Black bears learned early on in park history that tourists brought food and that sooner or later a stage coach, and then later, tour busses would stop and people would get out and feed them. All bears are opportunistic in locating food so black bears were often found along roads and within developed areas. Grizzly bears on the other hand frequented the open pit garbage dumps that were located off the roads where food scraps and refuse was deposited from the nearby motels and restaurants in Yellowstone National Park.
Grizzly bears are not as tolerant of people as black bears and never really hung out near the roads like the black bears. Having readily visible bears in Yellowstone Park was very popular with park visitors. In the park service initiated an intensive bear management program designed to restore the grizzly and the black bear populations to subsistence on natural foods and reduce bear-caused injuries to humans.
Regulations prohibiting the feeding of bears are strictly enforced as well as regulations requiring human food to be kept secured from bears. As a result of this bear management plan we are left with a wild bear that feeds on natural foods and is a little more elusive in the park.
However, we still have a few problem areas outside of the park, where bears come into contact with garbage and human foods and this results in many bear deaths each year. To safely view bears on your own in Yellowstone park use a strong spotting scope. Grizzly bears are active primarily during the night nocturnal and at dawn or dusk crepuscular. Grizzlies are often viewed between Canyon and Fishing Bridge, the northern range of the park, and from Mount Washburn.
Black bears are often active during the same time periods but can also be found during the day as well. Black bears are often viewed near Tower Falls, the Lamar Valley, and Roosevelt Lodge but can be found in many other locations throughout the park. Never approach a bear or any wildlife. Feeding bears or any other wildlife including birds in Yellowstone is unlawful and can result in arrest or citation. All wildlife in Yellowstone park must be considered dangerous and unpredictable.
Visitors in Yellowstone often crowd around or approach the various animals that they encounter along the roads. As a result some visitors are injured or killed each year. Primarily with bison or bull elk. Use a strong spotting scope or binoculars to view from a distance. Camera lenses in the mm or mm length are an absolute necessity. Sanders; Safety guidelines for hiking, photographing, filming, and observing grizzly bears.
As of firearms are allowed within Yellowstone National Park, but must be in compliance with applicable federal and state law. If you happen to be within the Montana section of Yellowstone you must comply with Montana state laws regarding the holding, possession and transport of firearms as well as the permits for each state.
The same is true if you happen to be in Idaho or the Wyoming sections. Boat Air Horns are not allowed in the backcountry, or on hiking trails inside Yellowstone Park but can be used while boating on Yellowstone Lake.
Here are my recommendations: Bear Attacks, what to do, what to carry click here. Camping safely with grizzly bears in Yellowstone Park click here. Female Menstruation. Should you worry? Most visitors attempt to identify bears by color alone and often mistake cinnamon phased black bears as grizzlies.
The size of the muscle mass varies from bear to bear but most will have a well defined hump. The hump and dish face profile usually gives it away but sometimes you have to look at various different aspects of the bear you are watching to determine correct specie.
Weight: Males — lbs; Females — lbs. Depending on which government agency you speak with, the number of grizzly bears will vary widely. The park does not have a current estimate of the black bear population; black bears are considered to be common in the park. Identifying which specie of bear made the track you might find on a trail is rather simple. Looking at the front toes only, draw an imaginary straight line across the bottom of all toes as shown in example on one of the front tracks only.
Left or right foot are the same, so pick the best one to examine. If all of the toes line up above the straight line, its a grizzly bear. If the lower half of the little toe goes into or below the line it is still considered a grizzly track.
Black bear toes are more arched as shown in example. If the upper half or more of the little toe lines up below the straight line its a black bear track. Most folks attempt to identify bear tracks by looking at the size of the track or measuring the length of claw, which does not work. It could be a large black bear or small grizzly. Claw marks are often not visible unless left in very wet mud, or snow. The size of the home range of an individual grizzly bear will vary depending on the concentration and types of food sources.
The more concentrated the food sources the less a bear will have to travel in search of food. The size of the home range varies from one geographic region to another and also from one year to another.
