Bears are omnivorous, which means they will eat just about anything
around. Plants compose the overwhelming majority of their diet. Their
diet varies according to seasonal availability of foods. In the spring,
the diet consists mostly of young grasses and forbs, young succulent
shoots, roots, insects and carrion and cambium, the nutrient-rich part
of a tree just under the bark. In summer, young grasses, forbs,
dandelions, sweet clovers, a variety of mushrooms, watercress, insects,
chokecherry, wild raspberries, wild strawberries and wild plum and
apples are primary sources of nourishment.
Like humans, bears cannot
convert cellulose into an absorbable form and so the mature plants and
grasses of summer cannot be properly digested. Rocks and stumps may be
overturned in search of grubs, and yellow jacket nests may be invaded.
Another favorite in the Sandias is the calorically high “bear corn” or
“squaw root," the yellow-red root that grows abundantly underneath oak
trees.
In late August, black bear are trying to fatten up for winter
hibernation. During this period, they may actively feed for up to 20
hours a day and may ingest 20,000 calories daily. Acorns makes up the
bulk of a bear’s fall diet with additional pinon nuts, juniper berries,
kinnikinnick (bearberry), and prickly pear eaten to help store fat for
the approaching winter. If necessary, they will feed on small rodents,
maggots and anthills. True to popular belief, bears do raid beehives
for the honey and the bees. They have been known to raid chicken,
rabbit, and hamster coops. Males may kill and eat cubs. Such behavior
may not fit our image of Pooh or Smokey, but it does maintain a balance
between population and available habitat. |
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