Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries
ABSTRACT Encounters between Scandinavian brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) and humans that result in human injuries and fatalities typically coincide with den entry in October and November, and commonly occur near a den. Our aim was to determine when bears arrive at their dens, identify potential predict...
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crwiley:10.1002/jwmg.822 2024-06-02T08:15:38+00:00 Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries Sahlén, Veronica Friebe, Andrea Sæbø, Solve Swenson, Jon E. Støen, Ole‐Gunnar Austrian Science Fund Norwegian Environment Agency Research Council of Norway Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management Swedish Environmental Protection Agency 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.822 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjwmg.822 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jwmg.822 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/jwmg.822 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Journal of Wildlife Management volume 79, issue 2, page 274-287 ISSN 0022-541X 1937-2817 journal-article 2015 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.822 2024-05-03T11:46:54Z ABSTRACT Encounters between Scandinavian brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) and humans that result in human injuries and fatalities typically coincide with den entry in October and November, and commonly occur near a den. Our aim was to determine when bears arrive at their dens, identify potential predictors of this event, document behavior and activity associated with this period, and attempt to explain the increased risk of bear‐caused human injuries in this period. We analyzed global positioning system (GPS) location and activity data from brown bears in south‐central Sweden, using generalized linear mixed models, statistical process control, and activity analyses. Bears arrived at their den sites between 6 October and 1 December. Timing varied by reproductive category, bear age, and year. Half of all bears significantly reduced their activity before arriving at the den area: on average 2,169 m away from the den and 1.8 days before arrival. The other half reduced their activity after arriving at the den area. The latter bears took longer time to reach hibernation activity levels, but we did not find a difference in the start date of hibernation between the 2 groups. Bears also appeared to be sensitive to disturbance in this period, with higher den abandonment rates than later in winter, particularly for males and for bears that had not visited their den sites previously. Den entry occurred from October to December, with high variability and poor predictability of its timing. Therefore, restricting hunting or other recreation activities to reduce risk of injury by bears and disturbing bears probably would be both impractical and ineffective. Our findings can be used to educate hunters about bear behavior at this time of year. Many people associate dens with an increased risk of a bear responding aggressively to disturbance to defend its den, but our results indicate that other behavioral, and possibly physiological, changes in this period also may be involved. © 2014 The Authors. The Journal of Wildlife Management ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus arctos Wiley Online Library The Journal of Wildlife Management 79 2 274 287 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Encounters between Scandinavian brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) and humans that result in human injuries and fatalities typically coincide with den entry in October and November, and commonly occur near a den. Our aim was to determine when bears arrive at their dens, identify potential predictors of this event, document behavior and activity associated with this period, and attempt to explain the increased risk of bear‐caused human injuries in this period. We analyzed global positioning system (GPS) location and activity data from brown bears in south‐central Sweden, using generalized linear mixed models, statistical process control, and activity analyses. Bears arrived at their den sites between 6 October and 1 December. Timing varied by reproductive category, bear age, and year. Half of all bears significantly reduced their activity before arriving at the den area: on average 2,169 m away from the den and 1.8 days before arrival. The other half reduced their activity after arriving at the den area. The latter bears took longer time to reach hibernation activity levels, but we did not find a difference in the start date of hibernation between the 2 groups. Bears also appeared to be sensitive to disturbance in this period, with higher den abandonment rates than later in winter, particularly for males and for bears that had not visited their den sites previously. Den entry occurred from October to December, with high variability and poor predictability of its timing. Therefore, restricting hunting or other recreation activities to reduce risk of injury by bears and disturbing bears probably would be both impractical and ineffective. Our findings can be used to educate hunters about bear behavior at this time of year. Many people associate dens with an increased risk of a bear responding aggressively to disturbance to defend its den, but our results indicate that other behavioral, and possibly physiological, changes in this period also may be involved. © 2014 The Authors. The Journal of Wildlife Management ... |
author2 |
Austrian Science Fund Norwegian Environment Agency Research Council of Norway Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management Swedish Environmental Protection Agency |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sahlén, Veronica Friebe, Andrea Sæbø, Solve Swenson, Jon E. Støen, Ole‐Gunnar |
spellingShingle |
Sahlén, Veronica Friebe, Andrea Sæbø, Solve Swenson, Jon E. Støen, Ole‐Gunnar Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries |
author_facet |
Sahlén, Veronica Friebe, Andrea Sæbø, Solve Swenson, Jon E. Støen, Ole‐Gunnar |
author_sort |
Sahlén, Veronica |
title |
Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries |
title_short |
Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries |
title_full |
Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries |
title_fullStr |
Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries |
title_full_unstemmed |
Den entry behavior in Scandinavian brown bears: Implications for preventing human injuries |
title_sort |
den entry behavior in scandinavian brown bears: implications for preventing human injuries |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.822 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjwmg.822 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jwmg.822 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/jwmg.822 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_source |
The Journal of Wildlife Management volume 79, issue 2, page 274-287 ISSN 0022-541X 1937-2817 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.822 |
container_title |
The Journal of Wildlife Management |
container_volume |
79 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
274 |
op_container_end_page |
287 |
_version_ |
1800739873790885888 |