Cannibalism in bears

Allen, Maximilian L. (author), Krofel, Miha (author), Yamazaki, Koji (author), Emmarie P., Alexander (author), Koike, Shinsuke (author)

Bears are the largest terrestrial carnivores, and most bear species can be characterized as opportunistic omnivores. An infrequent foraging tactic for bears is cannibalism, where a bear consumes a conspecific individual, either through scavenging or following intraspecific predation. Although several reports of cannibalism events are known, no attempt has been made so far to gather the available information to analyze for general patterns. We therefore performed a systematic literature review to understand patterns of cannibalism in bears. We documented 39 studies detailing 198 cannibalism events. We only found evidence of cannibalism in 4 of the 8 bear species, with more events reported for polar bears (Ursus maritimus; n = 107, 54.0%) than for all other species combined. Cannibalism was most frequently associated with infanticide (n = 66, 33.3%) and conspecific strife (n = 30, 15.2%), both of which were more frequent among males than females. The most common apparent reason for cannibalism among predators is to increase fitness (i.e., eating a conspecific increases nutrition, whereas killing reduces competition for resources), but is also often linked to sexually selected infanticide in bears. Cannibalism most often appears to be an opportunistic consumption of an available carcass and not directly connected with the primary cause of death. As such, cannibalism in bears may be more casual and opportunistic than a behavior that evolved as a life history strategy.

• Language: English
• Keywords: bear, animal behavior, cannibalism, foraging ecology, infanticide, mortality, nutritional ecology, predation, scavenging, sexually selected infanticide
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: BF - Biotechnical Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 12.07.2022
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 9 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 33, e. 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-138257
• UDC: 630*15
• ISSN on article: 1938-5439
• DOI: 10.2192/URSUS-D-20-00031.2
• COBISS.SI-ID: 115180547
• Publication date in RUL: 13.07.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Ursus
• Shortened title: Ursus
• Publisher: International Association for Bear Research and Management
• ISSN: 1938-5439
• COBISS.SI-ID: 518419481

Licences

• License: UND, Copyright Undetermined
• Link: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
• Description: This Rights Statement should be used for Items for which the copyright status is unknown and for which the organization that has made the Item available has undertaken an (unsuccessful) effort to determine the copyright status of the underlying Work. Typically, this Rights Statement is used when the organization is missing key facts essential to making an accurate copyright status determination.
• Licensing start date: 13.07.2022

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: medvedi, vedenje, kanibalizem, prehranjevanje, infanticid, smrtnost, plenjenje, mrhovinarstvo

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P4-0059-2020
• Name: Gozd, gozdarstvo in obnovljivi gozdni viri