Bear diet is mostly low-protein and high carbohydrate/high fat
- There are eight species of bears around the world that consume a wide range of diets.
- Polar bears, giant pandas, and sloth bears are considered specialists which seek specific foods while others are considered generalists.
- Bears evolved from a high-protein carnivore; however, researchers speculated that all have become low-protein consumers.
- Consuming foods with inappropriate nutrients has been linked to increased energy usage, lower health, lower reproductivity, and early death.
- Researchers conducted feeding and preference trials with sloth bears and giant pandas, an ant-feeding and termite specialist.
- Both sloth bears and giant pandas separated from their ancestral lineage more than one million years ago before polar bears and brown bears existed.
- Researchers discovered that giant pandas mostly consume high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet.
- Additionally, sloth bears consume low-protein, high-fat diet.
- The preference for low protein foods seemingly occurred early in the evolution of bears and may have been an important factor to their global distribution.
Source:
Robbins, C.T., Christian, A.L., Vineyard, T.G. et al. Ursids evolved early and continuously to be low-protein macronutrient omnivores. Sci Rep 12, 15251 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19742-z
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