Bears of Bute

Even most casual bear observers know that bears spend a significant portion of their year in hibernation, making food a primary focus of their time awake. So what do bears eat while roaming the shore, slopes and forests? Bear diets are seasonal, depending on what is readily available courtesy of Mother Nature. Here’s a quick guide to the choice foods of black and grizzly bears by season:Spring After winter hibernation, bears will make quick work of any mountain animal that did not fare as well during the frigid months. These often frozen animals are preserved by nature and dined on as a post-nap delicacy by scavenging bear populations. Spring also will provide the beginning of fruit and berry populations, not to mention any residual such items left over once snow and ice recedes from the mountain tops. Bears will roam at lower elevations during these months while waiting for temperatures to warm, meaning they are more likely to come into plain sight for residents of more rural areas, feeding on smaller animals and human garbage.Summer Bears will feast on animal population across all seasons, including fellow hibernators, squirrels, whenever they are both awake and in paw’s reach. As a result, summer sees the highest portion of animal-based diet for bear populations. However, only approximately 20 of an average bear’s diet comes from meat, as bears have adapted to subsist primarily on vegetation. The increase in insects found during warmer months also feed heavily into summer nutrition. This is also a time in which salmon, always popular with bear palettes, make their run back upriver to where they spawned. Fish are a part of the bear diet across all seasons, however, again, numbers peak during the late summer.Fall As natural vegetation tends to subside as the months cool down, Grizzly bears will dig for edible roots. Black bears, on the other hand, do not have such abilities thus must make use of alternative food supplies. Even when bears can’t catch squirrels, in many instances they take over their stored supply of nuts and goodies, leavings the squirrels’ hard preparation work in vain. Many berry, nut and low-bush fruit will remain in season so that the bears can continue to eat until the hibernation season circles back around.