Affiliation:
1. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section, Trent University, DNA Building, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9L 1Z8, Canada.
2. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystem Research, 103-421 James Street South, Thunder Bay, ON P7E 2V6, Canada.
Abstract
American black bears (Ursus americanus Pallas, 1780) are opportunistic foragers, and across most of their range in North America, their diet is predominantly vegetation with limited consumption of vertebrates and invertebrates. However, they are also predators of ungulates, especially neonates, with regional variation in the amount of predation pressure they exert. We used scat analysis to examine the diet of black bears during the calving season in a moose (Alces alces (Linnaeus, 1758)) – woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou (Gmelin, 1788)) system in the Boreal forest of northern Ontario, Canada. Bears consumed herbaceous plants (46.5%), fruits and (or) seeds (20.0%), moose (3.3% adults; 4.3% calves), American beaver (Castor canadensis Kuhl, 1820; 8.5%), and insects (mostly ants; 4.2%). Bears had the highest consumption of moose and beaver in early spring, before switching to a more vegetation-dominated diet. We did not detect evidence of caribou consumption. Based on our results, black bear consumption of moose, particularly neonates, may warrant further investigation.
Publisher
Canadian Science Publishing
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Reference85 articles.
1. Adorjan, A.S., and Kolenosky, G.B. 1969. A manual for the identification of hairs of selected Ontario mammals. Ontario Department of Lands and Forest Research Report (Wildlife) No. 90.
2. Foods and nutritional components of diets of black bear in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
Cited by
6 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献