Altadena Bears 2012-05-03

[HikeUp]

Do bears grow on trees?
http://altadena.patch.com/articles/mama ... to-9810724

[SageUrsus]

"They're waking up from their winter hibernation," explained a Fish and Game representative to CBS2. "We had a warm spell, I believe, about a week ago, and that really brought them out."

Since when do bears hibernate in the San Gabriels?!? Nonsense!!!

[Taco]

"We had a warm spell, I believe, about a week ago, and that really brought them out."

[Mike P]

"They're waking up from their winter hibernation," explained a Fish and Game representative to CBS2. "We had a warm spell, I believe, about a week ago, and that really brought them out."

Since when do bears hibernate in the San Gabriels?!? Nonsense!!!

Actually, a few do hibernate but it tends to be short. If I remember correctly, observations of collared bears support this idea.

[SageUrsus]

Actually, a few do hibernate but it tends to be short. If I remember correctly, observations of collared bears support this idea.

After a quick search in Activity patterns of urban American black bears in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California By Amy J. Lyons
I have come to the conclusion that male black bears do hibernate in the SGMs.
"During winter months, 3 male bears (M025, M265, and M290) retreated into the forest above the snow line and became inactive; the fourth male (M545) retreated to a chaparral area just above and behind the city, where he also became inactive. Consequently, I tracked male bears only weekly during winter."
However, Lyons says that "females remained active throughout the winter months; [and] therefore continued to track them daily."
And that cute ball of fur in that tree was a momma bear and if you read the study you'll find out that it's the source of food that brings bears out to the city and not because they're coming out of hibernation or due to the heat! It's a nice story for the local news but not accurate haha


Here's a link to the study.
http://www.bearbiology.com/fileadmin/tp ... _16_2_.pdf

[Mike P]

Yes, I have the Lyons paper. It's a good read.

Her study bears, of which there weren't many, were the more urbanized, lower elevation bears. It would be interesting to see if the higher elevation bears are more true hibernators.

In one of the recent fires near the front range (Sierra Madre fire?), I was chatting with someone who was aware of the bear situation and they were concerned about a collared bear that was denning near the Santa Anita Dam. They knew it was alive but it wasn't moving and they thought it was in one of those quasi-hibernation situations.

Anyhow... interesting subject!

[HikeUp]

What happens when you shake a bear tree? You get bears...

[yobtaf]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/0 ... 77012.html

[cougarmagic]

I observed bears (on trailcam) throughout the winter up around 6k' near Mt Wilson, at seemingly the same frequency as warmer months. Have also heard that sanctuary bears in warm, low altitude areas get sluggish during winter months regardless, and sleep for a week at a time, don't eat much, etc.

My own opinion would be the bear and her cubs visited Altadena because...they live there.

[HikeUp]

Pure nonsense. Silly girl.

[atomicoyote]

Have also heard that sanctuary bears in warm, low altitude areas get sluggish during winter months regardless, and sleep for a weekend at a time, don't eat much except chips, beer and pizza, watch too much sports on TV, etc.

My own opinion would be the bear and her cubs visited Altadena because...they live there.

Sounds like me on a weekend when I'm not out hiking or biking. My grroming habits get a little sloppy, too, so that hairy thing on those webcams at 6K might be me.

[SageUrsus]

My own opinion would be the bear and her cubs visited Altadena because...they live there.

Now that sounds like a good reason.