Due to climate change, grizzly bears are increasingly varying their diet, an obligatory vegetable choice that does not give hope for anything good. This is established by a new study published in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Because of the climate changes grizzly bears are increasingly varying their diet, an obligatory vegetable choice that does not give hope for anything good. This is established by a new study published in the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
What is happening to the brown bear? Due to global warming, temperatures put her at risk survival although for now the grizzly bear is not in danger. In 1975, when the extinction alarm went off, there were only 136 specimens left.
Today, the “Yogi” bear also reaches a number of 700, but we remember that poaching in the areas of the parks continues to represent a threat, together with the grip of climate change that has repercussions on animals and the environment.
Even if we talked about polar bears there, the image of a specimen left alone on a sheet of ice that is shrinking more and more has become in recent years, the symbol of the consequences of the climate.
The situation is also dramatic for grizzlies, so much so that, according to this study, exactly what is happening to polar bears is also true for brown bears in North America. changing their diet procuring elderberries or bird eggs in place of salmon caught in streams, certainly foods not able to compensate for their traditional diet rich in fats and lipids.
Foto: MICHAEL S. NOLAN / SPECIALIST STOCK / BARCROFT MEDIA
In practice, with the heat the berries ripen earlier than usual, while the availability of salmon decreases, of which bears are greedy predators. What happens then? Whereas before these animals stocked up on salmon to survive hibernation and then, ready to fall asleep, fed themselves with berries, now the situation is very different.
Food is no longer enough to feed everyone and there is no evidence that a different diet is beneficial for their health, indeed. Bears, forced in this way to prolong the months of fasting and low calorie intake risk being undernourished and less healthy.
In practice, according to scientists, bears eat once a day by storing as much food as possible, it ends up that finding the berries more easily, they are satisfied with those. As we read in the study, during the hot summer of 2014, the bears that usually ate up to 75% of the salmon were actually all poured out near the plants.
Foto: MICHAEL S. NOLAN / SPECIALIST STOCK / BARCROFT MEDIA
A situation that could affect everything the ecosystem, Scientists have discovered, in fact, that due to climate change, bears lose up to 10 kilos of weight and are visibly in more precarious health conditions.
Dominella Trunfio
Photo cover: AMI VITALE / BARCROFT MEDIA
