In this chapter the major conservation issues bears face is reviewed and management actions that can address these conservation issues are highlighted. The future of bears across the world is bright for some species but dark for others. In some areas such as North America and in parts of Europe and Asia, bear populations have increased and stabilized because of increased management effort and increasing support for bears and their needs by the humans who share habitat with them. However, for most bear species, the future is uncertain. Andean bears continue to be threatened by habitat loss and human encroachment. In much of Asia outside Japan, Asiatic black bear, sloth bear, and sun bear populations are increasingly threatened by unmanaged excessive mortality combined with habitat loss to timber harvest, plantation agriculture, and human encroachment. The long-term future for polar bears is threatened by the unmanageable threat of climate change. Giant pandas are fragmented into small populations despite intense conservation efforts. Improving public and political support for bears is the most important need if we are to realize successful bear conservation and management.

Large carnivores, such as brown bears (Ursus arctos), wolves (Canis lupus), and tigers (Panthera tigris), can play a key ecological role from their apex position in trophic systems. Within the overall context of bottom-up and top-down regulation of ecosystems, predation by large carnivores often induces demographic and behavioral changes in prey species. These vertical interactions between different trophic levels are important regulatory mechanisms in nature. On the other hand, competitive interactions between species, or horizontal interactions within the same trophic level, are also common. Interspecific interactions between large carnivores are widespread in many ecosystems and can play an important role in community structure and stability. Predation is the mechanism driving apex predators’ function in nature, but it is also a source of conflict with different stakeholders, e.g. hunters and livestock owners, when predation affects domestic or semidomestic species (depredation). This situation is challenging when trying to secure long-term carnivore conservation and coexistence with people in the human-dominated landscapes that currently characterize most of our planet.

The media and scientific literature are increasingly reporting an escalation of large carnivore attacks on humans, mainly in the so-called developed countries, such as Europe and North America. Although large carnivore populations have generally increased in developed countries, increased numbers are not solely responsible for the observed rise in the number of attacks. Of the eight bear species inhabiting the world, two (i.e. the Andean bear and the giant panda) have never been reported to attack humans, whereas the other six species have: sun bears Helarctos malayanus, sloth bears Melursus ursinus, Asiatic black bears Ursus thibetanus, American black bears Ursus americanus, brown bears Ursus arctos, and polar bears Ursus maritimus. This chapter provides insights into the causes, and as a result the prevention, of bear attacks on people. Prevention and information that can encourage appropriate human behavior when sharing the landscape with bears are of paramount importance to reduce both potentially fatal human–bear encounters and their consequences to bear conservation.

This chapter comprises the following sections: names, taxonomy, subspecies and distribution, descriptive notes, habitat, movements and home range, activity patterns, feeding ecology, reproduction and growth, behavior, parasites and diseases, status in the wild, and status in captivity.

The mating system and mating strategies of a species refer to the behavioral strategies used to obtain reproductive partners and ensure reproductive success. Common determining factors of mating systems and strategies are: the manner of mate acquisition, the number of mates obtained by an individual, as well as the absence or presence and duration of parental care. In mammals, the energetic investments in gametes and rearing offspring are typically larger for females than for males. Mate selection is thus a much more important decision for females than for the rather indiscriminate males. This dichotomy results in sexual selection, which in turn is determined by male–male competition for access to females, as well as female mate choice. Because receptive females are generally considered the limiting resource in reproduction, males face intrasexual competition for mates. In a multitude of mammalian species, including bears, this has resulted in pronounced sexual size dimorphism and polygamous mating systems. Despite common characteristics (e.g. sexual size dimorphism, polygamy), variation in mating systems and strategies occur among bear populations and species.

Humans disturb bears in many ways, either directly when they encounter humans or indirectly by changing their behavior and way of life to avoid humans, human activity, and infrastructure. Here we summarize research on how brown bears normally react when encountering humans, what a human encounter may entail for a bear, and whether bears habituate or change their behavior toward humans with increased exposure. Based on this, we also discuss: (a) how our knowledge of brown bear behavior may help people to deal with their fear of bears, and not limit their use of outdoor areas with bears; (b) how human presence, activity, and infrastructure have an indirect effect on bears, that is, how bears change their movement pattern, use of terrain and vegetation, and daily activity pattern to avoid humans; (c) how human disturbance influence foraging and denning, which is crucial for brown bear growth and reproduction; and (d) apparent differences among continents in brown bear behavior toward humans and whether this may have an evolutionary cause.

INTRODUCTION

Norway and Sweden share the Scandinavian Peninsula and the people have similar languages, customs and lifestyles. Nevertheless, the situation regarding large carnivores, their depredations and the schemes devised to deal with these problems differ greatly. We view these two countries almost as ‘replicates’ to give us insight into how different types of livestock husbandry affect depredation levels and to compare compensation schemes. We will concentrate on sheep (Ovis aries) and semi-domestic reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and will not consider predation on wild large game.

THE SPECIES OF LARGE CARNIVORES

Sweden and Norway have four species of large carnivores: the grey wolf (Canis lupus), wolverine (Gulo gulo), brown bear (Ursus arctos) and Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx). All have been subject to lethal control since the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with high state-financed bounties. The official policy was extermination, and this occurred over large areas. After official policies changed, the bounties were removed, and populations of all four species increased in size and distribution. Present policies include maintaining or promoting viable populations, balanced with mitigating losses they cause to farm livestock (primarily sheep), semi-domestic reindeer, hunting dogs, and large game animals (primarily moose (Alces alces) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)).

The wolf originally occurred over all of Scandinavia. During the early nineteenth century about 500 were killed annually, but it was exterminated from Scandinavia in the late 1960s. In 1982 a few wolves were observed in south-central Sweden/Norway. They reproduced in 1983.