|
Post by Gorilla king on Aug 12, 2021 23:14:25 GMT -5
Vancouver Island black bear (Vijay Somalinga – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Accepted scientific name: Ursus americanus vancouveri (Hall, 1928)
Description: Slightly larger than mainland black bears with a massive skull and only black colour phase. Males weigh up to around 275 kg and females up to around 180 kg.
Range: Distributed throughout Vancouver Island and some adjacent islands. The highest concentrations are in the uninhabited low-lying forests of the island. Bears do move to higher altitudes but usually only during the summer months.
Habitat: Forested areas of the island, shoreline when feeding.
Status: The population is generally stable and is considered to be one of the densest in the world (but see “Threats” below). Estimates range from 7,000 to 12,000 individuals.
Life span: Around 20 years in the wild.
Food: Vancouver Island black bears are omnivorous. Their diet includes plant roots and shoots, grasses, berries, nuts, insects, small mammals, crabs, shellfish, eels and, in the autumn (fall) salmon.
Behaviour: Usually found in the lower elevations of the island although they will sometimes move to higher levels in the summer. Active during daylight unlike some other black bear populations. This is most likely due to the absence of brown bears on the island. The bears enter dens in the winter and a number of these are located in stumps and root boles along western coastal areas close by the shoreline but are also found throughout the wooded areas of the island. Mothers become fertile between three and five years of age and give birth in the winter den to litters of between one and four cubs with twins being most common. They will remain with the mother into their second year during which time she will not become pregnant again.
Threats: The greatest current threat is hunting. The annual take on the island is typically over 700 animals. It is thought that this number is too high to facilitate long term survival and thriving of the subspecies. Conflict with humans can also be an issue at times.
www.bearconservation.org.uk/vancouver-island-black-bear/
|
|
|
Post by Gorilla king on Aug 12, 2021 23:20:43 GMT -5
Watch this family of bears live and play in a tree on Vancouver Island
COURTENAY -- A family of bears that has been calling a hollowed-out tree north of Courtenay home for the past several days has been delighting wildlife fans in the area.
A mother bear and at least one cub have been spotted hanging out on the high branches of the tree and climbing up and down the wooden trunk.
Residents say that it appears that up to three bears, a mother and two cubs, have been sleeping deep inside the trunk of the Cottonwood tree at night for warmth.
"Once mom gets into the little den area, the baby will go and wander over the tree," said Lisa Bell, a resident who has been making regular treks to the area.
"It's like she's got him up there and now he can go play."
Wildlife photographers say that it's rare to see the bears in action. Normally, the only views of the animals are of them fast asleep. However, one local wildlife expert says that the bears' activity is an unfortunate indication of poor health for the family.
"If a bear is not hibernating at this time of year, that normally means that they don't have enough fat reserves to last that hibernation," says Warren Warttig president of Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society.
While the tree-climbing bears offer a rare opportunity for wildlife fans to view the animals, experts are reminding people to keep a distance from the mother and cubs.
"Well, they're still wild animals, they're still unpredictable," said Warttig. "The people who get too complacent about them get tagged or they get injured."
A mother bear and her two cubs have been spotted living in a hollowed-out tree and playing among its high branches on Vancouver Island: Jan. 17, 2020 (CTV News)
www.google.com/amp/s/beta.ctvnews.ca/local/vancouver-island/2020/1/17/1_4773056.html
|
|
|
Post by Gorilla king on Aug 12, 2021 23:24:46 GMT -5
If You Build It They Will Come: black bear dens on Vancouver Island
Abstract
Starting in 2014, a project aimed at increasing the supply of black bear dens on Vancouver Island using a new and innovative approach was undertaken in the Jordan River and Campbell River watersheds. The project attempted to create black bear dens using existing forest structures (e.g., hollow trees and stumps) and artificial structures in areas where past forest harvesting has reduced the number of the large trees needed by bears for denning. Coastal black bears typically only use cavities in and under large trees because these are the only spots that keep them warm and dry during the cool and wet winter weather. Black bears use these dens for 3-6 months during which time females give birth to cubs. Generations of bears often reuse the same den. The team, led by Helen Davis of Artemis Wildlife Consultants, worked to create potential bear dens in large hollow cedar stumps by covering the top and creating an entry for bears. In addition to enhancing natural structures, the team installed 13 artificial black bear dens made of plastic that simulate naturally-occurring den structures. Davis included placing a bit of vegetation and bear hair in all the cavities to make it seem “more like home” to bears when they investigated the structures. Davis has been monitoring the “new” dens with motion-sensitive video cameras (see various videos at: www.youtube.com/channel/UCJY3ayUnQCLMkqGGUiBcoHQ) and was excited to document the use of one of the structures by a bear over the 3 winters (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-2020). Davis and her technician (Ahousaht First Nation member Michael “Bear” Charlie, working for the Pacheedaht First Nation) created the den in 2015 by finding a large, hollow western redcedar stump, cutting an entrance into the cavity and capping the stump with plywood. The bear that used the den can be seen moving and digging inside the den and pulling piles of vegetation into the den to create its “nest” (see video: . No artificial structures have been used by bears despite extensive investigation of the structures by bears. Black bear dens are not protected by regulation on Vancouver Island or the south coast of British Columbia. Some natural dens may occur in “legacy” trees that provincial government requires protection of, but many bear dens occur in trees that are smaller than this, so there are likely few dens protected through such legislation. Davis started a campaign to get these structures protected through legislation (see Petition: chng.it/y9dw8wY4K4).
