Predatory power of bears

[elosha11]

Thought I might try to start some threads containing videos/pics/excerpts of specific impressive acts of predation by apex predators. Perhaps such accounts will be useful to reference in the interspecific conflict threads as well.

I think I'll start with bears. Here's what I believe is a relatively small grizzly bear wrestling down and powerfully attacking a domestic bovine.



https://www.reddit.com/r/natureismetal/comments/g7empq/grizzly_bear_overpowers_a_bovine/

[elosha11]

Grizzly bear predating on adult, presumably female moose.

[elosha11]

Estimated 500 pound sow bear killing an adult cow moose.



www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap4A2A_3WJY

[6f5e4d]

Brown bears are not to be messed with, if cattle and moose are both prey for them.

[elosha11]

Grizzlies may be the fiercest bears, including the Kodiaks. Even though somewhat smaller than polar bears, it's not infrequent for brown bears to displace polar bears at overlapping scavenging sites.

[6f5e4d]

Even if polar bears may be larger on average, you do have a point in saying these North American brown bears are skilled at getting them off meals. Fierceness can sometimes surpass size.

[creature386]

Back on the old Carnivora, Ursus arctos posted an account of a grizzly taking down several muskoxen at once, if I remember right. Unfortunately, I cannot access the old Carnivora to search it, but if I remember correctly, it was in this paper:

A population of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), successfully restored to northeastern Alaska in the 1970’s, has become a source of food for grizzly bears (Ursus arctos). We tested whether grizzly bear predation on this population of muskoxen increased over time and described multiple kills of muskoxen by grizzly bears. We identified bear–muskox events from data collected between April 1982 and June 2001 during bear and muskox surveys and radiorelocation flights and from field notes, mortality records of radiocollared muskoxen, and other observations made by biologists, pilots, and local residents. Ninety-two bear–muskox events observed in 1982–2001 included 46 known kills, 37 possible kills or scaveng- ing events, and 9 chases. Ten of 61 radiocollared muskoxen that died between 1982 and 2001 were killed by bears and 14 others were possibly killed or scavenged. The number of known kills and possible kills or scavenging increased significantly over time. Multiple kills, where 2 or more muskoxen were killed from a group, contributed to the number of known kills. Twenty-eight of 46 muskoxen (61%) killed by bears died during multiple kills. Twenty-two of these deaths occurred in 1998–2001. Ten marked grizzly bears were implicated in single or multiple kills, suggesting that several bears in northeastern Alaska became proficient predators of muskoxen in spite of the group-defensive behavior and formidable horns of muskoxen. The low numbers of muskox calves observed in 2000 and 2001 (<5 calves/100 females >2 years of age) may be due in part to predation of neonatal calves by grizzly bears. The successful return of muskoxen to northeastern Alaska has created a predictable source of large mammal protein for some grizzly bears.

www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/home/library/pdfs/wildlife/propubs/reynolds.pdf

[6f5e4d]

Hmmm, reading through it, looks like the brown bear did in fact take on many of those muskoxen. Great power in that predator.

[elosha11]

^Power and endurance. Think of the cardio needed to chase, wrestle down, and kill multiple musk oxen, which are huge. Since you read the paper, did it say how many the bear killed, how long it took, and if they were all adults oxen?

[6f5e4d]

Reading it through, if a bit quickly, but so far there were many cases of bears killing multiple.

[elosha11]

May 2, 2020 5:23:24 GMT 5 6f5e4d said:

Reading it through, if a bit quickly, but so far there were many cases of bears killing multiple.

Are you referring to reading through this thread? Are you referring to bears killing multiple prey items at once or multiple large species? There have been documentation of both. I'm trying to keep this thread mostly video or at least pictures of live predation, as those are more indisputable than mere written accounts.

[elosha11]

Large male polar bear preying on bull walrus.

[kekistani]

Bear going after Beluga in "Seven Worlds One Planet"

[elosha11]

^Here's the video of that account.

[6f5e4d]

Multiple at once. Also, the polar bear's might seems to also extend to the hunting of marine mammals, such as walrus and belugas.