Observations of Osteophagia, Kleptoparasitism, and Cannibalism in American Black Bear Diet via Animal-borne Camera Collars in the Central Appalachian Mountains

Brogan E. Holcombe^1,*, Kevin R. Bayne¹, Robert S. Alonso^1,2, David McNitt^1,3, and Marcella J. Kelly¹

¹Virginia Tech, Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Blacksburg, VA 24061. ²Caesar Kleberg Wildlife ​Research Institute, Texas A&M University Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363. ³Bureau of Land Management, Royal Gorge Field Office, Cañon City, CO 81212. *Corresponding author.

Southeastern Naturalist, Volume 24, Issue 2 (2025): N15–N22

First published early online: 16 June 2025

Abstract
Documenting unusual items in the diet of Ursus americanus (American Black Bear) is challenging due to the inherent difficulties in detecting rare items in scat samples and the elusive nature of these animals in their natural habitats. In the summers of 2018 and 2019, we used camera video collars placed on 15 Black Bears and recorded instances of osteophagia (chewing or consumption of bones), kleptoparasitism (consumption from food acquired by other species), and cannibalism (consumption of conspecifics). Across the 15 Black Bears, we documented 29 osteophagia events, 9 kleptoparasitism (from felid and rodent caches) events, and 3 cannibalistic events. These rare occurrences accounted for only a small proportion (0.0061) of the total feeding events, but documentation was made possible using novel biologging methods, such as camera collars, to provide new insight into foraging ecology.

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