Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural sciences The Why's and Where's of Bear Attacks Common Knowledge on the Range A Yellowstone Millipede Volume 4 Number 1 NPS Photo New Wolves This page usually gets written last, as wolves have arrived. On Tuesday, Janu­ \Vere on hand to snowshoe half a mile in we are hun·ying to get Yelloivstone Sci­ ary 23, the year's first eleven were deliv­ to watch the placement of the young pair ence to the printer. That means, among ered to acclimation pens at Blacktail Pla­ at the new Blacktail pen. Unlike last other things, that after we have the "News teau (one male, one female), Crystal Creek year's wolves, \Vho were generally quite and Notes" all done, we still have this one (two males, t\vo fernales), and Nez Perce cautious about leaving their shipping con­ last chance to tell you so1nething that we Creek (two males, three females). On tainers, these t\vo rushed from the con­ didn't have time to tell you in the back of January 27, one more female \vas added tainers as soon as they were opened. In the n1agazine. to Nez Perce (part of the same pack, but the photograph above, Wolf Biologist This \vinter, two federal shutdowns captured later), and five more (one male, Doug Smith (left) and Assistant Superin­ and continuing uncertainties about which four females)\vere placed in the Rose tendent Marv Jensen are releasing the parts of the park operation \vould be Creek pen for a total of 17 new wolves. first of these two. funded forced us to wait a little longer All four pens have potential breeding There is more \Volf news to be re­ before completing this issue of Yello1v­ pairs. The largest wolf is the 130-pound ported, but we n1ust save it for the next sto11e Science. But at the sa1ne time, the alpha tnale at Nez Perce, who is larger issue. In the meantime, \Ve can report that \Volves kept making news, so it was hard than any of last year's \Valves. the Yellowstone area now has a total of to know when to stop adding ne\v stories Public and media attention to this year's 38 wolves, \vi th high hopes of more come about then1 and call the ne\vs finished. arrivals 1,vas not as extensive as last year, spnng. The latest big ne\vs is that the ne\V but a busload of media and park staff PS Yellowstone Science A quarterly publication devoted to the natural and cultural sciences Volume4 Number I Winter 1996 Table of Contents Bear-Inflicted Human Injuries in Yellowstone, 2 1970-1994 Statistical analysis is beginning to tell us important things not only about who is most at risk, but also where, when, and why. If you're going to hike or camp in the park, don't miss this one. by Kerry Gunther and Hopi Hoekstra Yellowstone's First Millipede 10 As research on the smaller animals of Yellowstone begins to catch up with research on the glamor animals, important discoveries are made, some of them surprisingly far from the park. by Rowland Shelley Grazing and Yellowstone 12 Editor Common knowledge, both within and beyond the scientific Paul Schullery community, has long held that the Northern Range is overgrazed. Art Director Herbivory expert Sam McNaughton, familiar with overgrazing Renee Evanoff around the world, is unconvinced, but he's still listening. Associate Editor Interview with Sam McNaughton Sarah Broadbent Editorial Assistants News and Notes 18 Lori Campas Lots of wolf news • Yellowstone experiences federal shutdown • Ursula Weitman :tvlarv Jensen new assistant superintendentt • Grizzly bear recovery Printing plan ruled inadequate • Earthquake swarms along the caldera Artcraft Inc. boundary Bozeman, Montana Yellowstone Science is published quarterly, and submissions are welcome from all investigators On the cover: Bears have fasci­ conducting formal research in the Yellowstone area. Editorial correspondence should be sent to nated, entertained, and fright­ the Editor, Yellowstone Science, Yellowstone Center for Resources, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone ened Yellolvstone visitors for National Park, WY 82190. more than a century. The face of The opinions expressed in Yellowstone Science are the authors' and may not reflect either this young visitor, at the Fishing National Park Service policy or the views of the Yellowstone Center for Resources. Bridge Visitor Center in the Copyright© 1996, the Yellowstone Association for Natural Science, History & Education. 