Grizzly Bear Behaviour:  Grizzlies in Action

Why Hibernate?     Home Range     Feeding Habits     Daily Patterns     Social Behaviour

Source: Webshots  

 Social Behaviour

• Check out slides 26 - 58 for an overview of Life as a Grizzly

  • Grizzly Bears tend to be shy, solitary animals 
    except for females with cubs,  and adults during the mating season 

  • In some areas, the only Grizzly Bear social groups are sows with their young cubs   

  • Bears will congregate during the salmon spawning season to feed

•  Although Grizzlies have individual home ranges these can overlap: 

  • Bears mark trees, not as a sign of their territory, but as a signal to one another 

  • To avoid contact with one another, Grizzly Bears may use marking as a form of communication, including biting, scratching, clawing, and rubbing of regular "mark" trees  

  • Mark trails consist of a series of impressions in the ground often several cm deep and often lead up to the base of a "mark" tree 

•  Grizzlies usually avoids humans: 

  • But they do have the potential to be extremely aggressive in response to threats to cubs, food, or individual space 

  • Especially if a Grizzly bear gets caught unaware (by surprise)  

  Source: Bear Aware

•   Displays of aggression may involve:

  • Noises (vocal demonstrations) such as woofing and  growling 

  • Direct stares with ears laid back 

  • Turning sideways to display size 

  • Jaw popping 

  • Swatting 

  • Bluff charges 

  • Or in extreme cases, physical contact 

    • Usually Grizzlies tend to avoid such confrontations with humans 

    • So the chances of bears attacking people in these types of circumstances are very low, 
      but they do occur  

Source:  Bears In BC - Hinterland - BC Government - Grizzly Bears In BC

•  There are some precautionary measures that can be taken to reduce the chances of an encounter with a Grizzly Bear: 

  • These include making noise while travelling in bear country

  • Knowing and avoiding heavily used bear areas

  • And knowledge of proper camp design and sanitation... but more on that in the "Safety"  section...

Grizzly Bear Index

Grizzly Bear Introduction
What Colour Are They?
What's Under All That Fur?
Grizzly Bears In Action
Grizzly Bear Activities
To Black Bears ...