Hibernation concentrates chemicals

Some pollutants build up in grizzly bears even as they doze through the winter, tests of the animals’ hair and fat indicate.

BEARS’ BURDEN. Grizzlies concentrate some pollutants in their fat even while they fast during hibernation. I. McAllister/Raincoast Conservation Society

Hibernating bears don’t drink, eat, or excrete waste, so food- and waterborne contaminants neither enter nor leave their bodies.