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(We spotted the Grizzly Bear and her cubs along a river
bed.)
Grizzly Bears
There are about 300 grizzly bears in In Denali National
Park. We saw a grizzly bear almost everyday we were in the
park. Mainly the bears are very busy eating berries or
digging to find edible roots. Most of the time they
were so busy that they barely raised their heads to
notice us.
What do grizzly bears eat?
We saw grizzly bears in many different parts
of the park. Whenever their search for
food brought them into the open; on river bars, in low passes, or high up
in the mountains we were able to spot them. Throughout
Denali's short summer, the bears try to eat as much food as they can. Most of the Grizzlies food (up
to 85%) comes from eating vegetation (berries, roots, and
grasses.) Chuck, our Denali bus driver, said that bears can
can eat up to 200,000 blueberries a day. That's a lot
of berries. That means
that only about 15% of their food comes from meat (mostly
the Artic Ground squirrel but some moose and caribou.) They
seem to find an area and stay there, eating until the food
was gone.
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This bear needs to start eating lots
of food or it will not have enough body fat to survive
the winter.
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Blueberries
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Bears
eat even more than normal during August and September to
gain weight. Male bears in the park can grow to weigh
300 -650 pounds, while female Grizzlies can grow to 200 -
400 pounds. They will use their excess weight to
survive during their long winter hibernation. Grizzlies
hibernate in their dens for up to 7 months during the long
Alaskan winter. While hibernating their heart rate, body
temperature, and other body functions slow down almost
eliminating their need for food and water. |
| During the late summer, bears eat so
much food so fast that they often poop out whole
berries that have barely been digested.
Sometimes, the grizzlies eat leaves, twigs, and rocks.
It seems funny but this would stop them from pooping
so much. This would give them more time to
digest their food so that they could get all the
nutrients from the food. |
Chrissy's foot near a pile of bear
scat. Notice the berries and rocks in the scat.
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Staying safe while hiking near bears.
Chrissy making her way through tall
willow shrubs.
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While
we were hiking, we had to be very careful not to scare the
bears by coming up on them suddenly. If we got into an
area of high shrubs or willows we had to yell, "Hey
Bear!" to warn any roaming bears of our presence.
It worked for us since we did not come unexpectedly upon any
bears but we did hear several stories from people who
stumbled upon a bear only a few feet away.
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| On our last day in Denali, Christina stopped
short and was looking down on the road where she saw what
looked like a large human footprint. Then, she realized that
it was the back paw of a huge grizzly with the next paw
print the front print leading up the road the same way we
were heading.) From the paw print, you could clearly
see that this bear had huge claws. Bears usually use
their long claws for digging roots or excavating the burrows
of small animals, especially the Arctic Ground Squirrel. |
Bear Tracks |
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This grizzly bear is using his mouth
to suck up berries like a vacuum cleaner.
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It
was then that we spotted the Grizzly Bear down in the valley
(about ¼ of a mile away.) It was huge. We had
heard that bears could grow to be 3 1/2 feet long and this
bear was definitely that big. That would mean when standing
this bear would have been are 6-7 feet tall. A ranger
told us when bears stand up they are smelling the air and
trying to see better.
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To Learn more about
Grizzly Bears...
Grizzly
Bear Facts
No images but there is great information on Grizzly bears.
Kids
Planet: Grizzly Bear
This site offers very clear information in an encyclopedia
style format.
Canadian
Wildlife Service: Grizzly Bear
Awesome details about the grizzly accompanied by detailed
illustrations that really add details to the text.
Brown
Bears: Creature Feature National Geographic provides
excellent information with fun facts, video, and audio.
Grizzly
Excellent detailed information backed up with images and
maps.
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