Q&A
We solve your wildlife mysteries.
BEHAVIOUR
Why do bears love a good scratch?
bears scratch in the woods? Absolutely – check out the comic clip of tree-rubbing brown bears, filmed for , on BBC Earth’s YouTube channel. Bears routinely use trees, boulders and even signposts as back scratchers, but this is more than dealing with an ursine itch. They are also scent-marking, so select prominent trees, preferably where territories overlap. Many aspects of the chemical signalling – where, when, how much, how often – differ according to the bears’ sex and age. The perfume is far from subtle. Alaska state biologist Anthony Crupi has studied ‘rub trees’ by placing gauze over the trunk, and it “would turn almost black from the oils and stuff in the bears’
