Marking Behavior of Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) at Power Poles and Trees in the Kaçkar Mountains Range, Artvin, Turkey

International Bear News May 2010, vol. 19 no. 2 pages 14-15


Marking behavior of brown bears poses still many unknowns. Green and Mattson (2003) suggest that the rubbing is directly related to marking behavior and that grizzly bears show no discrimination for a specific tree species whereas they do select for larger diameters. In the same study it was found that ecotones and junctions or edges of trails were proposed to be more suitable for marking. Tschanz et al. (1970) presented evidence that bears used rubbed trees for orientation, but concluded that the primary function of rubbing was communication by chemical means. Therefore it seems that rubbing is an important behavior of brown bears to mark their territory and to communicate with females before the mating season. 

Human-Brown Bear Conflict Research and Projects in the KaçkarMountains, Artvin, Northeastern Turkey

In 2001, I realized that there was "something wrong" between people and brown bears in the Kaçkar Mountains in Turkey. While I was mountain climbing around high pastures and talking with the local beekeepers there, they always complained about brown bear damage and demonstrated their local preventive measures like placing beehives 20 meters above ground on a tree or wrapping metal sheets on the tree trunks. To study the subject, I had to wait until 2003 because the site is approximately 1200 km away from the university where I study. In the summer of 2003, I was hired as a field biologist for the GEF-II project of the Directory of Nature Conservation and National Parks (NCNP) in Camili-Artvin (The first and only Biosphere Reserve in Turkey for now). I have recorded many unusual incidents like bearsgathering around hazelnut trees in a village,entering dwellings by breaking down walls, raiding beehives placed on an elevated platform by using a ladder, depredating calves in a barn, and many others. I realized that the situation that I described above as "something wrong" was called human-bear conflict.

Brown Bear Ecology and Human-Bear Conflict (HBC) Studies at Kaçkar Mountains, Artvin Turkey

My brown bear research had started in 2003 to determine brown bear habitat and conflict hotspots in Turkey. Then in 2004 I have found small grants from various organizations, such as Wildlife Conservation Society, METU etc. By these supports, I have been working in the field since 2004, recording sightings with cubs and all brown bear indicators e.g. scats, tracks and rub trees (see e.g. May issue of IBAN 2010). I have also regularly checked damage sites and obtain information from the locals about experienced wildlife damage. I usually meet with locals at least once a month at village cafes.
 

I focused on the Yusufeli district of Artvin (NE Turkey) but our project area stretches from inner Eastern Turkey (Erzurum) to the Black Sea coast (Rize) and east to the Georgian border (Borçka district of Artvin).