Wildlife biologists say a 34-year-old brown bear captured in southwest Wyoming has been confirmed as the oldest ever recorded in the Yellowstone region.
JACKSON, Wyoming – A 34-year-old brown bear captured in southwest Wyoming has been confirmed as the oldest ever recorded in the Yellowstone region, Wyoming wildlife officials said.
Brown bear 168 was captured last summer, after feeding on calves in the Upper Rio Verde Basin area.
The male had only a few remaining teeth and weighed 170 pounds (77 kg), just a fraction of the 450 pounds (204 kg) that the bear weighed at 5 years of age when it was captured in the Shoshone National Forest in August 1991.
Biologists learned of the bear’s longevity after sacrificing the bruin, which fed on cattle and, finally, calves. Biologists realized that 168 grizzly was responsible after examining the calves.
“You’re going to skin them and it looks like there are terrible bruises, but there are no real punctures,” said Dan Thompson, a biologist at Wyoming Game and Fish to the Jackson Hole News & Guide. “They have so much strength in their jaws that they can kill an animal by basically applying gum to it.”
When 168 was captured, the number dropped to three lumps for canines and no other teeth, making it likely that the bear would continue to look for easy prey, such as calves, Thompson said.
The US Fisheries and Wildlife Service called for bear euthanasia last July.
Relocating the animal, although it has avoided known conflicts for decades, “would not have been the right thing to do,” said Thompson.
“It was sad that we had to put it on the floor,” said Thompson, “but ethically there was nothing more that could be done.”
The bear was first captured at the age of 3 in 1989, when the inside of his lip was tattooed with the number 168. The bear was also captured north of Dubois in May 1996 and dropped his radio collar in the year Following.
Although the bear’s whereabouts over the next few years are not known, the DNA test indicates that the 168 grizzly spawned a litter of three cubs in 2005 or 2006, Thompson said. There is a “good potential” that he spawned another litter in 2009, when he would be 23 years old.
“It is not 100%, but based on the genetic evidence we have, it is likely that he reproduced as a 31-year-old man,” said Thompson.
Grizzly 168 has survived all females documented in the Yellowstone Greater Ecosystem for four years, and female brown bears tend to live longer, officials said.