POLAR bears supplement their staple diet of seals with the occasional
reindeer, biologists in Norway have found.
Andrew Derocher of the Norwegian Polar Institute in Troms酶 and his colleagues
have recorded seven cases of polar bears preying on reindeer in the islands of
Svalbard. Polar bears are considered specialist predators on seals. However,
their brown bear ancestors preyed on reindeer, so the behaviour may be an echo
from their evolutionary past (Polar Biology, vol 23, p 675).
Reindeer can usually outrun polar bears. But the bears can sneak up on easy
targets such as deer that are lying down. All the reindeer kills took place in
winter and spring when female bears need extra food for their cubs and the
reindeer are not at full strength, say the researchers.
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