Zoo BI Cart Bear All Flashcards
Q: Scientific Classification of Bears
Kingdom —Animalia
Phylum — Chordata
Subphylum —Vertebrata
Class - Mammalia
Order —Carnivora (carnassial teeth, large canines )
Family — Ursidae (bears)
Genus - Ursus, among others (includes brown bear, polar bear, American black bear, Asian black bear)
Species - Ursus arctos (brown bear)
Subspecies - Ursus arctos horribilis (Grizzly bear)
Subspecies - Ursus arctos californicus (California Grizzly bear, extinct)
Subspecies - Ursus arctos middendorffi (Kodiak bear)
Species - Ursus americanus (black bear)
Q: SF Zoo Bears (common name)
Grizzly Bear
American Black Bear
Q: SF Zoo Bears (scientific name)
Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis)
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
Q: Bear diet (general)
Omnivores
-Eat a variety of food
-Although all species of bears are of the order Carnivora, most bears are not predominantly carnivorous; plant food is majority of the bear’s diet.
-Most bears eat plants, insects, fish, and animals.
-Most bears eat a predominantly vegetarian diet.
Q: Black bear diet
Black bears are very opportunistic eaters.
Most of their diet consists of grasses, roots, berries and insects.
Also eat fish, and small mammals.
Black bears don’t hunt for meat, but if they happen to come across carrion (a dead animal) they will eat it. This is especially the case after coming out of their dens in the winter and finding animals that may not have made it through the hard winter.
Q: Grizzly bear diet
The grizzly bear also eats a diet that is primarily vegetation.
Grizzly bears also eat fish (especially salmon), small mammals like rodents, and even scavenge larger prey like elk and moose.
Q: How do bear teeth reflect their diet?
Omnivores have molars in between carnivores and herbivores, with more “peaks and valleys” due to the varied diet; cheek teeth are wide with low bumpy surfaces.
Omnivore’s teeth (including bear teeth) are less specialized than most mammals.
Grizzlies have rather flat grinding molars to break up the plant material for digestion.
Q: Looking at the bear skull, is there anything that indicates something about its sense of smell?
The relative size of the nasal passage on a skull is an indication of the animal’s sense of smell. (large in bears)
Turbinates (large in bears), the thin bony structures inside the nasal passage, provide the framework for membranes which sense odor in vertebrates. Turbinate bones increase the surface area of the inside of the nose and heighten the sense of smell.
Bears hunt by scent and their long noses contain millions of scent receptors.
Grizzlies have a better sense of smell than a hound dog.
Grizzlies and black bears can smell food from multiple miles away (exact distance debated).
Q: In addition to their role in scent, what else do turbinates do?
Filtrate, heat, and humidify air inhaled through the nose.
Q: Bear sexual dimorphism
Most bears exhibit sexual dimorphism
On average, males are about 2x the size of females (but can be 3x in some species).
Male black bears tend to be 20 - 60% larger than females.
These males are at an advantage in fighting for mates.
Larger males are thought to attract the attention of more females
Q: What is the largest terrestrial carnivore?
Polar bear
Q: Compare relative sizes of bears (polar, brown, black)
Polar bear - largest terrestrial carnivore. M: ~1000 lb (max ~1700), F: ~500 lb
Brown bears - second largest bear (grizzly is a subspecies). Grizzly M: 350-800 lb. F: ~25% smaller
Black bears - smallest of the three bear species found in North America. M: 130-500 lb. F: 90-330 lb.
Q: Describe bear pelt
Two layers: guard hairs and undercoat.
Guard hairs provide protection against damage, coloration, and can be fluffed up for intimidation. (also insulation, which is improved by fluffing up these hairs)
Undercoat provides insulation by trapping layer of air.
Guard hairs: long, coarse, (transparent in Polar Bears), (hollow in Polar Bears… but not others?)
Undercoat: dense, softer
Q: What is hair/fur made of?
Keratin, a protein and the major structural component in skin, hair/fur, fingernails, claws, horns, and hoofs of mammals and feathers and beaks of birds.
Q: Describe physical adaptations of Polar Bear skin/fur that keeps them warm.
Hollow guard hairs to trap heat.
Guard hairs lack pigment (are transparent), which lets light through to hit the dark skin below.
Dense undercoat also traps layer of air for insulation.
Dark skin absorbs heat.
Blubber, 1-4.5 inches thick.
Q: Discuss differences between grizzly and black bear claws.
Grizzly bear claws: longer (in front– 4 inches in front, 1 inch in back), thicker, less sharp; used for digging up roots and ground squirrels, and excavating dens
Black bear claws: shorter and sharper: to climb trees as an escape mechanism or to look for food, and to tear into rotten logs and stumps in search of insects
Claws also used for defense.
