Autumn food habits of the brown bear Ursus arctos in the Golestan National Park: a pilot study in Iran

Abstract Food consumed by brown bears in the Golestan National Park in Iran was analyzed during autumn 2011. We identified 22 food items in 61 scats, with the most important food items being hawthorn fruit, cherry plum fruit and chestnut-leaved oak hard mast, based on importance value (IV) estimates...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Mammalia
Main Authors: Soofi, Mahmood, Qashqaei, Ali Turk, Aryal, Achyut, Coogan, Sean C.P.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Walter de Gruyter GmbH 2018
Subjects:
Animal Science and Zoology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Ursus arctos
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2016-0051
http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mamm.2018.82.issue-4/mammalia-2016-0051/mammalia-2016-0051.xml
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/mammalia-2016-0051/pdf
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Summary:Abstract Food consumed by brown bears in the Golestan National Park in Iran was analyzed during autumn 2011. We identified 22 food items in 61 scats, with the most important food items being hawthorn fruit, cherry plum fruit and chestnut-leaved oak hard mast, based on importance value (IV) estimates of 26.4%, 18.1% and 12.9%, respectively. The overall bear diet (percent digestible dry matter) was composed of 77.9% soft mast (i.e. fruit), 21.3% hard mast and small proportions of other vegetation (0.3%) or animal matter (0.4%). One anthropogenic food was identified (vine grape) and was of minor importance (IV=0.2%).

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