![]() Previously, the only morsels grizzlies were known to seek out in squirrel pantries were pine nuts. The impetus for the University of Alberta research was a GPS-collared grizzly pilfering a squirrel midden with agricultural seed in 2013. ![]() Check out this close call between a Banff grizzly and a train: If grizzlies become conditioned to targeting railway squirrel caches for their concentrated stockpiles of grain, the researchers speculate, the bears might also generally search for spilled seeds along the tracks – a potentially hazardous strategy, to say the least. "The fact that we observed digging by grizzly bears in middens only near the railway and almost exclusively where we also detected agricultural seeds suggests that bears smell the seeds and target seed-containing middens," the researchers wrote. Read more: The stunning power of grizzly bear battles (PHOTOS) The only middens that showed signs of being dug into by grizzlies were close to the tracks, and nearly all of those harboured seeds. The researchers found heavy squirrel presence along Yoho and Banff's railway corridor, which also included all but one of the surveyed squirrel middens that contained grain (mostly canola and wheat). Such seed spillage also lures in red squirrels, and the University of Alberta study suggests the middens these industrious rodents stockpile as larders may play a role in encouraging high-risk grizzly foraging along railways. ![]() Some of those collisions come when bears are simply crossing railroad tracks, but it's long been known that grain leaked or outright spilled from so-called hopper cars also attracts hungry grizzlies: (It's a fate that's also befallen black bears in the area.) One roughly 300-kilogram (660-pound) Banff boar, Bear 122 ("The Boss") – famously seen chowing down on a black bear in 2013 – apparently survived a run-in with a train several years ago and nonetheless continues to travel along railways. In the past decade, trains have been the culprit in ten known grizzly deaths in the Banff-Yoho area – from sows with cubs to adult males. The study, published last month in Nature Conservation, focused on the 134-kilometre corridor of the Canadian Pacific Railway that passes through Yoho and Banff, two of the most celebrated "mountain parks" in western Canada.Ī locomotive hitting a grizzly bear isn't quite the freak, once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence it might sound like. I’ll be looking forward to working with all of you.A grizzly bear digs into a squirrel midden. That’s what is all about – feature stories, memories, my two cents worth and, yes, The Fishing Forecast. Two months into unemployment, it became clear to me that the best thing for me to do was continue that coverage in a big way. Not that I was able to do that much of it my last several years at the paper, but at least it was something. Now that my career at the paper is behind me, I realized quickly that there was going to be a big void of outdoors news and stories. I realized my dream world when I took over the outdoors writer position in 2000. I was lucky enough as an adult to turn that love of the outdoors into a 43-year career at The Virginian-Pilot, where I wrote about sports and all kinds of other stuff, always with a hint of the outdoors. Years of wading in Back Bay while attending Kellam High School kept the love going. Hunting fox squirrels in the West Virginia woods with the same crew molded fond memories. Memories of camping and fishing trips along the James river with my dad, grandpa, uncles and cousins instilled something in me that’s never left. The excitement of that first little fish has never been forgotten. with grandpa and my dad where they showed me the art of catching bluegill using a piece of worm and a cane pole. I remember that warm summer morning heading to a small creek near Mount Hope, W.Va.
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