Does genetic variation on the shy–bold continuum influence carnivore attacks on people? Evidence from the brown bear

Juan C Blanco,José V López-Bao,Guillermo Palomero,Fernando Ballesteros

doi:10.1017/s0030605320000824

Juan C Blanco, José V López-Bao + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1017/s0030605320000824

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Abstract

AbstractLittle is known about the heritable behavioural traits of attacks by large carnivores on people. During the last 30 years attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos on people in the Cantabrian Mountains of Spain have been disproportionately concentrated in the eastern subpopulation. Excluding factors such as the existence of a single unusually bold bear, a higher human population density, particular human activities promoting encounters, or clear habitat differences in the area of this subpopulation, we propose that a plausible explanation for the unbalanced geographical attack pattern is that this subpopulation, separated a century earlier from the western subpopulation, may harbour a higher proportion of bolder bears. In the absence of genetic analyses this explanation remains speculative, but supports the hypothesis that genetic variation on the shy–bold continuum may influence attacks of large carnivores on people.

Highlights

Little is known about the heritable behavioural traits of attacks by large carnivores on people
Selection from hunting and human persecution can potentially affect heritable behavioural traits (Allendorf & Hard, ), including some characters associated with the shy–bold continuum of behaviour (Wilson et al, ) that could be related to attacks of large carnivores on people (Penteriani et al, )
In North America and Eurasia, many of these attacks are by the brown bear Ursus arctos (Penteriani et al, ; Bombieri et al, ) and, rare, they can undermine conservation efforts (Herrero, ; Penteriani et al, )

Summary

Introduction

Little is known about the heritable behavioural traits of attacks by large carnivores on people. Keywords Attacks, brown bear, Cantabrian Mountains, shy–bold continuum, Spain, Ursus arctos In their global study of brown bear attacks on people, Bombieri et al ( ) did not find a significant difference in the number of attacks

Results

Conclusion