Stand by me: bears adapt to hunting ban on family groups by keeping cubs longer

Scandinavian study finds bears responding to Swedish law banning hunting of family groups by keeping cubs close for an extra year

Female brown bears have learned to protect themselves from being shot by spending more time caring for their young as they adapt to legislation banning the hunting of mothers with cubs.

The finding, published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, was made by a team of international researchers who spent 22 years studying data on the reproductive strategy and survival of Scandinavian brown bears.