Brown bears ‘switch habitats’ to hunt vulnerable prey

Research suggests that brown bears can hunt reindeer and moose calves in the spring.

The animals emerge from their winter slumber and embark on an active hunting strategy.

One of the bears killed 38 newborn reindeer in one month and 18 young moose the next.

The research found that the animals adapted their home ranges and used the landscape to mirror the habitats of vulnerable prey.

More than 2,500 adult female reindeer were tracked in order to alert researchers to close encounters, and fifteen bears were fitted with gps collar in Norrbotten, northern Sweden.

The study found that bears emerged from their six-month hibernation in the spring.

They changed their preference for habitats close to wetlands and evergreen forests to more rugged terrain and higher altitudes for reindeer with young.

After the moose calving season started, the predator started moving closer to the forest and old clear cuts.

The bears moved away from the gravel roads after the season ended because of a diet of berries.

Dr Antonio Uzal Fernandez is an expert in the field of wildlife and is a professor at the School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences at the Trent University. Brown bears have an active hunting strategy in the spring, when their diet is more dependent on animals than during the rest of the year.

Large carnivores are partially recovering their former ranges across multiple continents, and while this can provide ecological benefits for many ecosystems, it can also bring management implications and effects such as depredation of livestock.

He said that their work could help to inform managers and livestock owners how to reduce this conflict. High and low predatory bears chose different habitats in all study periods.

The kills peaked in May. During the reindeer and moose-calving periods, eight of the 15 bears were predatory and averaged half a kill a day.

The study showed that the predator killed more than 20 newborn reindeer and five newborn moose in a single period.

According to the researchers, their findings could help develop forecasts of potential hotspots and conflict and establish possible preventive actions.