Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Bare update!!!!!

I seriously doubt that bears looking for easier, tastier food provided by careless human behavior is the result of a genetic trait. It's an easily learned behavior by fairly intelligent animals that has been demonstrated in many animal behavioral studies over the years. People behave the same way. Just look at the prevalence of fast food in America; so much easier than going to the store, buying fresh food, and preparing it as a healthy meal!

From what I've come up with, the "problem" bear theory has been called Urban Myth by California Dept of Fish and Game. I haven't found a study that says that the nuisance bears inherit their behavior from the original population, but I found it to be interesting. Here's a link to an article that mentions the idea. I first heard about it in a news story about Monrovia bears. As a note, in my peripheral knowledge over several years of the biologist quoted, he's not on my top 10 most liked list.

Nuisance Bears - genetics? learned behavior?

This is a link to a study about genetics and learned behavior in Black Bears:

Genetic Relatedness/Conflict Behavior in Black Bears