Brown bears Ursus arctos were historically persecuted and almost eradicated from Southern Europe in the 20th century as a result of hunting and direct persecution (Zedrosser et al. 2011; Martínez Cano et al. 2016). The effects of human induced mortality were exacerbated by other threats, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, due to the expansion of human populations (Swenson et al.
The brown bear and cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) diverged in Eurasia approximately 1.2-1.4 million years ago (Loreille et al. 2001) and brown bears subsequently inhabited most of the continent. Here we review how climatic fluctuations during and after the Pleistocene shaped the genetic relationships within Eurasian brown bears, especially focusing on the effects of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 26-19,000 years ago), when most of northern Eurasia was covered with continental ice sheets (Saarma et al. 2007).
The increasing trend of large carnivore attacks on humans not only raises human safety concerns but may also undermine large carnivore conservation efforts. Although rare, attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos are also on the rise and, although several studies have addressed this issue at local scales, information is lacking on a worldwide scale. Here, we investigated brown bear attacks (n = 664) on humans between 2000 and 2015 across most of the range inhabited by the species: North America (n = 183), Europe (n = 291), and East (n = 190).
Human-carnivore coexistence is a multi-faceted issue that requires an understanding of the diverse attitudes and perspectives of the communities living with large carnivores. To inform initiatives that encourage behaviors in line with conservation goals, we focused on assessing the two components of attitudes (i.e., feelings and beliefs), as well as norms of local communities coexisting with Apennine brown bears (Ursus arctos marsicanus) for a long time.
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