Researchers studied the genomes of 213 individual brown bears found in Alberta
They looked for hairs on trees, poles and posts and linked them to an individual
This allowed them to track where a bear rubs and how often they use a rub site
The team found a link between the number of rubs and number of partners
The results of that work suggest that rubbing against a tree may have a fitness component, with those doing it more becoming more attractive
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Brown bears that are more inclined to grate and rub against trees have more offspring and more mates, according to a University of Alberta study. The results suggest there might be a fitness component to the poorly understood behaviour. As far as we know, all bears do this dance, rubbing their back up against the trees, stomping the feet and leaving behind odours of who they are, what they are, what position they re in, and possibly whether they are related, said Mark Boyce, an ecologist in the Department of Biological Sciences. What we were able to show is that both males and females have more offspring if they rub, more surviving offspring if they rub and they have more mates if they rub.
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