Drought Bad News for Baby Bears

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A drought-induced shortage of food could make this a tough winter for young bears and reduce the number of cubs born to hungry hibernators. As desperate bears try to fatten up for winter, they may have more conflicts with humans, but experts note that the starving bruins are in more danger from humans than vice versa.

A drought-induced shortage of food could make this a tough winter for young bears and reduce the number of cubs born to hungry hibernators.

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As desperate bears try to fatten up for winter, they may have more conflicts with humans, but experts note that the starving bruins are in more danger from humans than vice versa.

Adult black bears are in little danger of starving during their long winter nap, according to Dave Garshelis of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and co-chair of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Bear Specialist Group (IUCN BSG). Bears are opportunistic survivors and can eke a living out of a parched landscape, but future generations of bears may be set back by a drought.

"The main thing affected during winter is reproduction," Garshelis said. "Bears mate in May-July, and blastocysts [an early stage in reproductive development] normally implant (in the uterus) in October-November, with births in January. However, if body condition is very poor, the blastocysts will not implant, or will later be naturally aborted, and reproduction will not occur."

Even if a cub is born, a hungry mother grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park may end up raising a runt this year, due to a reduction in the quality and quantity of her milk.

Article continues at Discovery News

Grizzly Bear image via Shutterstock