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From BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition:
The mystery behind the tree rubbing antics of North America's grizzly bears may at last have been solved.
A few select trees are used by grizzlies to perform strange rubbing rituals, but for years the reasons for this behaviour have baffled ecologists.
Now, a study suggests that male grizzlies seeking mates are marking the trees to communicate with other males - possibly to dodge deadly bear battles.
The work will be presented next week at a British Ecological Society meeting.
Owen Nevin, a behavioural ecologist at Cumbria University, UK, who carried out the study, said: "A handful of trees ('rub trees') are used for years by different grizzlies who each approach the trees in exactly the same way.
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