Cannibalism in bears
Bears are the largest terrestrial carnivores, and most bear species can be characterized as opportunistic omnivores. An infrequent foraging tactic for bears is cannibalism, where a bear consumes a conspecific individual, either through scavenging or following intraspecific predation. Although severa...
Published in: | Ursus |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
International Association for Bear Research and Management
2022
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=138257 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158493&dn= https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158604&dn= https://plus.cobiss.net/cobiss/si/sl/bib/115180547 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12556/RUL-138257 |
id |
ftuniljubljanair:oai:repozitorij.uni-lj.si:IzpisGradiva.php-id-138257 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftuniljubljanair:oai:repozitorij.uni-lj.si:IzpisGradiva.php-id-138257 2024-09-15T18:40:20+00:00 Cannibalism in bears Allen, Maximilian L. Krofel, Miha Yamazaki, Koji Emmarie P., Alexander Koike, Shinsuke 2022-07-12 text/url application/pdf https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=138257 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158493&dn= https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158604&dn= https://plus.cobiss.net/cobiss/si/sl/bib/115180547 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12556/RUL-138257 eng eng International Association for Bear Research and Management info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.2192/URSUS-D-20-00031.2 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ARRS/Javna agencija Republike Slovenije za raziskovalno dejavnost/P4-0059-2020 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=138257 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158493&dn= https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158604&dn= https://plus.cobiss.net/cobiss/si/sl/bib/115180547 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12556/RUL-138257 http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess Ursus, vol. 33, no. e. 10, 2022. ISSN: 1938-5439 bear animal behavior cannibalism foraging ecology infanticide mortality nutritional ecology predation scavenging sexually selected infanticide medvedi vedenje kanibalizem prehranjevanje infanticid smrtnost plenjenje mrhovinarstvo info:eu-repo/classification/udc/630*15 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2022 ftuniljubljanair https://doi.org/20.500.12556/RUL-13825710.2192/URSUS-D-20-00031.2 2024-08-22T06:53:11Z Bears are the largest terrestrial carnivores, and most bear species can be characterized as opportunistic omnivores. An infrequent foraging tactic for bears is cannibalism, where a bear consumes a conspecific individual, either through scavenging or following intraspecific predation. Although several reports of cannibalism events are known, no attempt has been made so far to gather the available information to analyze for general patterns. We therefore performed a systematic literature review to understand patterns of cannibalism in bears. We documented 39 studies detailing 198 cannibalism events. We only found evidence of cannibalism in 4 of the 8 bear species, with more events reported for polar bears (Ursus maritimus n = 107, 54.0%) than for all other species combined. Cannibalism was most frequently associated with infanticide (n = 66, 33.3%) and conspecific strife (n = 30, 15.2%), both of which were more frequent among males than females. The most common apparent reason for cannibalism among predators is to increase fitness (i.e., eating a conspecific increases nutrition, whereas killing reduces competition for resources), but is also often linked to sexually selected infanticide in bears. Cannibalism most often appears to be an opportunistic consumption of an available carcass and not directly connected with the primary cause of death. As such, cannibalism in bears may be more casual and opportunistic than a behavior that evolved as a life history strategy. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ursus maritimus Repository of the University of Ljubljana (RUL) Ursus 2022 33e10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Repository of the University of Ljubljana (RUL) |
op_collection_id |
ftuniljubljanair |
language |
English |
topic |
bear animal behavior cannibalism foraging ecology infanticide mortality nutritional ecology predation scavenging sexually selected infanticide medvedi vedenje kanibalizem prehranjevanje infanticid smrtnost plenjenje mrhovinarstvo info:eu-repo/classification/udc/630*15 |
spellingShingle |
bear animal behavior cannibalism foraging ecology infanticide mortality nutritional ecology predation scavenging sexually selected infanticide medvedi vedenje kanibalizem prehranjevanje infanticid smrtnost plenjenje mrhovinarstvo info:eu-repo/classification/udc/630*15 Allen, Maximilian L. Krofel, Miha Yamazaki, Koji Emmarie P., Alexander Koike, Shinsuke Cannibalism in bears |
topic_facet |
bear animal behavior cannibalism foraging ecology infanticide mortality nutritional ecology predation scavenging sexually selected infanticide medvedi vedenje kanibalizem prehranjevanje infanticid smrtnost plenjenje mrhovinarstvo info:eu-repo/classification/udc/630*15 |
description |
Bears are the largest terrestrial carnivores, and most bear species can be characterized as opportunistic omnivores. An infrequent foraging tactic for bears is cannibalism, where a bear consumes a conspecific individual, either through scavenging or following intraspecific predation. Although several reports of cannibalism events are known, no attempt has been made so far to gather the available information to analyze for general patterns. We therefore performed a systematic literature review to understand patterns of cannibalism in bears. We documented 39 studies detailing 198 cannibalism events. We only found evidence of cannibalism in 4 of the 8 bear species, with more events reported for polar bears (Ursus maritimus n = 107, 54.0%) than for all other species combined. Cannibalism was most frequently associated with infanticide (n = 66, 33.3%) and conspecific strife (n = 30, 15.2%), both of which were more frequent among males than females. The most common apparent reason for cannibalism among predators is to increase fitness (i.e., eating a conspecific increases nutrition, whereas killing reduces competition for resources), but is also often linked to sexually selected infanticide in bears. Cannibalism most often appears to be an opportunistic consumption of an available carcass and not directly connected with the primary cause of death. As such, cannibalism in bears may be more casual and opportunistic than a behavior that evolved as a life history strategy. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Allen, Maximilian L. Krofel, Miha Yamazaki, Koji Emmarie P., Alexander Koike, Shinsuke |
author_facet |
Allen, Maximilian L. Krofel, Miha Yamazaki, Koji Emmarie P., Alexander Koike, Shinsuke |
author_sort |
Allen, Maximilian L. |
title |
Cannibalism in bears |
title_short |
Cannibalism in bears |
title_full |
Cannibalism in bears |
title_fullStr |
Cannibalism in bears |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cannibalism in bears |
title_sort |
cannibalism in bears |
publisher |
International Association for Bear Research and Management |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=138257 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158493&dn= https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158604&dn= https://plus.cobiss.net/cobiss/si/sl/bib/115180547 https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12556/RUL-138257 |
genre |
Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Ursus maritimus |
op_source |
Ursus, vol. 33, no. e. 10, 2022. ISSN: 1938-5439 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.2192/URSUS-D-20-00031.2 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ARRS/Javna agencija Republike Slovenije za raziskovalno dejavnost/P4-0059-2020 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=138257 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158493&dn= https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?id=158604&dn= https://plus.cobiss.net/cobiss/si/sl/bib/115180547 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12556/RUL-138257 |
op_rights |
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.12556/RUL-13825710.2192/URSUS-D-20-00031.2 |
container_title |
Ursus |
container_volume |
2022 |
container_issue |
33e10 |
_version_ |
1810484638352670720 |