www.researchgate.net/publication/326158252_If_You_Build_It_They_Will_Come_black_bear_dens_on_Vancouver_Island
|
|
|
Post by Gorilla king on Aug 12, 2021 23:31:11 GMT -5
Early Holocene black bears, Ursus americanus, from Vancouver Island
... Similarly, modern brown bears are generally larger than black bears, though size does not separate these bears completely. Identifying fossils of these ursid species is additionally confounded by the larger body size of Pleistocene than modern black bears, as noted by Kurté n and Anderson (1980) and as further examined by others (Gordon, 1986;Nagorsen et al., 1995;Graham, 1991;Wolverton and Lyman, 1998). ...
.. According to their hypothesis, insular mammals were larger than modern populations in the early post-glacial in response to a cool harsh climate and their rate of evolutionary change to a smaller size was determined by the strength of island effects. Evidently, early post-glacial O. americanus and American black bears (Ursus americanus) from Vancouver Island were larger than modern forms (Nagorsen et al. 1995; Nagorsen and Keddie 2000), but no late Pleistocene fossils of M. vancouverensis are available to test the hypothesis of Millien and Damuth (2004). Based on a substantially larger sample size than previous studies, our study is the first to provide strong confirmation of the distinctiveness of M. vancouverensis hard tissue morphology despite its very young evolutionary age. ...
.. Continuous mammalian occurrence in a coastal refugium throughout glacial cycles in the Pleistocene has yet to be demonstrated. In cases where fossils have been recovered along the coast, they have been dated to either periods before or after glacial maxima (Nagorsen et al. 1995;Heaton et al. 1996), suggesting the possibility of movement along the coast during interstadial periods (MacDonald and Cook 1996;Lance and Cook 1998). ...
www.researchgate.net/publication/279672725_Early_Holocene_black_bears_Ursus_americanus_from_Vancouver_Island
|
|
|
Post by Gorilla king on Aug 12, 2021 23:33:55 GMT -5
Public Attitudes toward Black Bears (Ursus americanus) and Cougars (Puma concolor) on Vancouver Island
Abstract
The sharp increase in the human population of Vancouver Island; the urban development policy favoring forest fragmentation and smaller, scattered settlements; and the relatively sizable population of large predatory mammals have contributed to one of the highest human-large predator contact zones in North America. Although some studies have evaluated public attitudes toward larger carnivores from urban/rural, gender, and generational perspectives, few have focused on black bears and cougars on the British Columbia coast. In this study, four hundred people in the densely populated southeast corner of Vancouver Island were interviewed about their attitudes toward black bear and cougar presence and behavior. The majority of interviewees had positive attitudes toward both bears and cougars, and were opposed to the shooting of carnivores, preferring trapping and removal. Contrary to expectation, few respondents saw carnivores as threats to livestock, companion animals, or children. Both black bears and cougars were perceived as serving useful functions as part of the island's heritage and cultural development (through hunting, tourism, and recreation).
www.researchgate.net/publication/233710356_Public_Attitudes_toward_Black_Bears_Ursus_americanus_and_Cougars_Puma_concolor_on_Vancouver_Island
|
|
|
Post by Gorilla king on Apr 22, 2023 21:35:55 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by oldindigosilverback on Apr 24, 2023 5:56:51 GMT -5
/\ 500 pounds and even 600 pounds are not uncommon in some American black bear subspecies.
|
|