Patterns of brown bear (Ursus arctos) visits to human settlements provide insights for human–wildlife coexistence

Negative interactions between humans and large carnivores represent one of the main challenges for the conservation of these species due to the social conflict they can generate. In the case of brown bears (Ursus arctos), these interactions include visits of bears to human settlements, a type of event increasingly reported in recent years and often associated with conflicts. In this study, we collected 73 events of bear visits to human settlements between 2009 and 2021 in the Cantabrian population. These events were mainly caused by young individuals, occurring mostly at night and during the summer, when bears were primarily attracted by fruit trees available in human settlements. The affected settlements were located in areas of high habitat quality, close to breeding cores, and with a high intensity of bear damage. Within these areas, human settlements with bear visits differed from nearby ones by having a larger perimeter, a shorter distance to forest patches, and greater surrounding terrain ruggedness. Our study provides a basis for understanding the patterns and drivers of these particular human-large carnivore interactions and offers valuable insights to update and improve management strategies aimed at preventing such events, mitigating associated conflicts and promoting successful coexistence.