Bears - Sounds Wild
Old bears

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Old bear

A young adult brown bear is ambling across the alpine on Admiralty Island, easy to spot in contrast to the green open slopes at the headwaters of Greens Creek. It's September 1981, and biologists are watching from a helicopter. They're studying brown bears here, and they dart the bear with an immobilizing drug and equip it with a tracking collar. It's the first time Alaska biologists have darted a bear from a helicopter. They collar and process the 275 pound male bear and estimate his age to be three years old. His eartag designates him as male number 50.

Two summers later, in June of 1983, bear number 50 is recaptured by biologists in the same area. He now weighs 325 pounds, and he's with a larger female. He gets a new collar and transmitter with fresh batteries, and over the years, he's tracked, helping biologists learn how Admiralty bears use their habitat throughout the year.

Flash forward to 2015. A bear hunting guide brings a skull and hide into the Douglas Fish and Game office for inspection. Marks on the hide show this bear was once collared and tagged. Some research into Admiralty bear records narrows it down - this is bear number 50. He was 37 years old, a remarkable age for a brown bear, especially a male bear on Admiralty Island.

Brown bears, also called grizzly bears, are generally considered to live into their mid-20s - females tend to live a little longer than males. The oldest documented brown bears in Alaska were a 38 year old male and a 39 year old female - Admiralty Bear 50 was a remarkably old bear.