0000000000640039
AUTHOR
Teresa Sánchez Corominas
Female brown bears use areas with infanticide risk in a spatially confined population
Areas used by female brown bears (Ursus arctos) with cubs-of-the-year (hereafter, FCOY) during the first months after den exit are crucial for offspring survival, primarily because of the risk of infanticide by male bears. Therefore, FCOY may avoid areas frequented by adult males during the mating season. The main aim of this study was to identify landscape features (i.e., structure, composition, and human footprint) that may differentiate the habitat use of FCOY in the small bear population of the Cantabrian Mountains (northwestern Spain; 2001–2016) from (a) areas frequented by females with yearlings, because older cubs are at less risk of infanticide than cubs-of-the-year, and (b) bear ma…
Patterns of movement of released female brown bears in the Cantabrian Mountains, northwestern Spain
Between 2008 and 2013, 3 female brown bears (Ursus arctos; 2 cubs-of-the-year and 1 2-yr-old) were rescued, rehabilitated in captivity, radiotagged, and released back to the Cantabrian Mountains, northwestern Spain. We characterized their daily and seasonal movements post-release to gain insights into their movement strategies and the viability of bears released in human-dominated environments. The bears exhibited marked diurnal activity and were active throughout winter. Two bears demonstrated behaviors similar to those reported for wild bears, whereas one cub-of-the-year was recaptured after 21 days because she developed signs of habituation to humans.