Adaptive significance of the white pelage for brown bears in the Kunashiri Iland

• Project/Area Number: 26660130
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Rakuno Gakuen University
• Principal Investigator: SATO Yoshikazu 酪農学園大学, 農食環境学群, 教授 (60366622)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NAKASHITA Rumiko 独立行政法人森林総合研究所, 野生動物研究領域, 研究員 (00457839)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000)
• Keywords: ヒグマ / 毛色多型 / イニンカリグマ / 行動 / 食性 / カラフトマス / 北方領土 / 国後島

Outline of Final Research Achievements

White-colored brown bears live only in the Kunashiri and Etrofu Islands. We hypothesized that the white pelage color may provide an advantage for catching salmon. From the scat contents analysis, major food resources of brown bears in the Kunashiri and Etrofu Islands were herbaceous plants, salmon, and fruits. We found no individual differences in seasonal food habit estimated by the carbon- and nitrogen-stable isotope analysis. We examined the behavioral response of pink salmon for the different colors of experimenter (black or white) in river water. Pink salmon tended to keep larger distance from the experimenter with black cloths than with white cloths. We considered the white pelage color of bears have an advantage for catching salmon.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] 極東農業大学(ロシア連邦)
• [Presentation] 白いヒグマは見つかりにくいか：着衣色の違いによるカラフトマスの行動比較 (2016)
  • Author(s): 佐藤喜和・中下留美子・石橋悠樹
  • Organizer: 第9回北海道の今後のヒグマ研究を考えるワークショップ
  • Place of Presentation: 札幌市アイヌ文化交流センター
  • Year and Date: 2016-03-19
• [Presentation] 生元素安定同位体比による国後島のヒグマの食性解析 (2016)
  • Author(s): 中下留美子・小林喬子・伊藤哲治・佐藤喜和
  • Organizer: 第9回北海道の今後のヒグマ研究を考えるワークショップ
  • Place of Presentation: 札幌市アイヌ文化交流センター
  • Year and Date: 2016-03-19
• [Presentation] 国後島ヒグマ調査 (2016)
  • Author(s): 佐藤喜和
  • Organizer: 平成27年度北方四島専門家交流等成果報告会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海道庁旧本庁舎
  • Year and Date: 2016-02-27
• [Presentation] Feeding ecology of Hokkaido brown bears revealed by stable isotope analysis and LA-ICPMS imaging (2015)
  • Author(s): Nakashita R, Suzuki Y, Oishi M, Kobayashi K, Ito T, Masuda Y, Ohtaishi N, Loguntsev A, Sato Y
  • Organizer: The Wildlife Society 22nd Annual Conference
  • Place of Presentation: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-17
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Comments: a study plan about comparison in biology of brown bears between continental and island populations (2015)
  • Author(s): Yoshikazu Sato
  • Organizer: The Japan-Russia 3rd Workshop on Cooperation on the Preservation of the Ecosystem in the neighboring areas of Japan and Russia
  • Place of Presentation: Khabarovsk Scientific Center (Khabarovsk)
  • Year and Date: 2015-02-15 – 2015-02-16
• [Presentation] レーザーアブレーション誘導結合プラズマ質量分析による野生動物の食性解析の可能性 (2014)
  • Author(s): 中下留美子・大石昌弘・鈴木彌生子・小林喬子・伊藤哲治・増田 泰・大泰司紀之・佐藤喜和
  • Organizer: 日本哺乳類学会2014年度大会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都大学（京都市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-05 – 2014-09-07