University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 6-1979 An Observational Study of the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) Robert Herbert Jordan University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Jordan, Robert Herbert, "An Observational Study of the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus). " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1979. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2534 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Robert Herbert Jordan entitled "An Observational Study of the American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Psychology. Gordon M. Burghardt, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: William S. Verplanck, Michael R. Pelton, Robert Wahler Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Robert Herbert Jordan entitled 11An Observational Study of the American Black Bear (UPsus amePiaanus). I recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Psychology. We have read this dissertation and commend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Vice Chancellor Graduate Studies and Research j AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY OF THE AMERICAN BLACK BEAR ( URSUS AMERICANUS ) A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Robert Herbert Jordan June 1979 Copyright by Robert Herbert Jordan 1979 Al l Rights Reserved i i To My Parents i i i ACKNOWLE DGMENTS Many people deserve thanks for their role in making th is disser­ tation possibl e. First, I woul d like to thank Gordon M. Burghardt , my committee chairman , who encouraged , financed , guided , and prodded me,wh en appropriate, through seven years of work on the dissertation . I also wish to thank the othe r members of my committee, all of whom provi ded valuable assistance: Drs . Michael R. Pelton , Robe rt Wahl er, and WilliamS. Verpl anck. Dr. Ve rp lanck, in particular, provided crucial informat ion during some hurried periods. I amve ry grateful to El lis Bacon for hi s central role in building and maintaining a fine faci lity for observing bears , for hel ping raise and keep two healthy bears , Kit and Kate, for information and advice , and for tolerating my idi osync rasies. Doris Gove accompanied me on long trek s into the moun ta ins and hel ped in making fiel d observations . Rex Sentel l spent many hours making obse rvat ions wi th me so that I could measure the observer agreement of the data . Tanya Bassett labored for two months to type the systematic data onto co mputer ca rds. Don Broach , my co mputer consul tant at the U.T. Computer Center , patiently explained the use of the computer an d helped put my data in analyzable form. Joe Babb of the U.T. Speech and Heari ng Cl inic hel ped with the sonogram analysis. Cl audia Peck typed the original versions of many of the tables and typed the first draft of part of the text. Ann Lacava and company typed and published the final manuscript. Peter Jorgensen developed several of the photographs that illustrate the dissertation. iv v Marion "Junior11 Morgan, who maintained the bears at Goldrush Junction , and Mr. Fox, the manager of Gol drush, permitted me to observe their two bea rs , Ben and Sally, at any time . "Jun ior" also spent hours telling me of the bears' activities when I wasn't present and the bear 1 ore of the mountains . Many others he l ped, among them, Jeannie Ludlow, Cheryl Pruitt , Dr. Theodo re Cureton, Ed Lentz, Dianne Sayres , Meg Lacleod, and several employees of the National Park Service in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Thanks also to the National Park Service for permitting me to observe the black bea rs of the Park. Finally, I am deeply grateful to my parents. They have sacrificed in many ways for my wel fare durin g these years in graduate school . ABSTRACT This study describes the rel ati onship of the human observer to observed bl ack bears (Ursus ameri canus ), and describes social investiga­ tion and autogrooming behavior in black bears and rel ates these to aspects of chemi cal commun icat ion. The subjects were two pai rs of captive black bears kept at separate locations--a male-femal e pair and a female-female pai r, all of approxi ma tely the same age . They were sexually immature during most of the study. Both pai rs we re usually observed on the same days , for comparison . Observati ons were typically one hour long and behavior was recorded on paper every 30 seconds using a time-sampl ing technique . One hundred and forty-six hours of systematic observat ion we re completed over a two-year period. For non-human spec ies there has been littl e, if any , quantitative research done on the problem of the reactivity of the obse rved to the observer or to the presence of humans . In the present study the effect was measured by pool ing the 146 hours of data for al l categories of behavior and groupings of cate gories by activity level for each of the 30 2-minu te divisions within hour-long observation sessions. A linear regres sion analysis was performed on the rates for behaviors from the fi rst 2- mi nute period through the last. At one loca tion , Tremont, measures of certa in categories of behavior and groupings of categories by activity level we re highly cor rel ated with time peri od wi th in the observation session hour. Many of the correlations we re steeply positively or negativel y sloped. Behaviors which indicated resting or "r el axed" behavior increased from beginning to end of observati ons wh ile behaviors requiring more ene rgy decreased. The vi vii large changes in rates of some behaviors are interpreted as habituation to the presence of the observer. At the other location , Goldrush , there was fa r mo re st imulation from sources other than the observer and the bears we·re physically mo re distant from the observer. These bears we re less res ponsive to the observer's presence . Between bears, especially the females at Tremont, direct social investigation (less appropriately referred to as al logroomi ng) , wh ich cons isted sol ely of social sniffing and social licking, dec reased to very low rates as they got older. The head/neck region was investi­ gated most by two of the femal es. The mal e investigated his femal e cagemate's peri anal/ genital-rump/tail region mos t often , though still at low rates . The perianal/genital region , which is the site of socially attractive pheromone-produci ng glands in most species of Carnivora, might have been expected to be investi gated at higher rates . The low rates may have been related to the absence or inactivity of such glands in the peri anal/genital region and on the rest of the body surface . Auto grooming, including rubbing (thought by some to function additionally in marking) , was obse rved in order to determ ine its function� Bl ack bears have a varied repertoire of autogroom ing behavior which is made poss ible by their postural flexibil ity and the dexterity of the plantigrade front paw. The various methods of autogroom ing are each most effective at reaching certain parts of the body . The dorsal areas of the body were mos t easi ly groomed by rubbing against objects . Rates of scratching during quarterly periods of the year we re re lated to rates of rubbing, especially du ring periods when the sk in was known to be irritated by infection. It was concluded that rubb ing is a vti i signifi cant form of grooming that rel ieves ski n irritation , although other evi dence was presen ted to suggest that rubbing may also function as a relati vely unstereotyped form of ma rki ng that does not invol ve specialized ski n glands. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. SUBJECTS , SETTINGS, AND METHODS 7 Subjects and Settings 7 Methods 15 Interobserver Agreement 2 5 3. ACTI VITY LEVELS AND REACTIVITY TO THE PRESENCE OF HUMANS 28 Introduction 28 Methods of Analys is 34 Results and Discussion 37 4. SOCIAL INVESTIGATION AND BODY CONTACT BEHAVIOR 64 I nt rodu ct ion 64 Resul ts 64 Di scussion 72 5. AUTOGROOMING AND MARKING BY RUBBING . 81 Introduction 81 Results 86 Discussion 110 6. CONCLUS IONS 1 27 LITERATURE CITED 131 APPEN DICES 137 Appendix A 138 Appendix B 144 Appendix C 147 Appendix 0 148 Appendix E 161 Appendix F 162 Appendix G 164 VITA . "' . .. .. .. .. 169 ix LIST OF TABLES TAB LE PAGE 2.1. Hours of Systematic Observation Per Month at Goldrush and Tremont . 13 2.2.