W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M
13
For the next two years, bear moms will keep her
cubs safe while teaching them how to find food —
where to scavenge winter-killed bison in spring, dig
yampa roots in the summer, and feed on squirrels'
caches of whitebark pine seeds in fall. Grizzlies need
to become obese, in technical medical terms, if they
are to survive the four to five months of starvation that
comes with hibernation.
rough this urgent need for food, grizzly bears
offer us a window into the complexity of ecosystems.
ey eat everything from ants to bison plus hundreds
of plants in between. Grizzlies know when and where
foods are most palatable and nutritious. is means
that grizzlies are keen observers of the subtlest details
of the natural world.
And when it comes to foraging, Yellowstone griz-
zlies are unique. Greater Yellowstone is the only place
left where bears still feed on buffalo, a relic of what
was once commonplace in the western U.S. Compared
to populations such as Glacier's, Yellowstone grizzlies
eat a lot more meat, mostly elk and bison, either by
scavenging or outright predation. Grizzlies' reliance
on whitebark pine seeds and army cutworm moths
also sets Yellowstone's grizzlies apart from other bear
populations not just in North America, but the north-
ern hemisphere.
I
N A FEW WEEKS, MOTHER GRIZZLY BEARS WILL EMERGE FROM THEIR WINTER DENS, INTRODUC-
ING THEIR CUBS TO A BRAVE NEW WILDERNESS WORLD. In January, even as they dozed, the typical mother
bear gave birth to two tiny cubs the size of teacups.
STEVE AKRE
by L O U I S A W I L L C O X
CONTINUED
