Alaskan Bear Forced to Eat Grass, Lives Concerned as Salmon Population Declines

Brown bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Reserve, United States (US), are known to be greedy for consuming large amounts of salmon. To the extent that the bears here are the object of a Fat Bear Week tournament every year to determine who eats the most salmon from the Brooks River.

Last summer, a giant 450kg bear named Otis was named the fattest bear of the year .

However, the latest research by National Park Service biologist Joy Erlenbach reveals a surprising fact.

Some Alaskan bears are known to have diverted their diet from salmon, one of the most nutrient-dense foods, by eating plants found around the national park. This is thought to be the bear's response to a decline in salmon populations in the last three decades in Hallo Bay.

“Salmon made up 62 percent of a bear's diet in 1989, but in 2017 it was only 28 percent. Salmon consumption in bears has decreased by 50 percent in the last three decades," Erlenbach said.

Bears replace salmon by increasing their consumption of berries, sedge (the puzzle tribe or Cyperaceae is a member of the flowering plant family), and leafy plants. The findings suggest that bears can survive on a partially herbivorous diet, while also suggesting that plants are a buffer resource when favorite foods like salmon decline.

Erlenbach said the decline in salmon populations likely contributed to the shrinking proportion of salmon in the bear's diet.There are several other factors, including an increase in the number of human visitors to the coast and the disruption of the North Pacific marine ecosystem. For example, the intense ocean heat wave known as the Blob.

Meanwhile, wildlife biologist Christina Service said, coastal bears have undergone many changes in recent years, due to droughts, floods and shifts in plant phenology and salmon availability. "These changes have had a major impact on the bears and the amount of food available to them," he said.

Christina Service, who is also the Science Coordinator for Kitasoo/Xai'xais Stewardship Authority, added that bears are opportunistic and able to take advantage of various resources around them. In British Columbia, he says, bears will eat sea urchins, a variety of plant material, and even salmon eggs.

Not yet known the further impact of this change in the bear's diet. Experts say salmon is a bear's favorite food to grow large, accumulate body fat, and reach the conditions necessary to produce cubs.

However, for the time being there has been no research showing evidence that bear cub production is affected by this dietary change. Further research is still needed on this dietary change.

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