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[badboy78660]

http://www.ibtimes.com/grizzly-bears-are-becoming-vegetarian-because-climate-change-2583628

Grizzly bears on Kodiak Island, Alaska, started eating berries instead of salmon because of climate change, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

William Deacy and Jonathan Armstrong, two ecologists from Oregon State University, studied grizzly bears on Kodiak Island for years. Each summer, they observed the bears eating large quantities of sockeye salmon until 2014, when bacteria began eating the salmon and the bears were nowhere to be found. The same occurred in 2015.

In early 2014, the researchers placed tracking collars on 15 bears and used them to discover the whereabouts of the bears in the summer. They found the bears were in the hills, and almost all were near elderberry bushes. Brown bears would usually eat salmon early in the summer and elderberries later in the year — beginning in late August and September — but warmer temperatures caused elderberries to ripen earlier than they usually would. The early ripening caused elderberries and salmon to be available at the same time.

The overlap in the availability of both foods left the bears choosing the berries each time. The researchers were at first baffled because salmon contains twice as much energy as elderberries. The bears would usually eat salmon to gain weight for winter, but were instead choosing a less caloric food.

A Kodiak bear at Taronga Park Zoo in Sydney, Australia January 17, 2007. Researchers discovered Kodiak bears in Kodiak Island, Alaska started eating elderberries instead of salmon during the summer months because both foods were available at the same time and berries gave them more protein. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

“An earlier berry crop shut down one of the most iconic predator-prey scenes in nature,” Armstrong said. “As climate change reschedules ecosystems, species that were once separated in time are now getting a chance to interact — in this case the berries, bears and salmon. This is going to have large impacts that are hard to predict.”

If animals overload on protein, they lose weight, according to a 2014 study on macronutrient optimization and energy maximization in brown bears. Elderberries contained less protein than salmon. By focusing on eating elderberries, bears could gain weight as quickly as possible.

“It’s essentially like if breakfast and lunch were served at the same time and then there is nothing to eat until dinner,” Deacy said. “You have to choose between breakfast and lunch because you can only eat so much at a time.”

Red elderberries ripen two and a half days earlier each decade. The new study said if the trend continues, berries will completely overlap with sockeye salmon by 2070.

“It is a strange, indirect effect of climate change. These bears eat dozens of different foods throughout the year, but now two of them are overlapping,” Deacy said. “This is causing disruption in the food web that could have profound implications for the ecology of the island.”

 

[Lightning_Roller]

Okay, when Bears go on a diet....you know shit is fucked.

 

[Woo-Fu]

My experience is that bears will eat just about anything. Just because you lock somebody in a room with a bushel of carrots doesn't make them a vegetarian.

 

[Somnid]

The whole nutrient thing seems like over analysis, humans are super well documented to prefer sugar and get addicted to it, why not bears?

 

[HowZatOZ]

Okay, when Bears go on a diet....you know shit is fucked.

Thing is they aren't going on a diet, instead they are eating a food that gives them less protein than their previous Salmon diet allowing them to eat more to gain more. Because of that removal of predator-prey interaction it'll mean salmon can produce at larger rates causing catastrophic damages because there is no check in place by nature.

In other words, shits fucked yo.

My experience is that bears will eat just about anything. Just because you lock somebody in a room with a bushel of carrots doesn't make them a vegetarian.

It seems like the problem is of two parts. The salmon was infected by some flesh disease causing the bears to look for new sources of protein and calorie intake so they found elderberries that are now fruiting even earlier than before. This has caused an overlap meaning the bears can always choose elderberries and eat more for less.

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Doesn't surprise me, I always thought they looked like a bunch of vegs on first glance.

 

[SheSaidNo]

Haven't they been trending that way for years? I know their teeth have been changing to be more suited for a vegetarian diet. The only bear that hasn't changed are polar bears

 

[water_wendi]

The overlap in the availability of both foods left the bears choosing the berries each time. The researchers were at first baffled because salmon contains twice as much energy as elderberries. The bears would usually eat salmon to gain weight for winter, but were instead choosing a less caloric food.

