Science is Fun Fridays!

Earlier this week I posted the live cam of bears feeding in Katmai National Park, Alaska.

(See Here)

Bears rely on the salmon to gain much needed weight for the winter months.  Many people believe that bears hibernate, but that's not quite accurate.  Their sleep is called a torpor - their heart rate, breathing rate, and temperature rate drop, but they can wake easily - mother bears give birth during this time, for example, and can respond to danger.

The Park runs a competition from this, having viewers vote on the fattest bears.  This year's winner was Holly.

Along Brooks Falls there in Katmai, the spruce trees along the river are, on average, three times larger than along other rivers where bears do not fish.  They've found that 70% of the nitrogen in the forest comes from the salmon carcasses brought ashore by the bears.

(Photo by Brad Josephs)

IFLScience

Alaska Bears