Svitlana Kudrenko, Universidad de León, Spain, Norwegian University of Life Sciences

The Apennine brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) population in the Central Apennines, Italy is one of the most endangered bear populations in Europe, with approximately 50 individuals in 2014. We analyzed GPS data (7,464 days, 88,388 fixes) collected from 15 bears (11 females and 4 males) that were collared between 2016 and 2023. The bear age at the first capture ranged from 1.5 to 15 years. Some of the bears exhibited normal behaviour and avoided humans (n=8), whereas other bears seemed to have lost fear of humans, i.e, they were habituated and/or food conditioned (n=7). Most of the fixes (n=87,404) were recorded outside the denning period and more than half of the total fixes were recorded during autumn months. Bears were denning in high altitude areas (1,000 masl and higher) regardless of their behaviour pattern during the active period. Outside the denning season, however, habituated and food-conditioned bears preferred lower attitudes, particularly during hyperphagia, compared to bears exhibiting normal behaviour. Habituated and food-conditioned female and male bears stayed at lower attitudes, i.e., closer to areas with human presence, more often during night and twilight hours than individuals with normal behaviour.
This study provides the first comparative analysis of spatial behaviour and daily activity patterns in the Apennine brown bear. Given the high risk of extinction faced by this population, knowledge of bear behaviour underpins effective human–bear coexistence management and the maintenance of habitat connectivity, which are essential for the long-term persistence of the Apennine brown bear within and beyond protected areas.