1960s, capturesmuchofourwon­ Support for Yellowstone Science is provided by the Yellowstone Association for Natural der at the park's n1ost fanzous Science, History & Education, a non-profit educational organization dedicated to serving the and dangerous ani1nals. See the park and its visitors. For more information about the Yellowstone Association, including article on page 2. membership, write to P.O. Box 117, Yellowstone National Park, \VY 82190. Bear-Inflicted Human Injuries in Yellowstone, 1970-1994 A cautionary and instructive guide to who gets hurt and why by Kerry Gunther and Hopi Hoekstra Yellowstone's bears have been an i1n­ decline in bear-inflicted human injuries included all incidents that occurred \Vi thin portant tourist attraction for many years, from 1970 through 1994, despite the con­ or immediately adjacent to the road cor­ but both the bears and the tourists have tinuing increase in park visitation (Table ridor. Backcountry is defined as all areas suffered because of this familiarity. From 1). This paper reviews bear injuries dur­ excluding roadsides and developed ar­ 1930 through 1969, an average of 45 ing the past 25 years, and shows what eas. Further information collected in­ people per year were injured by black activities and types of behavior by people cluded the number of people in the party, bears in the park. During the same time are most likely to result in hurnan inju­ gender of the injured person, activity of period, grizzly bears injured an average ries. the party prior to injury, reaction of the of 2 people per year. Most of these inju­ To co1npile this report, \Ve reviewed 25 person to the attacking bear, species of ries occurred along roadsides or in devel­ years of YNP files, including case inci­ bear involved, and sex and age class of oped areas and involved human foods or dent reports, personal statements, and bear, if known. The extent of the injury, garbage as bear attractants. ne\11spaper articles. We included only whether minor (requiring less than a day Due to concerns for hun1an safety and injuries that \Vere verified by park per­ of hospitalization or less than 35 sutures) potential loss of free-ranging wild bears, sonnel; all dubious cases were excluded. or severe (requiring inore than one day of bear management policy \vithin Yellow­ Information obtained from the files in­ hospitalization or 35 or more sutures) stone National Park (YNP) has been pro­ cluded date, approxirnate time, and loca­ was also recorded. gressively intensified over time, espe­ tion (developed area, roadside, or cially since 1970, the year the last park backcountry) of bear-caused human in­ How Many Injnries, and Where? du1np was closed. These improvements jury. Developed area injuries are defined in management actions, along \Vith pub­ as those that occurred in or adjacent to The total number of YNP visitors lic education. may be responsible for the human developments. Roadside injuries steadily increased since 1970 and reached 2 Yello~vstone Science NPS Photo flicted injury rate in the backcountry re­ mained relatively constant. In the 25-year period 1970-1994, 82 Grizzly bear sows 1'Vith people were injured in 77 separate inci­ young ofthe year were sta­ dents in YNP (Table 2). Of these injuries, tistically the most likely to 60 (73%) were considered minor, 19 be involved in backcount1y (23%) were severe, and 3 (4%) resulted bear attacks. in fatalities. Black bears and grizzly bears were involved in 32 (39%) and 42(51 %) of the injuries, respectively. The species of bear involved could not be determined for 8 (10%) of the injuries. Only one person was injured in most (94%) bear attacks, but in each of 5 (6%) cases 2 persons were injured. There were no Table 1. Number ofpark visitors, number of bear-inflicted hutnan injuries, incidents reported in which more than 2 and number of injuries per 1nillion visitors in Yello1'vstone National Park, people were injured. In 4 of the 5 (80%) 1970-1994. incidents in which more than 1 person Year Number of visitors Number of injuries Injuries per million visitors \Vas injured, female bears with cubs-of­ the-year (COY) were involved. Overall, 2,297,290 1970 12 5.2 female bears with young (COY or year­ 1971 2, 120,487 9 4.3 lings) were involved in 29 (35%) of the 1972 2,246,827 8 3.6 injuries. Fifty-nine (72%) of the people injured were male and 22 (27%) were 1973 2,061,537 6 2.9 female; 1 (1 %) report did not list the 1974 1,937,768 7 3.6 gender of the injured person. All injuries 1975 2,246,132 3 1.3 occuned from May through November; 1976 2,525,174 8 3.2 most injuries occurred during August (37%). Injuries occurred in developed 1977 2,487,084 3 1.2 areas (13%), along roadsides (43%), in 1978 2,623.141 2 0.8 backcountry areas ( 41 % ), and during re­ 1979 1,891.927 3 1.6 search or management handling of bears 1980 2,009,581 0.5 (2%). The trend in the location of bear-in­ 1981 2.544,242 4 1.6 flicted injuries has changed dramatically 1982 2,404,862 0 0.0 from 1970-1994.