Do innate food preferences and learning affect crop raiding by American black bears?

Abstract

Abstract American black bear (Ursus americanus) populations have been expanding geographically, in part because bears are learning to exploit agricultural landscapes where crops provide an easy and calorically rich foraging opportunity. Consequently, crop depredation has become a growing problem for farmers and wildlife managers. Bears may raid crops because of insufficient natural foods, a drive to increase body mass, or because they discovered the crop fields while looking for other foods. We tested whether simple food preferences, in the absence of other competing factors present in the wild, influence autumn foraging choices. We conducted food-choice trials with 9 captive black bears in 2010 and 2011 to assess preference among primary autumn food options found in northwestern Minnesota, USA, which is a site of present bear-range expansion. Food choices offered in the trials were acorns (preferred natural food), field corn (Zea mays), and 2 kinds of sunflowers (confection and oil; Helianthus annuus). W...