Habituation in Yellowstone's grizzly bears: a special problem in wildlife management
Bader MM. 1989. Habituation in Yellowstone's grizzly bears: a special problem in wildlife management. Western Wildlands. :25-29
The 1973 Endangered Species Act, USA, requires federal officials responsible for grizzly bear management to preserve bear habitat and control human use of such areas to protect the species. Yet there has been an increase in bear/human conflicts in national parks in both the USA and Canada, and both bears and humans have died as a result. In the Yellowstone ecosystem, what is known as 'habituation' has been a factor in most of the bear mortalities. Grizzly bears, like other animals, become habituated to people as a result of frequent contact. This often leads to more and more close encounters, and the habituated bears may eventually become more aggressive around people. In order to enhance the chance of long-term grizzly preservation, emphasis needs to be placed on people management, whether that requires managers to time the seasonal distribution of people in the park or move some developments completely out of key habitat.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Bader, M
- Units
- CRCO , GLAC , YELL
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Behavior, Elk (Cervus elaphus), Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos), Habitats, Mammals, Management, Natural Resource Management, Predators