Socially Learned Behavior; Essential for the Survival of Many Living Species on this Planet

There are various behaviors that different societies and cultures deem appropriate or necessary and these behaviors are essential to understand and know when to apply and use for the survival of many species within that society. For example out culture frowns upon walking down a main road naked, or shooting guns at crows in your backyard with neighbors close. Not following these rules can make for a very difficult life and even in some cases can result in death. learning when and where to apply certain behaviors is typically taught to many organisms by either their parents or by the community that they belong to, but they are always taught these values during ontogeny.

In the case of Black Bears (Ursus americanus) this method for raising offspring applies in the same way. For the black bears of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks the ability for cubs to learn where and what to forage can be result in much more drastic consequences (death) if the offspring are taught improperly or not taught at all. For many of the park rangers at both Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks the bleak and raw results from improper foraging are a rather common situation.

Rachel Mazur and Victoria Seher along with the help of many park rangers conducted a study of the effects of sow cub foraging behaviors during 1995-2006 at Yosemite National Park and from 2000-2006 at Sequoia National Park. Of the 99 cubs reared during this period 20 were raised by mothers in exclusive wild areas and 18 remained in wild conditions throughout their life. 31 cubs were raised by mothers who themselves had been known to forage in developed areas although they taught their offspring to forage in wild areas. The remaining 48 cubs were raised by mothers who foraged in developed areas. Of the 51 cubs raised by mothers in wild conditions 44 remained foraging in wild conditions as adults and of the 48 raised foraging in developed conditions only 9 foraged as adults exclusively in the wild.

It is obvious that offspring pick up habits and social behavior from their parents (in this case just their mother) although not always can this be a good thing. Of the 48 cubs that were taught to forage in developed areas 22 died before they were 2 years old. The implications of this data are that there needs to be more effort put into the negative reinforcement of black bears when they are found to be in developed areas. Currently there is more efforts to increase the harassment towards black bears in developed areas, but some of this harassment needs to come from citizens , making loud noises or spraying bear spray are both ways that everyday people can help in this tragic situation. So now you know carry bear spray, not only can it save your life but you can help save the lives of bears.


Posted by Joe Alonzo

article can be found at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W9W-4RYXST3-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_alid=792761296&_rdoc=2&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=6693&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=17&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=166f050f394949a407acfd8e07c039fe


Updated.

in response to Tara Quist:

Many of the cubs forage based on both the environment and from what they are taught by their mothers, for example they are taught to eat out of dumpsters and trash cans which they are comfortable doing for the majority of their upbringing. Then one day they go through some traumatic event which makes them think twice about eating out of those ares, maybe a human almost hitting them with a car, or a gun being shot at them or worse their mother being killed in front of them. In this case they would probably resort to foraging back in the wild. Although the opposite could happen and the cub could go throughout their entire life and never go through an event like the above one and therefore always forage in developed areas.

many comments wanted to know about the cause of death for many of the cubs:
of the 22 who died before the age of 2, 16 died in or around developed areas by the following methods:
8 were hit by cars
1 killed inside of a garbage truck
1 killed by stoning by visitors
1 drowned in a sewage pond
5 were killed by park management for public safety

In response to Cecelia Hunt:

I think that cubs can pick up on stress from their mothers, so if they are being taken into stressful situations that cause a lot of tension (developed areas) the rewards better be worth it. For some of the cubs the rewards aren't great enough for them to risk their safety and so they choose to forage back in the safety and familiarity of the woods, this is the reason that I think some of the cubs raised in developed areas choose to revert back to the wild for their food. That and a combination of what was stated above in response to Tara's question.
No there was no control used for this study, only bears at Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.

Response to James Sullivan:

Yes, if you see bears in developed ares use negative association tactics to make the bear leave. Scare them, yell, scream, make a lot of noise, throw things at them whatever it takes get them to leave and try to install a sense of danger and fear so that they associate development with danger and fear rather then with food and gluttony.


-Updated by Joe Alonzo