Bears are omnivores
Many believe that brown bears live primarily of fish, but they actually eat a lot more plants. In Scandinavian Wildlife Park they find most of their food in their enclosure.
BEars are omnivores
The brown bear is often referred to as a predator, but it actually has a mostly plant-based diet, making it an omnivore. Up to 85% of the bear’s food is made up of plants. Their menu consists of for example grass, herbs, buds and berries. It may seem crazy that a large 500 kg bear lives almost exclusively on plants, but hardly so silly when you know how much they can eat. In Alaska, a bear was observed, that ate about 90 kg of blueberries in one day, which is a huge portion of food, even for a brown bear.
Fish on the menu
Brown bears like to eat meat when they can. They will usually eat carrion, moose calves, bird eggs and fish. Some of the most amazing images of wild bears are from Alaska. where you see a whole bunch of brown bears standing along a riverbank and catch one fish after another. But in fact, brown bears are not very skilled hunters, and the only reason they can catch the delicious salmon in Alaska is that the salmon swim against the stream and almost stand still in the water. Then suddenly it is not that difficult to catch fish with just your paws anymore.
Of course, when these special conditions are needed for a brown bear to catch fish, there are of course not many of the wild brown bears that will ever sink their teeth in to a fresh salmon. In fact, only 1-2% of the world’s bears ever catch a fish during their lifetime.
They love sweets
Brown bears love everything sweet, and when it’s the right time of year for it, their favorite thing is berries and fruits. They will also go nuts for some honey, if they are lucky enough to find it.
The brown bears in Scandinavian Wildlife Park eat all sorts of things
In Scandinavian Wildlife Park, brown bears find most of their food on their own in the large enclosure. But every morning and evening they get some delicious bread to fill up their stomachs. For the daily feeding, the bears get to satisfy their craving for sweet things, with apple slices and buns – sometimes with raisins. It simply doesn’t get any better.