Omnivores exploit numerous sources of protein and other nutrients throughout the year, and meat is generally considered a high-quality resource. However, it is unknown if there is any general association between latitude and carnivorous behavior in omnivorous mammals. We examined the relative importance of meat and other dietary components, including anthropogenic food items, in the diet of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Estonia using conventional scat-and stomach-content analyses as well as stable-isotope (δ 15 N, δ 13 C) analyses. When food habits of brown bears in Estonia were compared with those of other populations in central and northern Europe, the propor-tion of animal prey in the diet was positively correlated with latitude. Further compari-son with the data on the diet of two other omnivorous mammals, the European badger (Meles meles) and the European pine marten (Martes martes), provides evidence that increased carnivory towards northern latitudes may be a general adaptation in omnivo-rous mammals.