Why mountain scree becomes a bear feeding ground
In some mountain habitats, moths spend daylight hours tucked into loose rock fields, or scree. The stones provide cool, shaded gaps where the insects can hide from heat and predators. As moths gather in these sheltered patches, a place that looks barren from a distance can hold a concentrated food supply.
Bears turn scattered insects into a seasonal meal
A brown bear does not need to chase moths one by one. It can use its claws and strength to rake or dig through the rocks, exposing clusters of resting insects. The meal is small in pieces but rich in fat, and a bear can keep searching across a patch as it uncovers more moths.
This feeding is tied to the short mountain season: moths are available in abundance for a limited period, while bears need to accumulate energy for the months when food becomes scarce and they spend winter in dens. The rocky field effectively concentrates many tiny prey items into one place a bear can exploit.
A hidden harvest with a visible cost
The arrangement links two very different animals. Moths use the rocks as daytime shelter; bears use the same shelter as a predictable foraging site. Digging may disturb the scree, but the bears’ immediate reward is a dense, temporary source of calories when building body reserves matters most. What looks like an empty slope is, for a bear, a seasonal pantry.
