Do Bears Eat Humans?

There is a huge misconception when it comes to predator species such as bears that creates a false sense of fear in people. As a result, most individuals confuse being a predator species with being predatory towards humans. While it is true that predatory animals such as the bear do have a greater physical potential to harm, injure or kill a human due to their large body size, sharp carnivorous teeth and claws, the key word here is potential. Just because an animal has a physical potential to harm a human does not mean that it actually will.

Most predators have never used humans as a food source and no predator has ever had humans as their primary food source. In a nut shell, this means that predators such as bears do not see us humans as food. While bear attacks do sometimes happen, they are actually quite rare. In fact, they are so rare that you are actually 12 times more likely to die from a bee sting than you are from a bear attack and 10 times more likely to die from a dog attack than from a bear attack. In addition 1 person out of 16,000 commits murder but only 1 grizzly bear out of 50,000 ever kills a person and only 1 out of 1 million black bear ever does. This means that people are actually more dangerous than bears. It is also more common to die from a spider bite, a snake bite, a tornado or from lightening than from a bear attack.

What Bears Eat

So if bears don’t eat humans you might be wondering, what do they eat? What a bear eats really just depends on the species of bear. Scientifically speaking, although bears are classified as carnivores, they are technically omnivores like us humans and can often be found eating a diet consisting mainly of meats and plants. About 90% of the Eastern Black Bear’s diet consists of plants such as leaves, flowers, grasses, mushrooms, roots, berries, and fruits. They also eat nuts, acorns, honey, grubs and small mammals. Grizzly bears eat a lot of plants, berries, roots, grubs, honey and small mammals such as squirrels and rabbits, salmon and trout. Other types of bears such as the Polar bear feast upon seals, sea lions, walruses, fish, and sometimes dolphins. While pandas (technically marsupials but have the name panda bear) subsist on mostly bamboo in addition to small mammals, grasses, roots, and small fish.