Bears attracted to spawning salmon attract tourists to Tahoe's Taylor Creek (LA Times)

[petronius]

This was pretty cool: I knew there are (non-native) salmon in Tahoe, but I didn't know they had such a well-developed spawn or that the bears would fish for them. Sort of like our very own Alaska-lite...

Under a golden canopy of quaking aspen, red Kokanee salmon swim up Taylor Creek on the south edge of Lake Tahoe to spawn just as their larger cousins do in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. In their wake come black bears, merganser ducks and other predators seeking to feed on the passing horde, which is estimated at up to 50,000. At times, it seems as if you could almost walk across the 2-mile-long creek on the backs of the colorful fish. Yet this annual October ritual of nature remains one of Lake Tahoe's better kept secrets.

--- Snip ---

"The number of fishing bears has been increasing slowly," said Jean Norman, a U.S. Forest Service veteran who leads walking tours out of the visitor center near Taylor Creek. "It took time for the bears to figure out that the salmon are a food source. Actually, the spawning fish taste bad. So the bears grab the salmon and eat the roe but not the flesh. One by one they figure it out and keep the good-tasting eggs while rejecting the rest."

Interestingly, only the female bears are successful at catching the salmon, and they teach their cubs to fish. It is funny to watch a male bear in the creek splashing around trying to catch a fish, finally giving up in disgust.

--- Snip ---

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-salmon-20131013,0,2724660.story

[SunSeeker]

1. Very cool. Thanks for the post. nt

[longship]

2. Salmon, bears, tourists... What could go wrong?

Leave them alone, people.

[2naSalit]

3. Wow

Cinnamon bears in California! I hope the "tourists" don't get too stupid about it. They have a penchant for wanting to get too close, then the bears beat them up after which the bears get killed for beating up Darwin award winners.

Cinnamon bear: Subspecies of the American Black Bear...

The cinnamon bear (Ursus americanus cinnamomum) is a color phase of the American black bear, native to Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Washington, Wyoming, Alberta, and British Columbia.[1][2] The most striking difference between a cinnamon bear and any other black bear is its brown or red-brown fur, reminiscent of cinnamon, from which the name is derived.[2]
Description

Cinnamon bears are omnivorous. Their diet includes fruit, vegetation, nuts, honey, and occasionally insects, and meat. Cubs weigh approximately 230 grams (8 oz) at birth, with adults weighing between 92.1 and 270 kilograms (203 and 595 lb). The life span for this bear is a maximum of 30 years.[1]

Cinnamon bears are excellent climbers, good runners, and powerful swimmers. They are mostly nocturnal, though sometimes active during daylight hours. The cinnamon and brown bears of this country are simply color phases of the black bear, the blondes and brunettes of the family. The various colors are frequently intermixed in the same family; hence it is a common occurrence to see a black bear female with brown cubs, a brown and a black cub, or even all three colors. The bears hibernate during the winter months, usually from late October or November to March or April depending upon the weather conditions.[3] Their scat resembles that of domestic dogs.[4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_bear

[haikugal]

4. Thank you for that information!

My first thought was..."Grizzly's in CA?" I saw one of these on my off road travels and didn't know about Cinnamon bears...regardless, bears scare me like spiders do some other folks. I love them but have no worries about me getting too close...bears and bison...no way.