But bears are particularly smart when it comes to food.They’re creative problem solvers, and they can remember solutions to puzzles for years.
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There is a great apocryphal quote about the bear-proof trash cans at Yosemite National Park. The quote suggests that the overlap of intelligence between the smartest bear and the dumbest human is considerable. This points to a problem: humans throw away a lot of trash, and bears are good at getting to it. Brown bears can eat up to 90 pounds of food a day when they’re preparing for hibernation, and as humans have expanded their range into bear territory, hunting and foraging areas have become smaller. This has caused bears to rely on human garbage for food.
Having bears wander through town to snack on trash leads to human-bear conflicts, and when this happens, no one wins. People can get hurt or killed, property can be destroyed, and the bears can get hit by vehicles or shot by animal control. Additionally, this can throw off the balance of the bear’s original ecosystem, as they are less likely to forage for food.
Stopping bears from seeking out trash is more complex than it seems. Bears are social learners, and can learn to find food from their mothers. Even if a bear isn’t taught to forage in trash cans, they can be creative and figure it out for themselves.
From the early 1900s to 1940, trash in Yosemite National Park was placed in a dump surrounded by bleachers and lights, so visitors could watch the bears fight for food. Even after the feeding shows stopped, rangers continued leaving food out for photo opportunities for tourists until the early 1970s. This has caused generations of bears to become reliant on human foods.
To keep bears out of the trash, complicated locking mechanisms, hanging food from trees, and other bear-deterrent methods have been employed. However, these methods may not stop bears from trying to get at food, but will only slow them down. Bears are food motivated, and can remember solutions to puzzles for years. They can perform a variety of actions to solve puzzles, such as pulling pulleys, spinning tubes, and digging out of holes. Bears are particularly smart when it comes to food, and are creative problem solvers. Our attempts to keep trash away from bears often end up being a challenge for them, like a food puzzle. To combat this, we need to create bear-resistant trash cans. The biggest challenge isn’t the bears’ lack of opposable thumbs, but making the cans simple enough for people to use. A study in Durango, Colorado showed that only 42% of residential trash cans and 31% of commercial trash cans were locked properly. Even when the city offered to replace faulty locks, it didn’t seem like it happened. Bear-resistant features include metal reinforcements, lids with locks, and posts to secure cans. To prove their cans are better, manufacturers can have them tested and certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. The cans must survive 60 minutes of a bear trying to break in. To make the cans accessible to people with limited mobility and dexterity, they must also be ADA compliant. Widespread use of bear-resistant trash cans can reduce human-bear encounters, and now 50% of cans pass the certification process, compared to 10% when it first started. Hopefully, this will mean that trash is no longer a treasure for bears. Learning languages can take a lot of time and effort, but you don’t need to get a PhD in Italian to learn it. That’s why Babbel’s lessons only take 10 minutes a day, making it easier for anyone to pick up a new language. As a SciShow viewer, you can get up to 60% off when you sign up using the link in the description below. Thanks for watching! [♪ OUTRO]