My Science School

The brown bear is a top angler. It knows just the time of year that delicious salmon head upriver to lay their eggs. The bear catches the fish with a quick swipe of the paw, or it waits until the salmon leap up mini waterfalls, and become tired.

When do bears climb trees?

When they want to escape danger. Black bears are expert climbers even as grown-ups. Brown bears only climb trees when they are cubs, usually to escape from adult brown bears, who are trying to eat them!

Amazing! The American black bear is one of the world’s champion snoozers. Its winter sleep, or hibernation, lasts for seven months - over half of the year!

Is it true? Koalas are bears.

No. Although we call them koala bears, koalas are really marsupials, which means they have pouches like kangaroos. Pandas aren’t bears either. They’re more closely related to raccoons.

Do all bears eat meat?

Even meat-eating bears sometimes like a change of diet. Polar bears snack on seaweed and berries when seals are scarce. Brown and black bears love honey, but collecting it is a very risky business. They often come away from the hive with a stung nose!