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Bears, Winter, and Squirrels - UPDATE April 7, 2016

This El Nino winter isn’t that warm right now. Winter returned, and the redpolls came back. Red squirrels Red squirrelRed squirrelset the all time (23 years) record coming here to get food—24 on the deck at once. The picture shows 6 of them lined up on the railing. Lily and her 3 yearlings had only recently begun venturing out of their den on March 23 when we went to see them, going only 9-10 feet according to their tracks and packed snow.

At the Bear Center, the bears are doing about the same. The gates of Honey’s, Holly’s, and Lucky’s Den Pens are open. They can roam at will, yet they spend nearly all their time in their small enclosures. Red squirrels in a rowRed squirrels in a rowA Lily Fan caught on video Lucky and Holly playing and exploring their pen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr2SjsPYFp8.

They aren’t acting hungry yet. Ted paces by his door when he wants to be let out so he can go down to the feeding area, but he hasn’t done that yet. In the wild, bears start roaming about the time of green-up in early May. Before that, they may climb aspen trees near their dens to eat catkins, which are now starting to bloom on a few trees. So far, the ambassador bears have found wild foods about when the wild bears found the same foods. It would be nice to see Lucky and Holly climbing aspens for catkins or licking up clusters of snow fleas.

Raven visiting the bearsRaven visiting the bearsWe don’t see a need to begin feeding them before they indicate a desire. Extra pounds make it difficult for Ted and Honey to walk, and it brings the veterinarians down on us for over-feeding. All four bears are far heavier than their wild counterparts.

We’d like to get weights on them at their spring lows to compare with their weights last fall, but there is no rush. When they start coming down to the feeding area in search of someting to eat, it will be simple to put food on the scale to get them to climb on and record their weights.

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center


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