Bears are quite skilled at finding food and will search just about anywhere for a good meal. Although they are typically cautious animals, a sticky-sweet beehive full of tasty honey can be so tempting that a bear will even endure the pain of an electric fence to get to it, as seen in this YouTube video.
Why Bears Crave Honey
Honey provides a quick energy boost for a hungry bear.
©YouTube/Wildlife by Bean
From Winnie the Pooh to Baloo, bears are often portrayed as major honey lovers. While they do enjoy honey in real life, it’s not a significant part of their diet. Bears are omnivores, meaning they eat a variety of foods, including plants, berries, insects, and meat.
Honey is a sweet treat for bears, but they typically aren’t after just the sweet stuff. Bears are also looking for bees and larvae to eat, as these provide a valuable source of protein.
Just How Far Can a Bear Smell?
A bear has a stronger sense of smell than a bloodhound.
©YouTube/Wildlife by Bean
Bears have an incredible sense of smell, far superior to humans. Their large noses contain a unique, honeycomb-like structure called the nasal mucosa. This gives them 100 times more surface area inside their nose compared to humans, allowing them to detect many more scents from much further away.
Bears also have a massive olfactory bulb in their brains. This part of the brain is responsible for processing smells, and a bear’s olfactory bulb contains many olfactory receptors, which are specialized cells that detect scents. Bears also have a unique structure on the roof of their mouth called the vomeronasal or Jacobson’s organ, which further boosts their sense of smell and helps them detect chemical signals.
It’s difficult to measure a bear’s sense of smell with precise accuracy, but even conservative estimates are pretty impressive. A black bear, for example, is thought to be able to smell food from over a mile away, and some researchers believe they can smell from several miles away. Polar bears have an even more powerful sense of smell and can detect prey from up to 20 miles away.
Electric Fences in Wildlife Management
Black bears and brown bears commonly target beehives.
©YouTube/Wildlife by Bean
Electric fences are often utilized to protect beehives from bears and other animals. While electric fences use high voltage, the current is very low, so they are unlikely to cause serious injury. Instead of delivering a continuous shock, electric fences send power through the wires in quick pulses. This gives a bear the chance to pull away, feeling only a brief, unpleasant jolt.
However, some animals, like the bear in the YouTube video, will endure the brief shocks to get to something as tempting as a beehive. A single-strand electric fence usually isn’t enough to stop a hungry bear with a strong craving for sweets. That’s why many people use multi-strand fences instead. However, even these are not completely foolproof, and a determined bear can sometimes still get through.
Experts often recommend placing beehives as far as possible from trees and brush. Bears tend to travel under the cover of forests, so keeping hives in the open keeps them away from common bear routes and makes them less appealing to passing bears.
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