What Do Bears Eat? (Spoiler: Mostly Plants)

Last updated: October 11, 2026

Big teeth, big claws, big reputation. You'd think bears live on meat. Most of them don't. The menu depends a lot on the species, and some of it is pretty surprising.

Black bears: mostly salad

American black bears are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. But most of their diet is plants. Through spring and summer they eat grasses and fruit, and in fall they fill up on acorns, beechnuts and other nuts. The rest is insects and other small creatures, plus dead animals they find while foraging.

So a black bear is much more likely to be munching berries than chasing anything.

Grizzlies: they'll eat almost anything

Grizzlies are famously flexible eaters. One analysis of grizzly droppings in Yellowstone found 266 different kinds of plants and animals, from dandelions to ants.

A few highlights from the grizzly menu:

• Roots, plants and rodents. That big shoulder hump is muscle, and together with long claws it makes grizzlies great diggers. They dig up roots and plants, and even raid the food stashes of pocket gophers.
• Squirrel snacks. Grizzlies sometimes raid the hidden piles of pine seeds that squirrels store for winter.
• Moths. Lots of moths. In the Northern Rockies, some grizzlies climb high mountain slopes and dig through the rocks for army cutworm moths. These moths are packed with fat, and one study estimated a bear can eat up to around 40,000 moths in a single day.
• Salmon. In Alaska, brown bears gather at rivers when millions of salmon swim upstream to spawn. At Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, bears catch fish right at the waterfall, and the fattest of them compete in the park's yearly online contest, Fat Bear Week.

What about honey?

Bears really do raid beehives, but honey isn't always the main prize. Bears also eat the bee brood: the eggs, larvae and pupae inside the hive. It's packed with protein, and beekeeping experts say it's often what bears are really after. The honey is dessert.

Polar bears: the meat-eaters

Polar bears are the exception. They live mostly on seals, especially ringed and bearded seals, and they're after the fat. A polar bear can eat more than 100 pounds (45 kg) of blubber in one sitting.

That fat has to last. When the sea ice melts and seals are hard to reach, polar bears live off their stored fat, sometimes for months.

The specialists

• Giant pandas eat bamboo, and a lot of it: about 80 to 100 pounds (36 to 45 kg) a day, which takes them 12 to 14 hours of eating. In zoos, they also get special biscuits, carrots, sweet potatoes and apples.
• Sloth bears in India and nearby countries live largely on termites and ants. They're missing their top front teeth, which leaves a gap they use to suck insects out of their nests like a vacuum cleaner. Outside the fruit season, insects make up about 95 percent of what they eat.
• Spectacled bears in South America eat mostly fruit and bromeliads, and only occasionally small animals.
• Sun bears in Southeast Asia have a very long tongue for slurping up insects and honey.

The fall eating marathon

Before winter, bears go into a feeding frenzy called hyperphagia. Wildlife agencies estimate a black bear can eat up to about 20,000 calories a day and spend up to 20 hours a day looking for food. All that fat is what keeps the bear alive during months in the den. You can read more in Do Bears Really Hibernate?

Why bears should never eat our food

When bears are that hungry, trash cans, coolers and bird feeders look like an easy meal. The trouble is that a bear that learns to find food around people keeps coming back and can become dangerous. Some of these bears end up having to be put down. Wildlife officers sum it up in five words: "A fed bear is a dead bear."

What you can do:

• Store trash, food and pet food where bears can't reach it.
• Take bird feeders down in bear country, especially in spring and fall.
• When camping, follow the park's food storage rules every time.
• Never feed a bear, not even a little.

Mostly plants, yes. But if you leave a cooler open, I'm not responsible for what happens next.