Background Hibernation has been a key area of research for several decades, essentially in
small mammals in the laboratory, yet we know very little about what triggers or ends it in the …

Habitat selection is a fundamental behaviour that links individuals to the resources required
for survival and reproduction. Although natural selection acts on an individual's phenotype …

Behavioral effects of living under predation risk may influence the dynamics of prey species
more than direct demographic effects. Human recreation, especially hunting, can also force …

Compilation of this document was initiated by the Norwegian Environment Agency in order
to establish recommended protocols for capture, chemical immobilization, anesthesia and …

Species have traditionally been defined as cortisol-dominant or corticosterone-dominant,
depending on the glucocorticoid that is reported. To assess the degree of covariance versus …

The concept of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction, and refinement) was originally developed
for improving laboratory animal welfare and is well known in biomedical and toxicologic …

We conducted thirteen immobilizations of previously collared hibernating two-to four-year-
old brown bears (Ursus arctos) weighing 21–66 kg in central Sweden in winter 2010 and …

Human harvest can induce selection on life history and morphological traits, leading to
ecological and evolutionary responses. Our understanding of harvest-induced selection on …

Background Despite centuries of research, debate remains on the scaling of metabolic rate
to mass especially for intraspecific cases. The high variation of body mass within brown …

Background Free-ranging brown bears exhibit highly contrasting physiological states
throughout the year. They hibernate 6 months of the year, experiencing a decrease in body …