Intraspecific predation on a subadult brown bear in Greece

Karamanlidis, Alexandros A.; Beecham, John; Chatziioannou, Christos; Hernando, Miguel de Gabriel; Grivas, Konstantinos; Krambokoukis, Lambros; Papakostas, Giorgos

doi:10.2192/ursus-d-15-00003.1

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Bears were chemically immobilized with an intramuscular injection of 3 ml tiletamine–zolazepam (Zoletil 100; Virbac, Prague, Czech Republic; initial vol 10 mg/kg) using a dart gun (Dan‐Inject ® , Børkop, Denmark). Standard body measurements were taken at each capture, and age was estimated based on body mass and size, as well as tooth wear (Jonkel, 1993 ; Karamanlidis et al, 2015 ). Each bear was equipped with a GPS collar with GSM download (GPS Plus; Vectronic Aerospace GmbH, Berlin, Germany) and a timer‐controlled drop‐off system.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and diel movement patterns of brown bears in a population in southeastern Europe

Bogdanović

Hertel

Zedrosser

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most animals concentrate their movement into certain hours of the day depending on drivers such as photoperiod, ambient temperature, inter‐ or intraspecific competition, and predation risk. The main activity periods of many mammal species, especially in human‐dominated landscapes, are commonly set at dusk, dawn, and during nighttime hours. Large carnivores, such as brown bears, often display great flexibility in diel movement patterns throughout their range, and even within populations, striking between individual differences in movement have been demonstrated. Here, we evaluated how seasonality and reproductive class affected diel movement patterns of brown bears of the Dinaric‐Pindos and Carpathian bear populations in Serbia. We analyzed the movement distances and general probability of movement of 13 brown bears (8 males and 5 females) equipped with GPS collars and monitored over 1–3 years. Our analyses revealed that movement distances and probability of bear movement differed between seasons (mating versus hyperphagia) and reproductive classes. Adult males, solitary females, and subadult males showed a crepuscular movement pattern. Compared with other reproductive classes, females with offspring were moving significantly less during crepuscular hours and during the night, particularly during the mating season, suggesting temporal niche partitioning among different reproductive classes. Adult males, solitary females, and in particular subadult males traveled greater hourly distances during the mating season in May‐June than the hyperphagia in July–October. Subadult males significantly decreased their movement from the mating season to hyperphagia, whereas females with offspring exhibited an opposite pattern with almost doubling their movement from the mating to hyperphagia season. Our results provide insights into how seasonality and reproductive class drive intrapopulation differences in movement distances and probability of movement in a recovering, to date little studied, brown bear population in southeastern Europe.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and diel movement patterns of brown bears in a population in southeastern Europe

Bogdanović

Hertel

Zedrosser

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We fitted 3‐D GPS (global positioning system) collars (Simplex, Televilt, Stockholm, Sweden; GPS Plus, Vectronic Aerospace GmbH, Berlin, Germany) to 12 adult (6F, 6M) and 6 sub‐adult bears (1F, 5M) using a leather spacer destined to disintegrate and release the collar in 1–2 years. Animal capture and handling followed standard procedures for the species (Kreeger & Arnemo, ; Karamanlidis et al , ). We considered bears <4 years old to be sub‐adults and older bears to be adults, pooling all individuals in three bear categories (i.e.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced movement of wildlife in Mediterranean landscapes: a case study of brown bears in Greece

Hernando

Karamanlidis

Grivas³

et al. 2020

Journal of Zoology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The survival of large carnivores in a rapidly changing, human-modified world depends largely on their movements; therefore, understanding how movement patterns change within space and time and which factors affect them most is of paramount importance for their conservation. In a case study in Greece using brown bears Ursus arctos, we evaluated the movement ecology of a recovering population in a Mediterranean landscape, where human activity is high. We found that during daytime bears moved less when ambient temperatures were high and when they were far away from forests and close to settlements, where human activity is expected to be high. During night-time, when human activity and mortality risk are expected to be low, bear movement was higher farther from forested areas, close to roads, and in less rough terrain. Although bear movement patterns in Greece were generally similar to those of other bear populations in Europe, home ranges were smaller than in northern populations. These findings indicate that increased human activity and high ambient temperatures reduce bear movement and ultimately contribute to the smaller home ranges in the warmer and human-dominated Mediterranean landscapes. We suggest that management and conservation actions in Mediterranean landscapes should aim on separating humans and bears in space or time, so that bear movements are not constrained and, in turn, minimum home ranges that cover their essential requirements are guaranteed.

show abstract

“…Others document the killing of cubs by unmated females (Dean et al 1986, Hessing andAumiller 1994). Although the victim was consumed in most instances, cannibalism could not be invoked as a general cause of aggression (Dean et al 1986, Hessing and Aumiller 1994, Karamanlidis et al 2015. Similar to other species, such as African lions Panthera leo (Packer and Pusey 1984) and red deer Cervus elaphus (Bartoš and Madlafousek 1994), infanticide in bears is most likely related to male reproductive success (Swenson et al 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infanticide in brown bear: a case-study in the Italian Alps – Genetic identification of perpetrator and implications in small populations

Davoli¹,

Cozzo²,

Angeli³

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sexually Selected Infanticide (SSI) is thought of as a male reproductive strategy in social mammalian species, because females who lose cubs may quickly re-enter oestrus. SSI has rarely been documented in non-social mammals and, in brown bears, SSI has been studied mainly in an eco-ethological perspective. The authors examined the first genetically documented infanticide case which occurred in May 2015 in brown bears in Italy (Trentino, Central-Eastern Alps). The infanticide killed two cubs and their mother. Hair samples were collected from the corpses as well as saliva, through swabs on mother’s wounds, with the aim of identifying the genotype of the perpetrator. The samples were genotyped by PCR amplification of 15 autosomal microsatellite loci, following the protocol routinely used for individual bear identifications within the Interregional Action Plan for Brown Bear Conservation in the Central-Eastern Alps (PACOBACE). Reliable genotypes were obtained from the mother, cubs and putative perpetrator. The genotypes were matched with those populating the PACOBACE database and genealogies were reconstructed. Both mother and perpetrator genotypes were already present in the database. Kinship analyses confirmed mother-cubs relationships and identified the father of the cubs. In this study, for the first time, the authors used the open-source LRmix STUDIO software, designed to analyse human forensic genetic profiles, to solve a case in wildlife. Through LRmix STUDIO, those alleles that do not belong to the victims were isolated and, finally, the perpetrator was identified. This study presents a method that allows, through the application of different models, the genetic identification of the conspecific perpetrator with the highest probability. The identification of the infanticidal male is relevant for the better management and conservation of wild populations with small effective population size (Ne) and low population growth rate, especially in the case of recently established populations in human-dominated landscapes. This procedure will have predictably wide applications, supplying important data in the monitoring of small and isolated populations.

show abstract

Intraspecific predation on a subadult brown bear in Greece

Cited by 9 publications

References 13 publications

Seasonal and diel movement patterns of brown bears in a population in southeastern Europe

Seasonal and diel movement patterns of brown bears in a population in southeastern Europe

Reduced movement of wildlife in Mediterranean landscapes: a case study of brown bears in Greece

Infanticide in brown bear: a case-study in the Italian Alps – Genetic identification of perpetrator and implications in small populations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About