engleski

Food habits of brown bear (Ursus arctos) in Croatia – short- assessment study.

The diet of free-ranging bears is an important part of their ecology. In Croatia, there is no recent study on bears’ natural food preferences and about the influence of the supplemental feeding sites (mainly used for hunting purposes) on their diet. Knowledge about the effects of supplemental feeding can improve our understanding about their ecology and effective management. During 2017, 53 stomachs from Brown bear (Ursus arctos) were collected for food content analysis from two Croatian regions: Gorski kotar and Lika. Forty-three stomachs were collected from legally hunted, 2 and 5 from car and train killed bears, respectively, and 3 from intervention shooting. Stomach contents were washed through a sieve of 1.5 mm mesh width and sorted by hand to assess the frequency of occurrence, percent volume and mass of each ingested item. Allium ursinum, Poaceae family, berries of Cornus mas, beech nuts, mushrooms and various plant parts (i.e. dry leaves, buds, conifers needles and twigs) composed 42% occurrence of the consumed items. Corn from the feeding sites fulfilled 20% occurrence of bears’ diet, 26% was animal matter and 12% of the consumed food were apples and pears. Animals as wild boar, horse, domestic pig, cattle, roe deer and small mammals were identified through hair samples found in the stomachs. Supplemental food was more frequently chosen by bears than natural food. The sub-adult bears were the age group who most showed dependency from feeding sites.

Brown bear, feeding habits, Croatia.

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