Italian scientists from the University of Ferrara and other research centers conducted a new large-scale study, which revealed that bears in Italy have become significantly less aggressive compared to representatives of other populations.
Points of attention
- The study highlights the impact of historical events, such as deforestation and hunting during the Roman Empire, on the genetic evolution of the bear population.
- The findings suggest that natural selection favored bears that exhibited less aggression towards humans, resulting in a lasting behavioral change.
What's happening to the bears?
According to the publication Molecular Biology and Evolution , long-term coexistence with humans has played a role in the lives of Apennine brown bears (Ursus arctos marsicanus).
What is important to understand is that we are talking about a small isolated population — about 50 individuals — that has lived in central Italy for thousands of years.
As part of the new study, scientists collected and analyzed the genomes of 12 bears from the Apennines and compared them with relatives from Slovakia and Europe.
Scientists concluded that Italian bears have become less aggressive over time than representatives of other European populations.
According to researchers, this happened due to natural selection, which favored the survival of those individuals that got along better with humans.
About 2000–3000 years ago (during the Roman Empire and later), people actively cut down forests, expanded agricultural land and hunted bears in Italy. This led to a sharp reduction in their numbers and the isolation of the population in the mountains. The bears found themselves trapped: little space, little food and constant contact with people. In such conditions, those bears that attacked livestock or people less survived. Over time, this became a genetic trait.
