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Certificate - Etheses - Saurashtra University

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similar to humans. During late fall, bears were found to rely on fish or use berry-<br />

producing habitats (LeFranc et al., 1987 and Schoen et al., 1994).<br />

In the northern Rocky Mountains, grizzly bears were dependent on a fairly predictable<br />

sequence of habitats that provided seasonally available forage. Seasonal habitats were<br />

separated into spring/early-summer pre-berry period, when bears were foraging on a<br />

variety of locally available graminoids, forbs and roots; and summer early-fall berry-<br />

producing period, when bears were feeding on locally available berry crops (LeFranc<br />

et al., 1987; Mace and Waller, 1997 and Herrero et al., 2000). During spring, bears<br />

were found in lower elevation habitats eating emergent vegetation and winter-killed<br />

ungulates. During late spring, they moved to higher elevations following the<br />

phonological advantage of vegetal foods. During summer, bears descended to lower<br />

sites to exploit habitats with early-ripening berry crops. They showed repeated<br />

altitudinal movements, following the ripening fruits to higher elevations during early<br />

fall (Darling, 1987; Hamer and Herrero, 1987 and Mace and Waller 1997). In the<br />

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the pattern of seasonal elevation use was similar to<br />

that found for other populations occupying interior western mountains (Mealey,<br />

1980). In Northeastern Alaska, tussock and tall shrub land were used by grizzly bears<br />

slightly more frequently during spring, whereas low shrub land was used much more<br />

frequently than expected (Phillips, 1987). In much of Alaska and northern Canada,<br />

habitats occupied by the grizzly bear were not significantly altered by humans. Most<br />

of the productive lands have been occupied by humans, and grizzly bear populations<br />

have been located in most remote and rugged mountainous areas; which were not the<br />

best habitats (Craighead and Mitchell, 1982 and Gibeau, 1998). In Rocky Mountain<br />

Front, Montana, comparisons of the habitat use between grizzly bear and black bear<br />

18

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