Interesting chat with ranger at BOF entrance station about bears

When picking up a wilderness permit at BOF entrance earlier this year, I ended up in an interesting discussion with the ranger on duty regarding Yosemite black bears. In particular, the bear at the top of Snow Creek that learned to throw canisters off the edge then collect the proceeds from the obliterated canister. The discussion began with me asking about that bear in particular, and if there is any evidence that bears can teach each other new tricks.

I can't verify the veracity of the story, but I will attest that it does accurately reflect what the ranger recounted: the current restrictions at Snow Creek camp area are (were?) still in place, and the bear causing the problem is not the same one as last year. They are also interested in studying this bear to see if they can determine if it discovered the toss-smash-retrieve method on its own or if it was learned from the original bear. The original bear was euthanized/destroyed. They had also been studying it for many years, since it was a cub. It was very difficult for the rangers to destroy this bear. The reason necessitating this action was not solely the human interaction and food habituation. The ranger said it was also an act of kindness towards the bear, as the regular diet of food obtained from humans is so high in sugar that the bear would have starved to death from not having any teeth left.

Again, I can't prove that this is all true, but it is what I was told, and although it's possible that the rangers may stretch the truth (or fabricate stories completely) to make a point, the discussion seemed genuine.

afaik...

Mommy teaches Cubbie how to do things...

The bearcan doesn't fall far from the tree?

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It has been proven that bear cubs will learn behaviors from their mothers. As for the eating food comment - while human food is not healthy for bears, the sugar causing them to starve to death because their teeth will fall out is far fetched. Remember for a long time bears in Yellowstone and Yosemite were fed from garbage dumps for the entertainment of visitors and survived.

Yes on mama bear teaching baby bear. I didn't think to ask if the "new" miscreant bear atop Snow Creek was a cub of the previous (destroyed) bear. An adult bear learning from another non-related bear is a different story, though since they are so intelligent and curious it would not surprise me.

On sugar and tooth decay, I'll also point out that there is naturally occurring sugar in the berries that bears have had as a staple in their diets before human interaction. I guess it may be similar as the situation with humans; without proper dental hygiene and care, I expect that humans' teeth decay quicker on today's standard (American) diet than say 1000 years ago. Any dentists on the forum with supporting or conflicting evidence?