Human attitudes towards the brown bear (Ursus arctos) changed considerably throughout history and these changes reflected also in different approaches used in management of this species. One of the important measures used in bear management in many European countries is supplemental feeding of bears. Opinions about appropriateness of this controversial measure vary greatly among researchers across the world. These inconsistencies are partly connected with the lack of good understanding about the effects of supplemental feeding and bears% use of the feeding sites. This includes temporal segregation of bears of different age and reproductive categories in the use of feeding sites and interactions that occur among the bears at these sites. Here we tested hypotheses about existence of temporal segregation of feeding site use among bears from different categories and of seasonal variation in frequency of bears% use of feeding sites, which could occur due to several biological factors (e.g. breeding, hyperphagia) and anthropogenic influence. In addition, we studied direct intraspecific interactions among bears visiting feeding sites. Data were obtained with the use of automatic night-vision video cameras, which we deployed on 5 bear feeding sites in Kočevska region (SE Slovenia) within the brown bear population core area. We analysed all video recording and used them to determine age and reproductive category for each bear detected at the feeding sites. Our results indicated that bears did not visit feeding sites randomly, but in certain patterns. The first to come to the feeding sites in the evening were females with yearlings, they were followed by lone yearlings, females with cubs, lone females and young males, and the latest during the night arrived mature males. Observed pattern suggests category-specific avoidance of encounters with humans and dominant bears. We noted the highest frequency of intraspecific interactions among the category of lone females and young males. While the younger bears generally tolerated other bears, we noted low tolerance of conspecifics among the adult bears, which also frequently engaged in aggressive chasing of other bears. Results presented here will help towards further understanding of ecology and sociobiology of brown bears in Central Europe. New data also management implications and could be used to improve accuracy of bear monitoring conducted through systematic counting at feeding sites.
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