Animal Facts
Brown Bear continued
Habitat
As well as living in many parts of the world, Brown Bears live in different types of places - on plains, in forests, on the tundra and in subalpine mountain areas.
About 300 Grizzly bears live in Yellowstone National Park in the US State of Wyoming, where there are rivers, lakes, canyons, mountains and a volcano.
Brown Bears swim well and like being in water.
Diet
Brown Bears are large animals and they eat up to 15 kilos (33 pounds) of food a day. Although they are carnivores or meat eaters, they usually eat whatever food is available, such as:
- Plants, including sedges, grasses, bulbs, seeds, berries and roots
- Insects
- Fish
- Small mammals.
Grizzlies in Yellowstone hunt elk and smaller animals, and they help themselves to bison meat when wolves make a kill.
To top up their food supply the Grizzlies also catch trout and eat pinenuts, grasses, roots and berries.
For bears living on the Pacific coasts of Canada, Alaska and northeastern Siberia, salmon is an important food.
They hunt these fish as they swim back up the rivers where they were born, and lay eggs in the water (spawning). Some bears chase the salmon through the water and grab them with their mouths or pin them down with their claws. Other bears dive into pools where the salmon are resting. Young bears often eat fish carcasses.
Scientists have examined hair samples from many females and think that mothers with new cubs eat less salmon than females with older cubs or no cubs at all.