Characteristics
Bears are highly evolved social animals with intelligence comparable to that of the great apes. Bears often share friendship, resources, and security. They form hierarchies and have structured kinship relationships.
Bears are very strong and powerful animals. They have been known to bend open car doors and pry open windshields in their search for food. Bears routinely roll over huge rocks and logs in search of food. A grizzly’s powerful digging ability allows them to feed on roots, bulbs, and rodents, as well as dig dens on steep mountain slopes. Size, body weight and color vary between species and from habitat to habitat.
Mother bears, also called sows, are often observed as affectionate, protective, strict, and attentive with their young. Like humans, bears are individuals and have unique personalities. Bears communicate using body language, sound, and smell.
“The intelligence of this animal never fails to amaze me. I observed and photographed [a] bear moving a log into place so she could walk across it and get to the other side of a creek without swimming. This was an animal using a tool to accomplish a task - an ability normally accredited to only humans and chimpanzees. Bears are truly amazing.”
Bears are very strong and powerful animals. They have been known to bend open car doors and pry open windshields in their search for food. Bears routinely roll over huge rocks and logs in search of food. A grizzly’s powerful digging ability allows them to feed on roots, bulbs, and rodents, as well as dig dens on steep mountain slopes.
Bears live in a rich and complex scent-defined world. They depend on their acute sense of smell for information about the world around them. Their smelling ability is extremely sensitive, with one hundred times more nasal mucosa area than a human. A complex system of social messages is communicated through trails of airborne scent; scent transferred to twigs, branches and grasses; and scents left on purpose by tree rubbing or biting, as well as scat or urine marks. In the ursine world, these messages combine to become the daily newspaper. A bear's hearing ability is excellent, and like dogs, bears hear high pitches, exceeding human frequency range and sensitivity. Bears see in colour and have good vision, similar to humans. Bears are fast; they can run more than 60 kilometers an hour (37 mph) - that's twice as fast as an Olympic sprinter. To put their speed in perspective, bears can run 15 meters per second (50 feet per second).
Bears are very strong and powerful animals. They have been known to bend open car doors and pry open windshields in their search for food. Bears routinely roll over huge rocks and logs in search of food. A grizzly’s powerful digging ability allows them to feed on roots, bulbs, and rodents, as well as dig dens on steep mountain slopes.
Size, body weight and color vary between species and from habitat to habitat. Learn to identify the difference between blacks and grizzlies.
“The more I study bears, the more variability I see, and the harder it is to answer questions about them. Individuals have different personalities, and much of the behavior of these intelligent animals is based on learning.”