How Does a Bear Find Food?

Powerful Noses and Strong Claws

Boasting the best nose on the planet, a bear relies on its highly evolved sense of smell to find sources of food that are sometimes miles away. Once a meal is found, bears often use their powerful claws to complete culinary tasks.

Bears will eat almost anything. Like humans, bears are omnivores that consume both meat and plants. Polar bears tend to be the most carnivorous, dining primarily on ice seals. In contrast, berries, nuts and plants make up about 90 percent of a black bear's diet.

Bears can learn to become particularly fond of campsites, dumpsters and other places where they scavenge for human food.

Olfactory Assets

Thanks to their nine-inch snouts and unusually configured brains, a bear has an unmatched sense of smell.

A bear's nose is equipped with hundreds of muscles that are as nimble as fingers. The portion of a bear's brain devoted to processing smells, an area called the olfactory bulb, is five times larger than the same part of a human brain. This size difference is even more notable considering that the overall human brain is three times bigger than a bear's brain.

As a result of these impressive olfactory assets, a hungry bear can smell a fresh carcass from a distance of 20 miles.

Helpful Claws

Each of a bear's paws is equipped with five strong claws that do not retract. These claws are used to tear and dig up food, as well as for climbing trees and for raids on bee hives.

The shape of claws varies. Grizzly bears have straight claws reaching six inches in length that are suited for digging up grubs and roots. Black bears use curved claws for stripping bark off trees to reach hiding insects while polar bears have sharp, thick claws to grasp slippery prey.

Time Frame

Eating and looking for food takes up large chunks of a bear's day, especially right after and immediately before its winter hibernation.

In the spring, bears feed on green vegetation, leftover nuts, ants and animals that died during the winter. During the summer, they dig up insects, as well as mushrooms, roots and tubers. Bears also feast on birds' eggs, crayfish, fresh berries, frogs, mice, rabbits, squirrels and trout. As fall sets in, many bears focus on energy-rich nuts. Adult males have been known to roam up to 125 miles searching for something to eat during periods when food is scarce.

Bear Safety

People who visit or live in bear country should not feed bears or leave out items that will attract bears such as garbage, game meat, human food or even scented soap and toothpaste. Once bears find a source of food, they will keep coming back. Such a situation can lead to hazardous encounters involving bears and people.

For safety from bears while camping, don't cook next to your tent. Wash dishes after eating and store food and any garbage in a vehicle or suspended in a tree at least 10 to 15 feet above the ground, and well away from the tent.

Resources

• What Do Grizzly Bears Eat?