The study helps explain why bear sightings are so common on hiking trails.
Grizzly bears can run really fast—but not for very long, and they seem to prefer not to. In fact, new research shows that bears are partial to the same kinds of hiking trails and walking speeds as humans, despite not being the most energy efficient for their ursine bodies.
Scientists trained nine captive grizzly bears to walk and run on a special treadmill placed in a custom, sealed enclosure of steel and plastic. The research team had individual bears walk for about 6 minutes each at varying speeds and gradients , keeping the animals motivated with a constant stream of apple slices.
The team found that the most energy efficient walking speed for the bears was about 4.2 kilometers per hour , despite GPS data from bears in the wild showing that grizzlies usually only travel at about 0.6 meters per second—or a little less than a mile and a half per hour, which is about how fast humans walk. The GPS data also showed that wild grizzlies mostly stuck to trails with gentler gradients, probably to conserve energy.
“Our study helps explain why bears would want to use the same types of terrain as us, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to see a bear walking on one of ‘our’ trails,” said lead author Anthony Carnahan in a statement.
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