Behaviour of brown bears killing wild ungulates in the Cantabrian Mountains, Southwestern Europe

• Published in: European Journal of Wildlife Research
• Language: English
• Published: Springer-Verlag 2011
• Subjects: Ursus arctos; Brown bear; Predation; Wild ungulates; Cantabrian Mountains; Spain; Blanco; Alicia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2262/60632; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-010-0464-z

Abstract Although brown bears (Ursus arctos) are known to be major predators of ungulates in North America and Northern Europe, there is little documentation regarding bear predation on wild ungulates in Southern Europe. We describe search, detection, killing and prey consumption behaviour by brown bears during seven attacks on <1-month roe deer, red deer and chamois fawns in spring in the Cantabrian Mountains, north-western Spain. As soon as the bears detected a fawn by their smell or their mother's presence, they switched from routine foraging on plants and insects to an intensive search for the fawns, mainly using smell to comb a 0.5?1 ha area for 15?45 min. They killed the fawns either while the latter were resting or after a brief chase. The bears usually took their prey to dense vegetation, consuming it immediately. In four cases, 5-month-old cubs accompanying the female did not participate in the hunt. We also document the apparently non-predatory killing of a 40-kg wild boar by a female bear with cubs surprised by a sudden encounter. They did not eat the boar after the attack. phone: [phone] (Blanco, Juan Carlos) [e-mail] (Blanco, Juan Carlos) [e-mail] (Ballesteros, Fernando) [e-mail] (Garcia-Serrano, Alicia) [e-mail] (Herrero, Juan) [e-mail] (Nores, Carlos) [e-mail] (Palomero, Guillermo) Brown Bear Foundation - C/Isabel la Catolica 13 - E-39007 - Santander - SPAIN (Blanco, Juan Carlos) Brown Bear Foundation - C/Isabel la Catolica 13 - E-39007 - Santander - SPAIN (Ballesteros, Fernando) Ega Wildlife Consultants - C/Sierra de Vicort 31, 1? A - E-50003 - Zaragoza - SPAIN (Garcia-Serrano, Alicia) Area of Ecology, Technical School of Huesca, University of Zaragoza - E-22001 - Huesca - SPAIN (Herrero, Juan) INDUROT, University of Oviedo - Campus de Mieres - E-33600 - Mieres - SPAIN (Nores, Carlos) Brown Bear Foundation - C/Isabel la Catolica 13 - E-39007 - Santander - SPAIN (Palomero, Guillermo) SPAIN Registration: 2010-10-25 Received: 2010-04-09 Revised: 2010-10-19 Accepted: 2010-10-25 ePublished: 2010-11-11