If animals overload on protein, they lose weight, according to a 2014 study on macronutrient optimization and energy maximization in brown bears. Elderberries contained less protein than salmon. By focusing on eating elderberries, bears could gain weight as quickly as possible.

1. salmon has more calories than the berries
2. eating too many berries causes weight gain

i guess the bears havent heard of calories in, calories out?

 

[HowZatOZ]

1. salmon has more calories than the berries
2. eating too many berries causes weight gain

i guess the bears havent heard of calories in, calories out?

They are bears, they gain as many calories as possible for weight gain so come winter they don't have to eat?

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

Most bears are omnivorous, the only exceptions being polar and panda bears, because they only eat meat and plants respectively.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

Meaningless adaption because there's no hard data this has on population. For all we know it's them staving off hunger that will eventually lead to extinction.

 

[Onlinehero]

Bears obviously not getting enough protein.

 

[Nikodemos]

Eating elderberries also involves less energy expenditure compared to catching salmon. Spawning salmon are pretty stupid during their runs, but elderberries can't dodge bears.

 

[aeolustl]

Doesn't surprise me, I always thought they looked like a bunch of vegs on first glance.

LMAO that was actually what I thought at first.

 

[Log4Girlz]

That's beary interesting

 

[17 Seconds]

they've been really pretentious about it too

 

[FUME5]

Interesting, but going to need a lot more studies before this means anything.

 

[sam12]

But what about all the Carbs y'all?

 

[BlazinSkatinAxel]

That's what happens when you move Grizzlies from Vancouver to Memphis mane.

 

[R10Neymarfan]

Technically vegan bears but alright

 

[valkillmore]

That's beary interesting

Haha

 

[Kayhan]

eating elderberries instead of salmon during the summer months because both foods were available at the same time and berries gave them more protein

Elderberries does NOT provide more protein than salmon.

 

[King Tubby]

Not that it isn't newsworthy, but that title feels kind of misleading. The bears are adjusting their diet to consume more of a food they already eat.

 

[A Grizzly Bear]

they've been really pretentious about it too

Well fuck you too.

 

[sfedai0]

Sounds like a matter of convenience. Why go expend energy trying to catch my food when there is food sitting and waiting for me. What a sensationalist article.

 

[Sunster]

Zootopia was a documentary from the future confirmed.

 

[jsnepo]

I would laugh if this was blamed on millenials too.

 

[Professor Beef]

Most bears are already omnivores so this technically isn't really all that shocking.

 

[bobbychalkers]

Well fuck you too.

A Grizzly Bear

 

[breakfuss]

Doesn't surprise me, I always thought they looked like a bunch of vegs on first glance.

Weak!

 

[Famassu]

Bears doing what pathetic, uncompromising humans don't.

 

[hateradio]

Doesn't surprise me, I always thought they looked like a bunch of vegs on first glance.

There's no salmon in Colorado.

Weak!

Because they don't eat meat.

 

[Cow Mengde]

WTF? Bears eat nuts, berries, and veggies all the time. They are omnivorous.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

Sounds like a matter of convenience. Why go expend energy trying to catch my food when there is food sitting and waiting for me. What a sensationalist article.

WTF? Bears eat nuts, berries, and veggies all the time. They are omnivorous.

Yes but grizzlies in Particular eat salmon that keeps the salmon population in check, if grizzly eating no trnds change long term we don't know how it would affect the local ecosystem.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

If bears are eating more berries to gain weight to survive hibernation, but climate change is slowly reducing the need for hibernation, what happens then

 

[BigDes]

Do you reckon you could beat up a vegetarian bear?

 

[Toxi]

What's fascinating to me is the effect this might have on their size.

Brown bears have the most size plasticity of any known mammal species, and much of it is due to diet. Kodiak bears are the largest brown bears in the world. So what happens when their diet changes? They get smaller, or even bigger?

 

[kirblar]

Maybe it's simpler: bears like berries more than salmon when given the choice.

 

[adamsappel]

That's beary interesting

We would also have accepted "berry interesting."