The president of the Biodiversity Foundation, a public foundation of the Government of Spain under the Ministry of the Environment, Rural and Marine Affairs, Josep Puxeu, accompanied by the president of the Brown Bear Foundation, Guillermo Palomero, and by the professor of Zoology at the Complutense University of Madrid, José Luis Tellería, and the director of the Biodiversity Foundation, Ana Leiva, has presented today in Madrid the book and DVD “Osas”.

The aim of the book and DVD “Osas” is to disseminate the results of the observations and studies carried out on the Cantabrian brown bear and its habitat in recent years. It is especially concerned with the behaviour of female brown bears and their cubs in the Cantabrian Mountains, since, of all these observations in the wild, those of the females with their cubs are the ones that provide the most precise and detailed information on the evolution of the species.

This publication covers different aspects of the biology of the species, such as its diet and habitat use, hibernation, social relationships (bears in heat, family life, encounters with other bears or infanticides) and relationships with other species. All this, focused on facilitating the management of the species and solving its conservation problems.

The book, of which 2,000 copies have been published, also contains a DVD that collects unpublished and spectacular images that illustrate its contents.

The publication of this book is part of the project that the Biodiversity Foundation and the Brown Bear Foundation have been developing since 2003, with the aim of contributing to the conservation of the Cantabrian brown bear through the work of the Brown Bear Foundation’s patrols in the Natural Parks of Somiedo and Fuentes del Narcea. Degaña and Ibias (Asturias), to the study of their habitat and the connectivity between the two bear subpopulations and the collaboration with hunting societies.

Likewise, through this agreement, it is intended to raise awareness about the importance of the preservation of the Cantabrian brown bear, disseminating among the population the advantages and limitations of having an emblematic species in its territory.