Grizzlies feasting on big game carcasses is nothing new, but it was a rare occurrence when a big male bear called Ojo decided to treat himself to bison brains, scooped right from the skull.<\/p>\n
He was one of four males gathered around the carcass in late October. That\u2019s when grizzlies were in their\u00a0pig-out phase<\/a>\u00a0called hyperphagia. That\u2019s when they gobble down as\u00a0much as\u00a0they can, piling on fat for hibernation.<\/p>\n And Ojo apparently thought the brains were a special treat, because he still had plenty of other options when it was his turn to feast, wildlife watcher and photographer April Holm of Idaho told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n \u201cThey (the other grizzlies) had been into the stomach area, but there was still lots of meat on the carcass when Ojo started to eat into the skull,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ojo has only one eye. It\u2019s not known how he lost the other one, Holm said.<\/p>\n She and her husband, Patrick, frequently visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, getting material for their Holm On The Range wildlife photography and video business.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Why The Brains?<\/p>\n A grizzly going after brains on a carcass seems\u00a0to be quite rare, retired federal ecologist Chuck Neal of Cody told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n He has spent countless hours afield in grizzly country and has seen\u00a0plenty of\u00a0carcasses picked over by bears.<\/p>\n \u201cSeldom is the head bothered at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n All bears species are intelligent, and\u00a0grizzlies are next-level smart<\/a>, Neal and other experts previously told Cowboy State Daily. \u00a0<\/p>\n Grizzlies are also \u201chighly individualistic,\u201d with their own survival tricks and particular tastes, Neal said.<\/p>\n So cracking skulls to get at brains might\u00a0be\u00a0something Ojo figured out at some point, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite possible, and even likely, that a particular bear has discovered foods that are important to him, and that other bears don\u2019t know about,\u201d Neal said.<\/p>\n Even with the immense strength of a grizzly, it would be difficult to get through a thick bison skull, Neal said.<\/p>\n However, brains could hold considerable nutritional\u00a0reward,\u00a0being especially high in fats.<\/p>\n Like many other species, \u201cbears need fats and carbohydrates\u201d to properly digest and absorb the protein from red meat.<\/p>\n In humans, eating just red meat alone leads to a potentially fatal condition called \u201crabbit starvation.\u201d<\/p>\n So named, because people have reportedly starved to death eating just the meat from rabbits, but not getting the fats and other nutrients required to properly process the protein in the meat.<\/p>\n