In a fascinating article in the September 7 issue of Newsweek, author Daniel Glick describes studies by Steven and Marilynn French, two self-trained bear researchers who have chronicled what they call "an important step back" for the Yellowstone grizzly -- back to ancestral habits that experts thought had been lost forever.  The title of the article is "Grizzlies Come Back.  By relearning old behavior, the great bears may yet avoid extinction."

The scene opens at 12,000 feet, above tree line in the rugged Absaroka Mountains east of Yellowstone National Park, where eight grizzlies are grazing "purposefully" in a barren glacial amphitheater, all of the bears within 150 yards of each other.  Glick reports: "At first glance (through a high-powered spotting scope) the grizzlies seem to be feeding on rocks.  But no.  The great bear: Ursus arctos horribilis, is slurping up moths - thousands of delectable, nutritious army cutworm moths - gobbling them like so many diaphanous-winged M&Ms."

The Frenches began studying grizzlies in 1983.  From their studies, Glick reports: "Although outfitters had occasionally reported bears eating 'bugs,' no one had appreciated how important moths could be to grizzlies.  The Frenches have observed more than 100 bears for whom moths serve as a major summer food source.  The moths, natives of the Great Plains, migrate to the mountains in summer to feed on the nectar of alpine flowers by night and to cluster in the cool, protected rock formations by day.  Improbable as it sounds, moths are a perfect food for the bears during the critical summer, when they put on fat for winter hibernation.  Composed of 72 percent fat and 28 percent protein, these flitting morsels are a better energy source, ounce for ounce, than deer meat or cutthroat trout.  Of course, it takes a lot of moth wings to see a grizzly through winter.  But the bears can consume hundreds of thousands of moths per year, the Frenches find, by feeding six hours a day for a month or more."

Glick notes that some 50,000 grizzlies once roamed the Lower 48 states, but fewer than 1000 remain today.  Even in Yellowstone Park, the grizzly was almost lost in the 1970s after the park closed access to the open dumps there containing up to 4800 tons of garbage per year.  By 1975, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the grizzly as threatened, meaning that the population faced extinction.  Yellowstone is one of seven "recovery zones" designated by the federal government.  Preservation efforts by the park service include steps taken to increase the elk herd and the trout population.

(Editor.  Thanks to Dr. John Medler, Honolulu, and also Dr. Matthew Kinzelman., M.D., Destin, Florida, for calling attention to this article.  We would appreciate hearing from any of our readers who can furnish more precise information on the taxonomic identity and biology of the cutworm species mentioned above.  The moth belongs, of course, to the Family Noctuidae.  The famous bugong or bogong moth, Agrotis infusa, of Australia is also a noctuid and played a rather similar role for certain aboriginal groups on that continent (see following story).                                     

The Newsweek story (summarized above) about the importance of cutworm moths (Family Noctuidae) in the survival of the grizzly bear served as inspiration for pulling together a bit of information about the famous bugong or bogong moth, Agrotis infusa (Boisd.), which was an important food for certain aboriginal groups in Australia.  Globally, many species of moth larvae are used as food, but the bogong is one of the very few moth species in which it is the adult stage that is eaten.  That there are only a few is not surprising because of the scales which clothe the bodies as well as the wings of moths.  There is a voluminous literature on the bogong moth, but, to keep the Literature Cited short, I have drawn on only two accounts here.

In an early account, Bennett (1834, I, p. 265-73) describes a trip to "Bugong Mountain" to see for himself the multitudes of moths which congregate on the granite walls and are called "Bugong" by the aborigines.  "The months of November, December, and January, are quite a season of festivity among the native blacks, who assemble from far and near to collect the Bugong; the bodies of these insects contain a quantity of oil, and they are sought after as a luscious and fattening food." Bennett's observations indicated that the moths congregate only where there are massive granite outcroppings, one such location being known as "Warrogong" by the natives.  Mr. Hamilton Hume is credited by Bennett for the information that Bugong is found also in the Snow Mountains by the aborigines living to the southward and forms their principal food during the summer.

To collect the moths from the surfaces and crevices of the granite masses, the natives build smokey fires at the base.  They are swept from the walls by the bushels-full.  Bennett describes the preparation of the moths as follows: " A circular space is cleared upon the ground, of a size proportioned to the number of insects to be prepared; on it a fire is lighted and kept burning until the ground is considered to be sufficiently heated, when, the fire being removed, and the ashes cleared away, the moths are placed upon the heated ground, and stirred about until the down and wings are removed from them; they are then placed on pieces of bark, and winnowed to separate the dust and wings mixed with the bodies; they are then eaten, or placed into a.wooden vessel called a 'Walbun, or Culibun,' and pounded by a piece of wood into masses or cakes resembling lumps of fat, and may be compared in colour and consistence to dough made from smutty wheat mixed with fat.  The bodies of the moths are large, and filled with a yellowish oil, resembling in taste a sweet nut.  These masses (with which the 'Netbuls' or 'Talabats' of the native tribes are loaded, during the season of feasting upon the 'Bugong'; will not keep above a week, and seldom for even that time; but by smoking they are able to preserve them for a much longer period.  The first time this diet is used by the native tribes, violent vomiting and other debilitating effects are produced; but after a few days they become accustomed to its use, and then thrive and fatten exceedingly upon it."

SEE BOGONG MOTH, P. 9