Yes, bears absolutely love honey! Whether the hive full of honey, on the ground, up a tree, or hanging from rocks – a bear will find it – and eat it!
Why Do Bears Eat Honey?
Honey is the most amazing thing ever – if you are a bear! Sticky, warm and sweet. Who wouldn’t want to eat it?
But, they aren’t just drawn to the honey – it is almost like a by-product – a free dessert if you like. Inside a hive, there are immature bees – larvae and pupae – both really high in protein and fat. Great for a bear who needs to pile on the pounds before winter. So, the smell of the honey might be the draw – but the real prize is the baby bees.
However, while they are there – they just eat as much as they can before leaving the hive in tatters. As they leave, they shake off any angry adult bees from their coat – like they do water when leaving a puddle. Off they go with a full belly – probably for a nap. There are around 1000 calories in a cup of just honey alone – so that hive raid might be the only thing they need to eat all day!
Do Bears Climb Trees To Get Honey?
If the hive is up a tree – then the bears go up too. Sun bears and sloth bears will regularly shimmy up trees to get their honey – and sloth bears eat the whole lot including the honeycomb. They are quite a special bear – and are known to mix up a honeycomb with partially-digested jackfruit in their bodies and create a sort of regurgitated ‘bear bread’ for their cubs. The locals love it too – and collect it where they can!
Black, brown, spectacled, and panda bears are all opportunistic feeders – so if they come across a hive up a tree when they are hungry – they will have no hesitation in climbing the tree and having a calorie-dense snack. There aren’t always wild bees around in all the places where these bears live though – but if they come across one they would certainly give it a go. Stings don’t put them off.
Article: Can all bears climb trees?
Do Bears Get Stung By Bees?
As expected – if you raid a beehive – you are going to make the bees angry. But unlike us humans – bee stings can’t always reach the bear’s skin through all that fur – so most stings don’t make it. Needless to say – if bears know they can get a free meal and not get hurt – they will just keep on doing it!
There will be the odd time that a bee sting catches their lips or noses of course. Depending on how hungry the bear is – and how full of immature bees it is – they may just hang around anyway! No pain – no gain they say.
There will be times when a bear gets stung by bees too many times and it will quit while it’s ahead. No point getting really hurt this time if you can come back later and give it another go. As long as a hive isn’t too damaged – and the queen isn’t injured – it will get rebuilt.
Sometimes though – bears raid human bee farms instead – and these bees are more docile. Humans do try to set up fences and other deterrents to protect their hives – but it is quite a common occurrence to find a raided hive strewn in pieces.
Do Hawks and Bears Have Similar Diets?
Hawks and bears have distinctly different diets. While hawks primarily feed on small mammals, insects, and birds, bears have a more varied omnivorous diet. However, it is rare to find hawks eating foxes, as they usually target smaller prey. Bears, on the other hand, incorporate both plant matter and animal protein into their diet, including fish, berries, and occasionally small mammals.
Would A Polar Bear Eat Honey?
Well, there certainly wouldn’t be any wild honey-producing bees up where polar bears live – so the chances of it happening naturally are very unlikely. Polar bears are also hyper-carnivorous (where other US bears are more omnivorous) so the thought of honey might be a bit alien to them anyway.
They also get enough calories from one adult seal to last them a week, so if hunting is good – they will already be full.
However, a polar bear in the wrong place at the wrong time would most certainly eat honey or raid a beehive. Especially if it was hungry – or maybe even just for fun. Bears are very inquisitive!
Polar bears caught out without their usual food will eat anything – birds, fish, kelp, vegetation, and even human garbage. And if they were far enough south and settlements had beehives – they would be too appealing to leave un-raided.
Sorry bees!
