Could You Bear This Unique Diet?

Goldilocks lied to us—this isn't porridge at all!

Howdy! It’s Joey, back with more Fun Fact Friyay. Today’s fact is part of a well-balanced meal.

But first, in case you missed it last week…I have a story featured in the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul series! This is a series I read all the time growing up; even as an adult, I find the stories to be inspiring and motivate me to be better.

My story is about doing karaoke at a WNBA game, two activities that are very on brand for me. I even got featured on the official Chicken Soup podcast. If you’re so inclined to check out a copy, you can get Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Ways to Think Positive directly from the website or support your favorite bookstore through Bookshop.

Photo by Leslie Delay on Unsplash

Bears at Yellowstone eat up to 40,000 moths a day.

We all have some kind of food vice, something we just can’t stop snacking on. Maybe yours is a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Perhaps it’s a bag of chips (or a canister of chips, if Pringles are your jam). It could be drinking ranch dressing directly from the bottle, like a friend of mine did in high school. I do not recommend this.

If you’re a bear, particularly at Yellowstone National Park, you can’t help but munch on moths.

The West’s most common moth is the miller, the adult version of the army cutworm. These moths tend to hang out in sunny spots and around rocks, which could give them a nice tan but also makes them the target of hungry bears, especially in summer months.

Both grizzlies and black bears will head over to these rocks and turn them over before devouring the moths they find. As you may know, bears are very big, and they need a healthy serving of fat in their diet.

A single moth is high in fat and is about half a calorie. So, a bear eating 40,000 moths in a day—as they’re believed to do every August—is putting away 20,000 calories. That helps keep them in tip-top shape throughout summer and fall and allows them to sleep GOOD in the winter hibernation months.

You know what? Nice sleep sounds fantastic. Hope you get some good shut-eye over the weekend.