ground grizzlies would benefit from polar bears hunting. Maybe the leftovers yes, but not by displacing them regularly. Now its like an unknown. In the long run, There is no way a much smaller predator would regularly displace a much larger predator. Nature would put things together as they should be.
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Post by brobear on Mar 23, 2020 6:08:27 GMT -5
NO, I was not suggesting that 300-pound grizzlies are out there displacing polar bears from their dinner ( LOL ). I was referring to their natural habits. Eliminating competition is simply not something that a grizzly does. When a grizzly kills a juvenile polar bear; no dark agenda here, just a meal.
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 23, 2020 6:12:27 GMT -5
NO, I was not suggesting that 300-pound grizzlies are out there displacing polar bears from their dinner ( LOL ). I was referring to their natural habits. Eliminating competition is simply not something that a grizzly does. When a grizzly kills a juvenile polar bear; no dark agenda here, just a meal. Thats true, i agree.
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Post by King Kodiak on Mar 23, 2020 20:07:19 GMT -5
Denning Ecology of Barren-Ground Grizzly Bears in the Central Arctic
25), followed by west (13), east (10), and north (8). Most dens were constructed under cover of tall (.0.5 m) shrubs (Betula glandulosa and Salix), the root structures of which supported ceilings of dens. Selection of denning habitat by bears was significantly different from random (G 5 127.67, d.f. 5 6, P , 0.0001). Bonferroni confidence intervals indicated that esker habitat was selected more than expected by chance (P , 0.10). Den entrance occurred primarily in last 2 weeks of October. The majority of bears emerged from dens in the 1st week of May.
www.researchgate.net/publication/252280026_Denning_Ecology_of_Barren-Ground_Grizzly_Bears_in_the_Central_Arctic
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Post by King Kodiak on Apr 13, 2020 5:12:37 GMT -5
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Post by brobear on Apr 14, 2020 7:10:45 GMT -5
What was once considered unsubstantiated rumor, latter fossil evidence reveal the likely ancient relative of the tundra brown bear to coexist in colder (Polar Bear inhabited) areas of Canada. The information is interesting in the context of current global warming conditions which has led to brown tundra bear migrations into northerly Canada. Discovery of the Skull of a Grizzly Bear in Labrado ABSTRACT. The skull of a small, young adult grizzly bear was discovered in the course of archaeological excavation of an early historic Eskimo house in northern Labrador. This discovery confirms the rumored presence of Ursus arctos in Labrador in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is suggested that the Labrador grizzly represents an eastward extension of the barren-ground grizzly population across the mouth of Hudson Bay. grrraaahhh - Nov 11, 2010
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Post by King Kodiak on May 4, 2020 5:14:26 GMT -5
Feeding Patterns of Barren-ground Grizzly Bears in the Central Canadian Arctic
We collected 169 grizzly bear scats between 1994 and 1997 to determine the dietary habits of barren-ground grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) inhabiting Canada's central Arctic. From personal observations and fecal analysis, we concluded that barren-ground grizzly bears lead a predominantly carnivorous lifestyle and are effective predators of caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Caribou was a predominant diet item during spring, mid-summer, and fall. During early summer, grizzly bears foraged primarily on green vegetation. Berries increased in dietary importance in late summer. Declines in the caribou population of our study area or long-term absences of caribou may threaten the local grizzly bear population.
www.researchgate.net/publication/270297785_Feeding_Patterns_of_Barren-ground_Grizzly_Bears_in_the_Central_Canadian_Arctic
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Post by brobear on May 25, 2020 10:05:37 GMT -5
www.nwf.org/en/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2006/Grizzly-Bears-on-Ice Aklak vs. Nanook: A Tale of Two Bears Like most scientists, the Inuit view Aklak, the grizzly bear, and Nanook, the polar bear, as two very different creatures. Their traditional tales of polar bears almost always portray these animals as powerful, keen-witted and worthy of great esteem. The grizzly, on the other hand, is seen as a more sinister beast, one that is likely to charge unexpectedly in an explosive manner. Some biologists might agree with that assessment, citing evidence that barren ground grizzlies appear to be more aggressive than grizzlies living farther south. One explanation, they say, could be that northern grizzlies evolved in a treeless world where there's no place to hide, so threatening one's opponent may make far more sense than fleeing. Whatever the reason, bear biologist Andrew Derocher says he is "a lot more comfortable capturing a big polar bear on the sea ice than a small grizzly on land. Grizzlies tend to react much more aggressively. It can be very unnerving."
