Far from controversy, bears make their life.

Drawing.

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Armend Nimani / AFP

  • At least five litters, with 10 cubs in total, have been recorded this year in the Pyrenees.

  • The Ours Brun network also captured images of a mating in Ariège.

For supporters and detractors of the bear of the Pyrenees,

L'Echo des Tanières

is essential reading.

The latest issue of this publication from the Ours Brun network (managed by the French Biodiversity Office, OFB) lists the plantigrade indices found throughout the chain.

Between January and August 2020, there are 871, collected between the Aspe valley (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), to the west, and the Oriège valley (Ariège), to the east.

The Ariège concentrates 63% of these tracks which, crossed with those recorded on the Spanish side, have made it possible to determine at least five litters in the central Pyrenees, or ten cubs of the year.

Thirty-seven visual observations were made during this period, between photos and videos.

Some have been compiled in a sort of “best of” by the OFB.

We see in particular males, females and cubs rubbing with delight with trees, attracted by the smell of a specific product spread on the bark to serve as "hair traps".

These tools are essential, along with the droppings, for the genetic studies of the species.

Flirt in Ariège

Another video, produced on May 27 and 28 in Bonac-Irazein (Ariège), shows (furtively) a mating and especially the "love parade" around the act.

Extremely rare images.

In 2019, 52 bears were spotted in 2019 in the Pyrenees, a constant increase since the introduction of Slovenian plantigrades from 1996. This growth should be confirmed in 2020, despite the death of Cachou in the Val d'Aran (Spain ) at the beginning of April, then by another male shot dead two months later in Ustou (Ariège).

These two events had caused a big rise in tension in the heated debate between pro and anti-bear.

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