Cannibalism in bears

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

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.

• Jezik: Angleški jezik
• Ključne besede: bear, animal behavior, cannibalism, foraging ecology, infanticide, mortality, nutritional ecology, predation, scavenging, sexually selected infanticide
• Vrsta gradiva: Članek v reviji
• Tipologija: 1.01 - Izvirni znanstveni članek
• Organizacija: BF - Biotehniška fakulteta
• Status publikacije: Objavljeno
• Različica publikacije: Objavljena publikacija
• Datum objave: 12.07.2022
• Leto izida: 2022
• Št. strani: 9 str.
• Številčenje: Vol. 33, e. 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-138257
• UDK: 630*15
• ISSN pri članku: 1938-5439
• DOI: 10.2192/URSUS-D-20-00031.2
• COBISS.SI-ID: 115180547
• Datum objave v RUL: 13.07.2022

Gradivo je del revije

• Naslov: Ursus
• Skrajšan naslov: Ursus
• Založnik: International Association for Bear Research and Management
• ISSN: 1938-5439
• COBISS.SI-ID: 518419481

Licence

• Licenca: UND, Copyright Undetermined
• Povezava: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
• Opis: Avtorskopravni status teh predmetov ni znan.
• Začetek licenciranja: 13.07.2022

Sekundarni jezik

• Jezik: Slovenski jezik
• Ključne besede: medvedi, vedenje, kanibalizem, prehranjevanje, infanticid, smrtnost, plenjenje, mrhovinarstvo

Projekti

• Financer: ARRS - Agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije
• Številka projekta: P4-0059-2020
• Naslov: Gozd, gozdarstvo in obnovljivi gozdni viri