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Factors influencing length of maternal care in brown bears (Ursus arctos) and its effect on offspring

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Abstract

Length of maternal care, i.e. the interval between successfully raised litters, is the most important factor explaining the variation in reproductive rate among brown-bear (Ursus arctos) populations. In this paper, we examine the variation in length of maternal care in radio-marked brown bears and its effect on their offspring in northern Sweden. Young stayed with their mothers for 1.4–1.5 or 2.4–2.5 (in one case 3.5) years and were weaned with body masses varying from 17 to 69 kg. The probability of yearling litters staying with their mother for a 2nd year increased with decreasing yearling body mass, and was higher for litters with two offspring than for litters with one or three to four offspring. Staying with their mothers for a 2nd year had a positive effect on mass gain in yearlings and this effect was more pronounced in litters with two than three to four offspring. Body mass of 2-year-olds was not related to age of weaning, suggesting that keeping offspring for an additional year mainly compensated for low yearling body mass. If large offspring body mass positively affects later offspring survival and reproduction, mothers may be able to optimize the length of maternal care according to the litter size and the size of their yearlings.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management, WWF Sweden and the Research Council of Norway. We thank the personnel in the Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project, especially Robert Franzén, Peter Segerström and Sven Brunberg for their assistance in the field, and we thank Thor H. Ringsby for assistance with the logistic regression model. Andreas Zedrosser, Ole-Gunnar Støen, Phyllis C. Lee and an anonymous reviewer gave valuable comments on a draft of the paper. All animal capture and handling reported in this paper comply with the current laws regulating the treatment of animals in Sweden and were approved by the appropriate ethical committee.

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  1. Department of Biology and Nature Conservation, Agricultural University of Norway, Post Box 5014, 1432 , Ås, Norway

    Bjørn Dahle & Jon E. Swenson

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  1. Bjørn Dahle
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  2. Jon E. Swenson
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Correspondence to Bjørn Dahle.

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Communicated by F. Trillmich

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Dahle, B., Swenson, J.E. Factors influencing length of maternal care in brown bears (Ursus arctos) and its effect on offspring. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 54, 352–358 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0638-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0638-8

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