Asian black bear
Asian black bear
Three people in Japan were killed by bears in the span of one week, including one man who was picking mushrooms in a forest and another man who was decapitated as he was mauled.

Police in the country's Iwate Prefecture told AFP that a man said to be in his 70s was first reported missing after going scavenging in the woods. On Friday, Oct. 10, police said he was found dead.

"We suspect he was attacked by a bear based on scratch marks," an official said of the elderly man's death.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, police said they found a man dead, seemingly attacked by a bear in another part of the prefecture. Local outlet TV Iwate said the man's head and torso had been separated.

Meanwhile, a 78-year-old man was found dead on Saturday in the Nagano Prefecture with multiple claw marks on his body. Police told AFP that while they suspect a bear attack is to blame, the man's cause of death is still under investigation.

Japan is home to two species of bears: the Asian black bear and the Ussuri brown bear. Brown bears can weigh up to 1,210 lbs. and are mainly vegetarian, though they are known to kill any prey they encounter in their habitats. Asian black bears can weigh as much as 440 lbs. and are omnivorous, eating insects, fruit, nuts, small mammals, and birds.