222 Days and Counting - UPDATE April 23, 2014
At 9:51 PM, Juliet will have been at her den for 222 days. Last fall, on September 13, at 11:29 AM, Juliet began moving 1.5 miles south, resting occasionally before arriving at the den at 9:51 PM. Today is the anniversary of Lily, Eli, and Ellie moving away from their den unusually late last year after spending 225 days at their den.
Aster is still focusing her activities in and around her den.
Lily, Eli, and Ellie celebrated their anniversary of leaving the den on this date last year by beginning to roam. Shortly after noon, they left the area they have been using 70 yards from their den and moved 0.2 miles away.
They held up there until nearly 7:00 PM before setting out again. Currently they are 0.4 miles away from their den and still traveling. Interestingly, Lily and her yearlings are moving further into a remote area rather than towards residences.So far in this study, denning periods have ranged from 156 to 225 days with Lily holding both records. In the shortest denning period, she and Faith entered their deep rock den on 22 October 2011 and left it unusually early on 24 March 2012 when unseasonably warm temperatures (15–25C) melted the snow. In the longest denning period, she entered the brush pile den on 10 September 2012 and left it on 23 April 2013 with Eli and Ellie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQFvz1eNIDA). Soon, he returned to his chalet den, pausing on the way to eat a few mouthfuls of dry, brown grass. Holly is having a grand time with her water tub. She played with it in her den last night and hauled it back out today. She also solved the puzzle of how to extract 10 Brazil nuts and a dozen almonds from her PVC pipe with holes in it.
At the Bear Center, Ted took his first walk of the year down to the viewing area (At the WRI, green grass is sprouting under the brown visible grass, and deer are gathering in the yard.
Lily Fans are raving about the trust-based mule deer research program that aired last night on PBS http://video.pbs.org/video/2365224462/. We didn’t see it, but the topic brought back great memories of Lynn’s trust-based white-tailed deer research. In both studies, the researcher became accepted into the group and could observe and record everything the deer did. Lynn remembers joining the group of deer, homing in on radio-signals. If the deer were lying down, they paid no attention. If they were browsing, one or two would greet him with a lick on the arm and resume browsing. Regarding the documentary last night, Lily Fan Laura Cominetti said, “It was beautifully done and very emotionally moving. I hope many people watched and learned. I thought it was so good to have this story of the emotional and intellectual side of a large prey animal told. To see how the mule deer grieves when a member of its herd dies is heart wrenching.” She is right on. Lynn remembers the changes in behaviors that occurred after a group-member was killed.
Walking with deer was what made Lynn realize how much he didn’t know about black bears at the time. Although he had been studying black bears in conventional ways for a decade (since 1967) by then, in one year of walking with deer he learned more about deer than he had ever learned about bears. He walked with them for 4 years. A few years later, in the mid 1980’s, he learned that the same thing was possible with black bears. And now Lily Fans know that, too.
Juliet and a cub can be heard vocalizing in this sound file.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center