Theoretically, all over the world, when the cold season arrives, the hibernation of brown bears occurs (Ursus arctos), but historical documents attest that this is not always the case. Already in theHunting Bookof King Alfonso XI it is mentioned that in the fourteenth century not all bears with cubs born during the year slept the winter sleep. We have had to wait more than 400 years to have new observations and demonstrate this event in two populations of the Cantabrian Mountains.
“During the monitoring of bears with young, which in the east of the Cantabrian Mountains has been made from tracks and tracks, we saw that there were active animals throughout the winter,” explains Carlos Nores, lead author of the work and researcher at the Institute of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning (INDUROT) of the University of Oviedo (UNIOVI) and vice president of the Oso Pardo Foundation.
The study, which has been published in the journalActa Theriologica, pick up themonitoring of bears with cubs between the months of December and March from 1998 to 2007. “The winter footprint count showed thatBears with 11-14 month olds show signs of continued activity, so do the two-year-old cubs that have just been emancipated, although they were found more frequently than when they were in the family group, “says Nores. The scientists found that the seven family groups of both bear populations did not stop eating or defecating during the observation period, confirming thatat no time did they enter the physiological phase of hibernation.
According to the researchers, the non-hibernation observed in the Cantabrian Mountains “is not associated with the harsh weather conditions when snowfall is above or below average”.
The other bears over two years of age, including females without cubs under their care, however, showed a significant reduction in activity between January and February that corresponds to the foreseeable hibernation. That is, without offspring there is hibernation for the Cantabrian brown bear.
