Bear fact: The bite is worse than the bark

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — When a male grizzly rubs a pine tree with his backside, it's not to satisfy an itch but to ward off competition while he looks for a female, according to unusual research to be unveiled next week.

By leaving his scent on a "rub tree," explained ecologist Owen Nevin of Cumbria University in Britain, a male bear may be seeking to avoid a tooth-and-claw fight with another male on the prowl.

When bears clash, it can lead to debilitating injuries, even death, so bark-rubbing is a safer alternative to a showdown.

Bear buffs have bared claws in the past over rival theories to explain this unusual ursine behaviour.

Some experts have suggested that the tree rubbers are females coming into heat, while others have speculated that the friction...