"From an evolutionary standpoint,it doesn't usually make sense for wildlife to have fewer offspring and care for them over a long period of time".............. "When facing high hunting pressure, it's logical that brown bearsz(Grizzlies) would have as many cubs as possible to keep populations as stable as possible".............. "However, a recent Université de Sherbrooke(Quebec,Canada).research study over a 22 year period(1993-2015) in Sweden blows holes in that long standing theory"............."Before 2005, it was determined that about 7% of Scandinavian brown bear mothers kept their cubs for a year and a half"............ "Between 2005 and 2015 as hunting pressure on the bears increased, the study found that more than 36 percent of females kept their cubs for an extra year"........."A single female Brown Bear in Sweden is four times more likely to be shot as one with a cub",......... Bears, being extremely intelligent, learned that staying in family groups provides a win-win situation for females to lead safer lives protected from hunters while allowing them more time to care for their young"............"In addition, caring for the cubs by their mother for a longer time has the added bonus of giving them a better chance of survival long-term".......... "The researchers found that female cubs that received extended parenting survived their second year of life"............ "But 22 percent of cubs that were cut loose after a year and a half didn't make it to three years"............... "In addition to being hunted by humans, all cubs that mothers let go of early were more likely to be killed by other bears over brawls for territory or resources"

READ FULL ARTICLE BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/brown-bears-cubs-reproduction-spd/


CLICK ONTO THIS LINK BELOW TOWATCH A MOTHER BEAR LEAVE HER
 PREFERRED FISHING SPOT TO SAVE HER THREE CUBS FROM DROWNING
video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/170124-mama-bear-ditches-dinner-helps-cubs-vin

Bears Are Caring for Their Cubs

 Longer in 

Response to Hunting

Results from a new study could

 have implications

 for brown bear evolution

Ntl Geographic;By Elaina Zachos

PUBLISHED MARCH 28, 2018

Sweden has one of the fastest bear reproduction

 rates in the world, and it seems that females were

 spending more time with their cubs.

"We needed to
 provide evidence, 
and then that 
triggered new
 questions," 
says

 Joanie Van de Walle, 

A PhD student in the Department of Biology at the 
Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada.

Van de Walle is part of an international team of 

researchers who combed through decades of data 

on brown bear populations in Sweden to investigate

 this trend. By following the lives of hundreds of 

bears, the researchers determined that more

 mothers are raising their cubs for one year

 longer than they have in the past.

BELOW, YELLOWSTONE GRIZZLIES

This behavioral shift can be directly attributed to 

humans, according to a study published March 27

 in Nature Communications. With a population 

of around 3,000 bears that could be increasing 

by as much as five percent each year, sustainable

 hunting tactics can keep bear numbers at bay. 

This behavioral shift of mother bears caring for 

their young for a longer time could be directly

 related to hunting regulations.