Certificate - Etheses - Saurashtra University

were analysed, and the proportion of food items and inseparable mixture was
calculated.
4.3.1 Dietary composition
An analysis of total 222 scats, comprising of 72 scats of summer season, 69 scats of
monsoon and 81 scats of fall, showed both plant and animal matter in the diet of
brown bear in all seasons. When only plant and animal matters were considered to
know their contribution to the diet annually, it was found that the frequency of
occurrence of plant matter was higher in the scats of brown bear (79%) than the
animal matter (21%) (Figure 2). During summer, monsoon and fall, the frequency
occurrence of animal matter was 27.8%, 23% and 9% respectively, and the frequency
occurrence of plant matter was 72.2, 77% and 91% respectively. All these dietary
composition revealed that the frequency of occurrence of plant matter was higher than
the animal matter in all the seasons. The animal matter was found to be comprised of
insects, ants and unknown items including hairs, bones, jaws, teeth, claws and nails in
the bear diet (Table 1). The plant matter eaten by brown bear comprised of 10 plant
species, as confirmed through scat analysis, included seeds of Prunus persica and
Prunus cornuta, and fruits of Rhamnus virgatus, Viburnum cotinifolium and Berberis
aristata, and guchhi mushroom Morchella esculenta and unknown herbaceous plant
matter. Scats of brown bears were found to contain wheat (Triticum aestivum) leaves
and seeds, jau (Hordeum vulgare) seeds, ‘bharesh’ (Fagopyrum esculatum) seeds,
seeds of ‘phulen’ crop, maize (Zea mays) seeds, aru (Prunus persica) fruits, jammu
(Prunus cornuta) fruits, kamulu (Berberis aristata) fruits, fruits of Rhamnus virgatus
and Viburnum cotinifolium and plenty of herbaceous matter found in the study area.
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