摘要：Black bears (Ursus americanus) are considered endangered in Mexico. In northern Mexico, bears areconsidered responsible for preying on livestock, damaging private property, and crops; therefore they are killed toprotect locals’ livelihoods. There is a need to understand bears’ ecological requirements in order to create conservationplans that include human-bear conflict resolution and that reduce the hunting of this endangered species. We studiedthe diet of black bears in the Sierra de Picachos located in the Northeast portion of the State of Nuevo León, Mexico.Our objective was to determine the diet of black bears during 3 consecutive seasons (i.e., dry, rainy, and post-rainy),and to determine the presence and frequency of livestock and crops remains in bear scats. We collected 169 scatsfrom December 2004 to November 2005, and estimated diet composition using percentage of occurrence and volumeof each food item. Plants were the most common item (73.4%), animals (16.8%), and undetermined wood fragments(9.3%). There was no statistically significant difference among seasons. Our analysis also failed to find cattle residuesin any of the scats; therefore, black bears in the study site either do not or rarely feed upon livestock. We recommendthat management plans include informing local people on bear behavior. Also, specific actions to avoid bear proximityshould be implemented along with government actions aimed at improving bear habitat that minimize bear-humanconflict in the area.
