Title
Geophagy by brown bears in the Russian Far East
Author(s)
Seryodkin, Ivan V.;Panichev, Alexander M.;Slaght, Jonathan C.
Published
2016
Publisher
Ursus
Abstract
Brown bears (Ursus arctos) occasionally engage in geophagy, the act of purposefully ingesting lithogenic mineral substances. From 1999 to 2013, we collected samples from 4,619 brown bear scats from 3 regions of the Russian Far East (Kamchatka, Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin) in order to better understand geophagy in this species. Depending on region collected, soils were detected in 1?5.2% of samples. The greatest soil concentrations were found in scats from Sakhalin in August and September, the same months when Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) play a dominant role in seasonal brown bear diets there. Of the 207 Sakhalin scats with soil content, nearly all (87%) also contained fish remains. A chemical analysis of samples suggested that the soils being purposefully consumed by brown bears are clay-like substances from the illuviated soil horizon?minerals that most likely aid the bears in preventing diarrhea by helping excrete excessive amounts of phosphorus inherent in a fish-heavy diet.
Brown bears (Ursus arctos) occasionally engage in geophagy, the act of purposefully ingesting lithogenic mineral substances. From 1999 to 2013, we collected samples from 4,619 brown bear scats from 3 regions of the Russian Far East (Kamchatka, Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin) in order to better understand geophagy in this species. Depending on region collected, soils were detected in 1?5.2% of samples. The greatest soil concentrations were found in scats from Sakhalin in August and September, the same months when Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) play a dominant role in seasonal brown bear diets there. Of the 207 Sakhalin scats with soil content, nearly all (87%) also contained fish remains. A chemical analysis of samples suggested that the soils being purposefully consumed by brown bears are clay-like substances from the illuviated soil horizon?minerals that most likely aid the bears in preventing diarrhea by helping excrete excessive amounts of phosphorus inherent in a fish-heavy diet.
Keywords
brown bear;clay;geophagy;Kamchatka;kudur;Oncorhynchus spp.;Primorsky Krai;Sakhalin;salmon;soil;Ursus arctos
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PUB19060