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Post by brobear on May 25, 2020 10:10:24 GMT -5
Continued from reply #16: ABOUT 50 MILES NORTH of tree line in Canada's western Arctic, Andrew Derocher picked up the tracks of four grizzly bears following a herd of caribou across hard snow and ice toward the coast. Derocher, a University of Alberta biologist, wasn't sure whether the tracks had been left by a family or by a male following a female with two cubs. If it turned out to be the latter, he said, the mother and offspring could be in trouble. Contrary to what may appear in popular movies and books, a lone male grizzly is more likely to kill and eat bear cubs than befriend them.
By the time Derocher caught up with the bears, it looked like his fears were justified. With two cubs following close behind, the mother was loping off as fast as she could. Suddenly, she whirled around to confront her pursuer. But instead of beginning a bloody brawl, the bears stopped inches short of one another with no sign of aggression. "These four animals are together," concluded Derocher. "The female just turned around to check on her largest cub."
Known as "barren ground grizzlies," the bears Derocher observed are the same species of grizzly that inhabits the Rockies in southern Canada, the interior and coastal regions of British Columbia and Alaska and, in the Lower 48, Montana, Wyoming, northern Idaho and the North Cascades of Washington. Here, at the northern edge of the species' range--where the bears roam from the North Slope of Alaska to the coast of Canada's Hudson Bay--grizzlies look almost identical to their southern kin, but are only about two-thirds their size.
Barren ground grizzlies are among the most enigmatic of Arctic mammals. Few in number and rarely seen, they are as much myth as reality. Discovering how the bears manage to make a living in a treeless landscape that is covered in snow and ice for as long as nine months a year is one of the objects of Derocher's studies. But what really intrigues him are reports of more and more grizzlies showing up on sea ice, territory traditionally dominated by polar bears.
Researchers know that barren ground grizzlies feed on alpine hedysarum in spring, horsetail and bearflower in summer and berries in fall. They also dig up Arctic ground squirrels and other small mammals. Caribou, however, may be the most important compensation for the constraints these animals face. Biologists have found that the more a bear population feeds on caribou or other meat, the higher its densities are likely to be and the more successful an individual bear will be at reproducing.
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Post by theundertaker45 on May 26, 2020 4:30:46 GMT -5
Weight data on barren ground grizzlies
Northern Mackenzie
Spring: 190.6 kg (420.2lbs, n=41)
Fall: 258.3kg (569.5lbs, n=10)
Northern Yukon
Overall: 173kg (381.4lbs, n=59)
West Brooks Range
Overall: 155kg (341.7lbs, n=38)
East Brooks Range
Overall: 174kg (383.6lbs, n=30)
Northern interior Canada
Overall: 139kg (306.4lbs, n=40)
Tuktoyaktuk
Overall: 195kg (429.9lbs, n=16)
Nelchina
Overall: 269kg (593lbs, n=12)
Alaska Range
Overall: 224kg (493.8lbs, n=24)
Mackenzie Mountains
Overall: 148kg (326.3lbs, n=20)
Northwest of Alaska
Overall: 185.1kg (408.1lbs, n=35)
Overall: 179.8kg (396.4lbs, n=325)
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Post by brobear on May 26, 2020 5:03:04 GMT -5
Since this Overall: 184.5kg (406.8lbs, n=274) includes male bears from 5-years and up; its safe to conclude that the average mature 10+ year-old boar averages no less than 430 pounds. They still remain N. America's smallest brown bears, but they are bigger than what I have been led to believe.
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