Bear Ecology
The ecology of the Andean
bear, Tremarctos ornatus,
is still being investigated, by this project and others, and there is
still much to learn.
Range & habitat:
The elusive Andean Bear
lives in the Ecuadorian Andes. It the only species of
South American bear, found in a narrow strip running from western
Venezuela through the Andes in Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia,
and ending in Northern Argentina. Bear habitat can include cloud
forests, dry forests and paramo or high grasslands. The
distribution of the Andean bear
is predominantly
restricted by geographical boundaries like high mountains or deserts
(e.g: the Atacama desert accounts for the complete lack of
bear populations in Chile). Bears are an
"endangered" species in
Ecuador,
mostly due to habitat fragmentation caused by livestock farming and
logging. Farmers often shoot the bears because they eat corn (this is
illegal).
The Andean Bear is not
the enormous hibernating bear of the
northern hemisphere. It is comparatively thin, with a shorter nose,
similar to that of a dog. This bear has a long, thick black coat,
except around the muzzle, which is tawny or brown, often with white
or brown marks around the eyes (from which it gets its common name, the
Spectacled Bear) that may extend to the throat.
Bear size: Male
Andean bears are
much larger
than females, with males often growing to a size of 2.2 metres from
head to toe. The largest male Andean bear ever recorded measured 2.4
metres. Males may weigh up to 200kg. Females
are much smaller, rarely exceeding heights of 1.6 metres from head to
toe. Andean bears may live as long as 35 to 40 years
in captivity.
Bear lifespan: The
bears' lifespan in the wild is probably
rarely longer than 20 years due to the stresses of life in the
wild and
sporadic food availability.
Andean Bears are agile
climbers, not only
of trees but also of rock walls. They are also very good swimmers. The
principal sense of the bears is olfaction (smell), and their vision and
hearing senses are inferior. Andean Bears are very timid.
If they
see you they will turn around and run or climb the nearest
tree.
Bear diet: Andean
bears have a varied diet. Like all ursids they have a sweet tooth, and
are predominantly vegetarian, although are generalistic opportunistic
feeders. In the forest the bears eat palmitos (hearts of palm), the
soft
insides of suro (Chusquea spp) (a kind of bamboo), the soft bases of
huaycundos (Bromeliaceae), and various types of fruits. In the paramo,
they eat the soft bases of Puyas (Puya sp) and a berry-like fruit
called mortiño (Vaccinium sp). With forests increasingly
being cultivated and replaced by cornfields, bears have developed the
taste for sweet corn. Although this is not a natural food source, in
the corn season a bear's diet consists of a large proportion of
corn.
Like all animals, Andean
bears need a source of protein for tissue
growth. The bears dig in the earth in search of beetles, worms
and insects
as a source of protein, and occasionally feed on small mammals.
In very
rare cases, in some parts of Ecuador, there have been incidents of
male bears attacking livestock. This is believed to be due
to a
lack
of food in the forest forcing bears to search for food elsewhere. Once
a bear has eaten meat, they often get a taste for it and return to hunt
again. As bears aren’t natural born killers like
felines,
they don’t go for the jugular for a quick kill and easy meal.
The bears tend to jump on the cow's back and take
chunks out of
the tender shoulder region whilst the cow is still alive. If
the cow
survives this attack, then it will certainly be killed by the bear's
immense force shattering its skeleton as it is dragged back to the
cover of the forest.
Andean
Bear Conservation Project: Bear Ecology
Ecology of the Andean bear, including bear habitat, range, diet, size
and lifespan of the bears.