Q: Describe the characteristic grizzly shoulder hump
The hump is where strong shoulder muscles attach. (vertebrae w/extended processes, large shoulder blades)
Gives the bear additional strength for digging dens and also roots.
Also gives extra strength to strike down a prey animal or compete with rival males.
Q: Hibernation vs torpor
Hibernation:
- a period of dormancy or inactivity occurring in cold seasons
- metabolic processes are greatly slowed as well as heart-rate, breathing
- body temperature may drop
- used to conserve energy and cope with food shortages that occur in the winter
- during hibernation, stored body fat is used up at a relatively slow rate.
Torpor:
- a deep sleep, lighter than hibernation
- awaken more quickly than with hibernation
- heart rate, breathing, metabolic rate, and body temperature, although reduced, are significantly higher from a true hibernator
- E.g., during hibernation, ground squirrel’s body temperature drops to near freezing, but bears reduce their body temperatures by only ~10 degrees.
- appears to be involuntary, unlike hibernation
Q: Do bears hibernate?
Bears are not true hibernators. They do have a period of lethargy in a den during winter.
They fall into a deep sleep called torpor.
Q: Advantages of bears going into torpor instead of hibernation
Bears can conserve energy when food source is scarce, while at the same time awakening easily when needed to, e.g., (in females) give birth (!) or respond quickly to cubs after they are born.
Cubs can be weaned during the spring when resources are more readily available, giving them the greatest chance of survival the following winter.
Q: Which activities are reduced when a bear goes into torpor? For how long?
Bears can go for more than 100 days without eating, drinking, or passing waste.
Fat cells break down and supply water and calories, while muscle and organ tissues break down and supply protein.
(Unlike ground squirrels, which are true hibernators but need to awaken about every week for about a day, eat stored food, pass waste, and then return to hibernation.)
Q: Bear enrichment at SF Zoo
- Foraging is important part of the bear exhibit
- Pools (natural environment and ability to cool down)
- Natural vegetation in exhibits
- Ice gives the bears the ability to explore different temperatures and textures.
- Behavioral training enables staff to perform minor medical exams and procedures if needed, which reduces stress and need for anesthesia
- E.g., Present shoulder for an injection or a blood draw
Black bears:
- E.g., Present shoulder for an injection or a blood draw
- Climbing structures (which also provide shade).
Grizzly Bears: - Keepers add variety to their diet with [edible browse (exact quote from pdf)], fish, edible wild berries and meat.
- Peanut butter and honey for different textures and smells
- Foraging opportunities
- [not anymore?] Live fish in their pool
- Buried foods
- Food put in boxes
- Variety of olfactory enrichment, such as fennel.
Q: SF Zoo Grizzly bear names
- Sisters Kachina and Kiona
- Native American dialect
- Kachina: sacred dancer
- Kiona: brown hills
Q: SF Zoo Grizzly bear origins
- Orphaned sisters Kachina and Kiona saved from being euthanized in Montana
- Originally slated to be euthanized after they were considered “problem” animals for getting too close to developed areas and into a rancher’s grain storage.
- In fall 2004, SF Zoo Board Member Fred Carroll notified the Zoo of the bears’ dire situation. With the cooperation of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, the Zoo agreed to provide a home for them.
Q: What is the title of the grizzly bear enclosure at the SF Zoo?
The Hearst Grizzly Gulch
Q: What’s so great about the grizzly bear enclosure at the SF Zoo?
Hearst Grizzly Gulch is one of the largest naturalistic environments dedicated to grizzly bears in any zoo; it is one acre.
Go here to learn the tale of Monarch, the California grizzly that was the inspiration for the SF Zoo, and whose image appears on the state flag.
Note that the California Grizzly is CA’s state mammal. (Even though it’s extinct.)
(*also see enrichment card)
Q: What was the first animal in the collection that would become the SF Zoo?
A grizzly bear named Monarch.
Monarch was California’s last captive California grizzly (now extinct), and he became an important symbol of the state’s evolving relationship with vanishing wildlife. (Was the model for the flag!)
In 1889, San Francisco Examiner media magnate, William Randolph Hearst, engaged one of his reporters, Allen Kelly, in debate over whether grizzlies still existed in California. Hearst challenged Kelly to go out and find one.
After nine months in the San Gabriel Mountains, Monarch was captured and lived more than 20 years in captivity; first at Woodward’s Gardens, then in Golden Gate Park.
He never made it to the Zoo’s current location but is credited for causing Fleishhacker to find the current location.
*Considered the inspiration for the SF Zoo.
