ON THE AGE OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY IN SCANDINAVIAN BROWN BEARS

The young of brown bears Ursus arctos Linneaus, 1758 are sometimes orp haned and found by humans. People and authorities often want to help t hese young survive by taking them into captivity. We report on the fat e of five young-of-the-year brown bears in two litters that lost their mothers in May and September. We left food for one of the two cubs th at were abandoned in May after the other one had died. He was shot fou r years later and had a normal weight at that time. The other three lo st their mother in September, probably to illegal hunting. One was lig hter than normal the following May and died that year. The two others are still alive at almost six years of age, and have shown normal grow th and reproduction. We conclude that young-of-the-year brown bear cub s in Scandinavia can survive well on their own from the beginning of J uly, and recommend that they be left where they are found.