The brown bear spreads plant species adapted to epizoochory through its fur. Using camera traps and photo analysis, we documented the presence of plant fruits and seeds attached to the bear's fur. Based on the identified morphological characteristics, we confirmed the presence of the genus Arctium and the species Salvia glutinosa. In this work, we prepared a morphological, ecological and phenological comparison of the Arctium species and highlighted their common epizoochory adaptation in the form of hooked sheath leaves. The second most common species was Salvia glutinosa, which adheres to the bear's fur with sticky adhesive surfaces. Epizoochory in bears has not yet been studied, and zoochory has not yet been studied using camera traps. We found that the brown bear contributes to the spread of seeds of the studied species, which was supported by visual evidence from the camera traps. The results show that epizoochory is most common on adult male bears and during late summer and throughout autumn. We also found that epizoochory occurs most frequently on the bear's front legs, followed by the head. Our study confirms that camera-trap images can also be useful for studying epizoochory in animals.
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