Gourmet bears prefer whole-wheat bread

Yücel Sönmez – TRABZON

Bears in Sürmene district of the Black Sea province Trabzon prefer whole-wheat bread, hazelnut and Anzer honey to food bought from markets, a villager performing experimental feeding for four years has said.

“Five bears visit me regularly in certain periods. They first come after the winter sleep around March 15. Then, they go for copulating and come back in November before the next winter sleep,” honey producer İbrahim Sedef told daily Hürriyet.

He has a CCTV system with which he shoots videos of the bears coming in front of his shed and eating the stuff he had put there. A footage showing a bear eating the local Anzer Valley honey while refusing the others has attracted huge attention on social media.

Sedef’s curiosity about the wild mammals’ palate led him to perform tests to choose the best food for his own family.

“I put outside several kinds of bread. For instance, there’s a kind of Trabzon-style bran bread prepared with whole-wheat. It has always been their first choice among different breads. Their second choice is the sourdough bread, and their last choice is the bread bought from the market,” said Sedef.

“They eat hazelnuts these days,” he also said.

There has to be further research about the bears’ choices, an expert said.

“They can choose Anzer honey today and the flower honey tomorrow. Long-term scientific studies are needed to come to certain conclusions,” said Emrah Çoban, science coordinator of the Kuzey Doğa Association.

“But, it is certain that bears have very sensitive noses,” he added.