Bear-resistant food storage container
Open-knowledge reference entry
Bear-resistant food storage containers, also called bear canisters or bear cans, are usually hard-sided containers used by backpackers to protect their food from theft by bears. Bear canisters are seeing increased popularity in areas where bears have become habituated to human presence, and are required in some places, such as Yosemite National Park in the United States.
Construction
A bear canister typically weighs between 2–4 lb (1–2 kg), and has a storage capacity of 400–900 in3 (6–15 liters). The actual capacity in number of days of hiking food stored varies with the appetite of the hiker, the selection of food, and the skill in which it is packed, but a 700 in3 canister likely holds up to a week's worth of food for the average hiker.
Hard-sided bear cans employ such materials as polycarbonate, ABS plastic, carbon fiber, and aluminum in their construction. Canisters should resist both the tremendous strength and high intelligence of an attacking animal. Most containers are too large for a bear to simply pick up and carry away.
The lid of a canister is usually recessed in order to prevent it being pried off. Some manufacturers require a tool such as a coin to open the canister while others use locking nubs that allow the user to twist the lid off without tools.
Regulations and testing
Several national parks and national forests require backcountry visitors to carry approved food storage containers.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bear-resistant food storage container” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.