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Grizzly Bear Eating Seaweed?

May 12, 2016 Lodge Guide

watching bears eating seaweed

This is more common than one would think. It is not a result of the lack of other food it is more because seaweed is full of vitamins and minerals –vitamins: A, C, E, K and B and minerals: iodine, selenium, calcium and iron. Not sure how many grizzly bears have a degree in advanced nutrition but over the centuries they seem to have learned what is good for their system.

Black Bear mother and cub

Although all species of bears, including black and grizzly bears, are technically of the order Carnivora, they are essentially omnivores that eat plants, insects, fish, and animals. On this day we watched this mother and cub for more than thirty minutes as they moved along the beach turning over rocks in search of food that is high in protein and is made up of crab, clams, barnacles, amphipods and other tiny invertebrates. These two also ate some seaweed and finished off their search in a patch of salal berries. It was a learning time for the cub as it followed mother and copied her every action.