All Cheechakos & sourdoughs please ring in.
A friend who has been in Alaska for about 6 years returned last week for some I&I.
He tells us, that just prior to hibernating brown bears (maybe Grizzlies) tear off some of their own fur to swallow. This is said to impact them so they won’t wake up to take an early dump.
I’ve googled, snoped, etc and have run out of ways to query google.
Is this true or a blooming Unban Legend?
I’ve done a fair amount of reading (and a little personal contact) with bears, and I’ve never heard of this. I’m not going to go so far as to call it BS, but I’ll note that there are a lot of myths about what bears do, and this sounds like one of them.
Bears do, by the way, wake up and forage around sometimes during their period of hibernation, causing some ursine zoologists to question the use of the term “hibernation” as applicable to the habits of bears. Some black bears (Ursus americanus that reside in warmer climates (their habitat extends all the way down into Mexico) don’t hibernate at all; others do so as appropriate to their climate and terrain.
Stranger
However, what the bears do is clearly a form of hibernation; they just happen to be light sleepers and can wake up during the period.
We went through a discussion of this a few months ago. It depends on how you define hibernation. Some mammalogists don’t consider what bears do “true” hibernation, but use another term for it (“torpor,” etc.). Others use a broader definition of hiberation which includes bears’ winter dormancy.
Facts:
- Bears are mammals.
- Bears fight ALL the time.
- The purpose of the bear is to flip out and kill people.
On a side note, the spot a bear hibernates in is called a “hibernaculum.” Just a great word I thought I’d share. Alright, back to “work.”
From here:http://www.yellowstone-reservations.com/hibernation_denning.htm
Believe me, Mammalogy is not nearly as interesting a class as you’d think it would be. Although it gives me the opportunity to use the phrase, “This one time, at the deer station…” with great frequency.
-Lil
Eddy Murphy tells the bear to eat twigs and leaves for that purpose in Dr Doolittle 2. So it’s true.
Thanx all.
Especially the anecdote about Doctor Doolittle.
I read all the original Doctor Doolittle books as a kid and don’t recall anything about Bears.