Fat Bear, Sleepy Bear

In the mid-fall, many national parks begin to advertise for #fatbearweek, to celebrate one of the most impressive behavioral feats of feasting in the northern hemisphere.  Brown bears and black bears will set to work gorging themselves, trying to put on as much weight as they can before winter.  These famished fattening is then followed, naturally, by a state of winter torpor.  It's not a true hibernation, per se - bears may wake up in the middle of it to get up and forage more - but it's fairly similar.  Then, when the bears emerge from their dens in the spring (in the case of females, sometimes being accompanied by cubs), they again give vent to extreme hunger, seeking to replace the weight that they lost.

Photo Credit: Maryland Zoo in Baltimore

In a zoo setting, this behavior isn't really necessary.  We have the means to feed the bears year round and allow them to be active.  Tropical bears, such as sloth bears and Andean bears, ironically are awake during our winters, while the northern bears are tucked away and asleep.  Still, allowing the bears to stuff themselves, sleep, and then awake and re-stuff themselves, if not strictly required, is still the natural behavior of these species.  Whenever possible, I do feel like we should be trying to replicate natural behavior, which in the case of the bears means allowing them to hibernate.  For about a third of their lifespan - being every winter - their life will be almost identical to that of a wild bear.

It also helps that it's one less exhibit you need to clean for a big chunk of the year.  But don't worry - they will totally make up for the mess and the work in the spring.