[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/7193\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EUnderstanding different brown bear personalities may help reduce clashes with people\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBrown bears once thrived in woodlands throughout Europe, but human persecution decimated their numbers. Today, populations are highest in mountainous rural regions close to the Balkans and Carpathian Mountains, which are home to around \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/environment\/nature\/conservation\/species\/carnivores\/conservation_status.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E12,000 of Europe\u2019s 17,000 brown bears\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith greater \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/environment\/nature\/legislation\/habitatsdirective\/index_en.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Elegal protections\u003C\/a\u003E, bears are recovering and recolonising landscapes, such as the Alps and Pyrenees. The challenge now is in managing co-existence of people and carnivores, as brown bears prey on livestock, raid beehives and sometimes pose a threat to people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn Romania, home to an estimated 6,000 bears, they may enter villages, towns, even cities. They can maim or kill people, with brown bears being \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-50473443\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eresponsible for multiple deaths in 2019\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPeople are also a problem for the bears. \u2018We have this return of large carnivores often returning to landscapes that are human dominated and that is a challenge for many of the carnivores themselves,\u2019 said Professor Thomas Mueller, an expert in animal movements at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, Germany.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdolescent bears typically can suffer high death rates, for example due to road collisions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding carnivore behaviour is one way to help manage conflict between people and animals, said Prof. Mueller.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMovements\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Dr Anne Hertel, who studies bear behaviour as part of Prof Mueller\u2019s group, this needs to be done at an individual level. As part of her PhD studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, she tracked bear movements in Swedish forests, examining how they foraged, avoided humans and selected areas to live.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBears hibernate in dens from November to April, when females give birth to cubs. Females stay with their mothers for around two years and set up home nearby, whereas males disperse much further. Dr Hertel never once chanced upon a wild bear in Sweden.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018They avoid humans at all cost, which makes studying their personality hard,\u2019 she explained. She relied on movement data from radio-collared bears, generally captured as cubs with their mother in their second year. Before release, a sample of hair was taken.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBy tracking 46 adult brown bears, she identified \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0003347218303440?via%3Dihub\u0022\u003Esix ways in which bears\u2019 behaviour can vary\u003C\/a\u003E: the distance they travel per day, the distance between where they began and where they ended up each day, their preference for night-time or day-time movement, and whether they liked or avoided open areas including roads, bogs and forest clearings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We find that bear behaviour is consistent over time, with some more active in daytime, and some selecting habitat closer to roads, or more open habitat such as bogs and clear-cut forest,\u2019 Dr Hertel said. \u2018Bears are quite different from each other. Nocturnal bears tend to be quite sedentary, while others more active during daytime move a lot.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@alignleft@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022There are more than 17,000 bears living in Europe, according to the IUCN\u0027s Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, 44% of which live in the Carpathian mountains, which span Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Serbia. Image credit - Horizon\u0022 height=\u00221212\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/bearmap.png\u0022 title=\u0022There are more than 17,000 bears living in Europe, according to the IUCN\u0027s Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, 44% of which live in the Carpathian mountains, which span Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Serbia. Image credit - Horizon\u0022 width=\u0022983\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EThere are more than 17,000 bears living in Europe, according to the IUCN\u0027s Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe, 44% of which live in the Carpathian mountains, which span Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Serbia. Image credit - Horizon\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECarnivory\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESwedish bears eat mostly forest berries, but some have a higher meat intake, preying on young moose. Dr Hertel is determining which bears eat more meat by examining a chemical signature in the hair collected. \u2018Our next step is to see whether carnivory is a trait which can be learnt from their mother,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe is also trying to work out how individuality in behaviour can change over time through learning, or remain stable, and whether it can be predicted, as part of a project called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/215121\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EPERSONALMOVE\u003C\/a\u003E. Her findings could feed into predictions of bear movements, especially of young males which disperse to establish new territories, and help understand which ones are most likely to move through areas where people live.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhether findings from Sweden can be translated to other parts of Europe, such as Romania, is unclear as conditions are different and there is very little data to test the hypothesis, says Dr Hertel.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Romania is one country in Europe which has the most bears by far, and they have more conflict in terms of them entering human settlements and causing problems,\u2019 she said. She believes that this conflict stems from a combination of bear behavioural traits, opportunities for them to feed on foods like human trash and management techniques.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHunting\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERomania traditionally allowed bear hunting, but when it entered the EU in 2007, bears became a protected species. Hunting was banned altogether in 2016, but it is difficult to know the effect this has had on bear populations as there is no data available.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Previously, populations were managed in order to maximise hunting bags,\u2019 said Dr Valeria Salvatori at the Istituto di Ecologia Applicata in Italy. \u2018The population of bears in Romania has been maintained at artificially high levels through artificial feeding for decades.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EForestry activity has risen since the country joined the EU, and some suggest that disturbance is driving bears out to search villages for food. But Dr Salvatori had first seen bears eating from city garbage dumps almost two decades ago, when she did PhD research in the Carpathians.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile pro-hunting groups highlight conflicts between bears and people, Dr Salvatori says that in rural areas, attitudes towards bears are not negative.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn places such as Hargita, a hotspot for bears in Transylvania, people believe that the current situation and the damage being caused by bears is not sustainable, but they are used to bears and often seek to explain and even excuse bear behaviour when conflict arises, says Dr Salvatori.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe ran \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/environment\/nature\/conservation\/species\/carnivores\/coexistence_platform.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EEU-funded workshops\u003C\/a\u003E to try to improve co-existence with bears in Romania, with livestock owners, beekeepers, game managers, hunters, and small environmental organisations included in monthly meetings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u0026#039;Nocturnal bears tend to be quite sedentary, while others more active during daytime move a lot.\u0026#039;\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Anne Hertel, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt, Germany\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENormal\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The general attitude is that it is normal to have bears, but that encounters with bears should be better managed,\u2019 Dr Salvatori said. \u2018There is no strong opposition to using hunting as a management tool, provided that it is not detrimental to their population.\u2019 Also, people felt that bear tourism needed to be better regulated.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer workshops generated various recommendations to avoid conflicts with bears and stop them raiding beehives and crops and killing livestock, such as securing bins in bear areas, and putting up electric fences in touristic spots.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother, more individual, option highlighted by Dr Hertel is hazing, where specific problem bears are targeted with rubber bullets or dogs to deter them from people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the EU. 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