Sure they do, but it's not the honey they're after. It's the protein. The bee larvae and pupae pack more punch than the sweet stuff around them.
A black bear will rip through a hive like it was made of paper, impervious to a thousand stings. Thick fur and tough hide make them all but natural-born bee raiders. They are evolved to do so.
The accuracy that their claws can rip into wood and wax resembles that of surgical instruments.
Bears need about 20,000 calories a day before winter-a single honeycomb gives them 1,500 calories.
Honey is only a prize compared with the brood of bees inside these very combs, which contain more protein than a pound of salmon.
Bears have powerful noses. They can smell a hive from one mile away. A bear has a sense of smell sevenfold as strong as what a bloodhound possesses.
When they get that scent, they just follow it, as would a compass pointing north.
Evolution shaped them for this. Their digestive system-breaks down the wax, processes the honey, and extracts every bit of nutrition from the larvae. Nothing goes to waste.
Some of them raid dozens of hives in one night. They are not being greedy, just being smart.
Every calorie counts when winter's coming. The bees rebuild. The bears return. It's been this way since before humans started keeping bees.
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