7 ms·

"The bears eat around 90 pounds of fish, berries, small mammals, and vegetation each day to pack on the pounds necessary to survive months of winter hibernation

"The bears eat around 90 pounds of fish, berries, small mammals, and vegetation each day to pack on the pounds necessary to survive months of winter hibernation." 90 pounds a day! Anyone have an idea of what percentage is fish vs berries vs mammals vs vegetation and have an estimate on how many calories that would be?

walrus01 5y ago
I suppose there might be some zookeeper related scholarly publication out there on the typical diet and calorie needs to maintain an adult grizzly bear at the same body weight year round. I have no idea, but I bet it is a lot.
mtnGoat 5y ago
a quick search found me this: "During spring and summer, bears eat around 5,000 calories a day, but in the fall, they are trying to eat up to 20,000 calories every day." Gives me a stomach ache even thinking about it.
- spywaregorilla 5y ago
  Almost as much as two michael phelps
  - stickydink 5y ago
    Good luck catching 2 Michael Phelps in the river
    - lapetitejort 5y ago
      If you're interpreting that as 1 Michael Phelps = 10,000 calories, you're in luck! The average humans contain about 125k Calories [0]. Not all easily accessible of course, but fine for a hungry brown bear. 0: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-cannibals-did-not-eat-humans-nutrition-study-says-180962823/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-cannibals-...
ursusarcanum 5y ago
The vast majority is plant matter. It wastes a lot of energy to chase prey. Plants don't move much. Last I read it was on the order of 80% plants, with a lot of insects being most of the meat.
- samizdis 5y ago
  You may be right that the majority is plant matter, but in salmon season bears gather at salmon runs and waste little energy in snatching fish as they leap up the cascades. See [1]. (Although individual bears do compete for the best fishing spots, they are in a "fish in a barrel" situation when they get one. They don't have to chase anything, just grab and chew.) [1] https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-c... Edit to add: Here's an article [2] from 2018, How many salmon will a bear eat? Excerpt: Adult male bears on Kodiak ate the most salmon on average, consuming an incredible 6,146 pounds (2,788 kg) per bear per year! Adult females ate 3,007 pounds (1,364 kg). Salmon consumption varied among subadult bears, independent juvenile bears between 2.5 and 5.5 years old. Subadult females ate 1,248 pounds (566 kg) while subadult males ate 1,305 pounds (592 kg) of salmon per bear per year. [2] https://medium.com/@exploreorg/how-many-salmon-will-a-bear-eat-94d3d212f178 https://medium.com/@exploreorg/how-many-salmon-will-a-bear-e...
  - nradov 5y ago
    The bears catch so many salmon on some rivers that they eat only the most nutritious parts and leave the rest of the carcass for scavengers.
    - AlbertCory 5y ago
      Correct. See my post and [1]. I saw this behavior myself. It's not just standing and snatching fish out of the stream, though. Most bears have to chase the fish and try to catch them, often failing. [1] https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXMHAjDyQNDjFqjw8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXMHAjDyQNDjFqjw8
  - mtnGoat 5y ago

walrus01 5y ago

I suppose there might be some zookeeper related scholarly publication out there on the typical diet and calorie needs to maintain an adult grizzly bear at the same body weight year round. I have no idea, but I bet it is a lot.

mtnGoat 5y ago

a quick search found me this: "During spring and summer, bears eat around 5,000 calories a day, but in the fall, they are trying to eat up to 20,000 calories every day." Gives me a stomach ache even thinking about it.

spywaregorilla 5y ago
Almost as much as two michael phelps
- stickydink 5y ago
  Good luck catching 2 Michael Phelps in the river
  - lapetitejort 5y ago
    If you're interpreting that as 1 Michael Phelps = 10,000 calories, you're in luck! The average humans contain about 125k Calories [0]. Not all easily accessible of course, but fine for a hungry brown bear. 0: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-cannibals-did-not-eat-humans-nutrition-study-says-180962823/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-cannibals-...

ursusarcanum 5y ago

The vast majority is plant matter. It wastes a lot of energy to chase prey. Plants don't move much. Last I read it was on the order of 80% plants, with a lot of insects being most of the meat.

samizdis 5y ago
You may be right that the majority is plant matter, but in salmon season bears gather at salmon runs and waste little energy in snatching fish as they leap up the cascades. See [1]. (Although individual bears do compete for the best fishing spots, they are in a "fish in a barrel" situation when they get one. They don't have to chase anything, just grab and chew.) [1] https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls https://explore.org/livecams/brown-bears/brown-bear-salmon-c... Edit to add: Here's an article [2] from 2018, How many salmon will a bear eat? Excerpt: Adult male bears on Kodiak ate the most salmon on average, consuming an incredible 6,146 pounds (2,788 kg) per bear per year! Adult females ate 3,007 pounds (1,364 kg). Salmon consumption varied among subadult bears, independent juvenile bears between 2.5 and 5.5 years old. Subadult females ate 1,248 pounds (566 kg) while subadult males ate 1,305 pounds (592 kg) of salmon per bear per year. [2] https://medium.com/@exploreorg/how-many-salmon-will-a-bear-eat-94d3d212f178 https://medium.com/@exploreorg/how-many-salmon-will-a-bear-e...
- nradov 5y ago
  The bears catch so many salmon on some rivers that they eat only the most nutritious parts and leave the rest of the carcass for scavengers.
  - AlbertCory 5y ago
    Correct. See my post and [1]. I saw this behavior myself. It's not just standing and snatching fish out of the stream, though. Most bears have to chase the fish and try to catch them, often failing. [1] https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXMHAjDyQNDjFqjw8 https://photos.app.goo.gl/mXMHAjDyQNDjFqjw8
- mtnGoat 5y ago