The majority of the dens we have located here in the park are very difficult to access with protected entry ways and good vantage points to observe potential threats from the entrance. Once the den location is selected, bears may continue to move around scouring the area for food while continuing to prepare their den. Bears in Yosemite typically select hollowed out fire cavities in large trees or caves formed by large rocks in talus fields. GPS data paired with observations of family groups in the spring have shown that pregnant females are the first to select dens. ![]() Most years, the majority of bears in Yosemite begin closing in on a hibernation location starting as early as October. Making the assumption that all bears are hibernating as soon as the weather cools off is a common mistake that can be much more difficult to correct than maintaining proper storage of human food and garbage year-round. It’s critical to maintain proper food storage year-round. There were several accounts on social media of this occurring last winter in the Tahoe Basin. Likewise, if bears have access to human food or trash in the winter, they may skip hibernation altogether, even in winters with heavy snow accumulation. Bears that continue to find enough calories foraging in the late fall and winter may go into hibernation later, or skip it altogether (these bears are more often males). Hibernation in black bears is dependent on food availability-meaning that once a bear is using more energy than they can find, they’ll hibernate. So where are the bears? Are they hibernating yet? The answer might be more complex than you’d expect. It’s January, but Yosemite has only seen a small amount of snow. Bear prints of a sow and her cub in the snow
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