Research has shown that adult male grizzly bears living in Yellowstone National Park have an average home range of approximately square miles. In comparison, grizzly bears living along the coastal areas of Alaska and feeding on salmon require only about The difference is access to adequate and abundant food items.
Males boars will generally have a home range which is four to six times larger than females sows. The home range of a mature male bear will normally overlap the home range of at least two or three females and at least 4 or 5 males, possibly many more. Females will have small home ranges. The size varies and depends on age of cubs, food availability, etc… Grizzly bears do not normally defend their home ranges from other bears and are non-territorial.
It is common for the home ranges of individual bears to overlap each other. Older, larger males typically are more dominant and will often control carcasses, or other high energy food sources within the area. A home range does not constitute one large area but rather is comprised of many food source areas connected by travel corridors. The home range must also include rest areas and more remote areas for shelter, protection, and denning. An adult male grizzly in Yellowstone park can use up-to square miles during summer, depending on food resources.
Although not true hibernators, both grizzly bears and black bears den up during the long winter months in Yellowstone Park. Black Bears: Because of their short claw length and lack of muscle mass on the shoulders, black bears tend to locate natural openings for denning sites.
They often scrape out areas under large boulders or logs, under buildings, inside culverts, or in a tree cavity. Black bears prefer steep southern slope exposures of 20 to 40 percent slope, often at elevations lower than grizzlies. Grizzly Bears: Sixty-one percent of brown bears in Yellowstone Park den on north slopes at elevations from as low as 6, feet to more than 10,, but most are dug between 8, and 9, feet.
That remains to be seen. What Ms Hoffman fails to note is that the staple food source for Grizzly Bears in the GYE in late summer and early fall no longer exists.
The white bark pine and the rich nuts produced are on the brink of extinction due to climate change. Warmer winters have allowed the pine beetle migration to invade the higher altitude zones where white bark pine used to thrive. Experts believe that the trees and the rich nutrient sources they provide are now functionally extinct.
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Adobe Stock photo. A grizzly sow and her cubs. A Yellowstone grizzly can grow to be up to pounds. A grizzly sow and her cub. A grizzly crossing a gravel road in Yellowstone. Gabriella Hoffman Contributor Gabriella Hoffman is a freelance media strategist, columnist, podcaster, and award-winning outdoor writer based in the Washington, DC, metro area.
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Like many park animals, bears are primarily crepuscular, meaning they are most active around dawn and dusk. Bears take advantage of cooler temperatures and lower light to move stealthily and look for food. In fact you are better off NOT seeing them on the trail. Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley are widely recognized as excellent places to see both kinds of Yellowstone bears.
You can drive through these valleys and stop in the paved pullouts to scan for bears. The roads take you up onto high spots where you can glass the meadows for movement right from your car. Look across the valleys along the treeline and watch for movement of large brown or black animals. Plan to spend some time looking and waiting. Patience is often rewarded. Bears in open country are almost always either moving or eating. If they have found a good food source such as an animal carcass or a good place to dig for roots they may be visible for a while.
If there is a bear or bears visible, someone will probably spot it before you do. As you drive along, look for folks with spotting scopes and cameras in use. Stop, get out of your car, look for yourself to find the animal. All of Yellowstone is bear habitat, but some places offer much better chances to see them. The Lamar Valley is justifiably famous as a wildlife haven.
Grizzlies and black bears may be seen anywhere in this vast landscape. Look up on Specimen Ridge or on the slopes of Mount Norris for grizzly bears. Watch for courting bear couples in May and June. If you spot wolves on a kill male bears are probably not far away and may come in and take over the kill. Little America — the valley just west of Lamar where Slough Creek and Lamar River combine — is also a great area to look for bears. Look up on the sides of Specimen Ridge, or down along Slough Creek.
Get up on a high point and watch for a while. This place is crawling with bears so be careful any time you leave the road. Watch for sows with small cubs in the spring — they may have as many as four little ones! In southern Yellowstone, you may spot bears along the shores of Yellowstone Lake. In the late spring bears fish the small creeks that flow into the lake.
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