Chapter 1
November 19, 2010 – 7:39 PM CST
In this time of letting the bears settle in, there isn’t much bear news. We’re waiting for deer hunting season to end on November 21 so our traipsing around doesn’t disturb deer hunters. It’s a time of writing, reviewing lesson plans teachers have sent in for the Education Outreach Project, and communicating with the people creating the den cams. The best we can do for bear news on this snowy November day is to reminisce about the old days when Lynn was acquiring the knowledge that led to the trust-based research of today. Here’s a passage from today’s work on Chapter 1 (unedited).
Perhaps the most misunderstood behaviors of black bears are their blustery behaviors—startling lunges, swats to the ground, and explosive blowing. Understanding these behaviors was my biggest step toward being able to work closely with them. Here are some of the bears and events that help me learn.
In April 1985, as I approached a den, a cub made a soft sound. I peered in and saw the mother lift her head, narrow her muzzle, and lunge, slamming her feet at the entrance and blowing explosively. I jerked back even though I’d safely seen that behavior hundreds of times. She settled back to the far end of the den.
I didn’t know this bear. This was more than a year before I began walking with bears, and I was still learning their language and intentions.
But by that time, 18 years into my bear research, these lunges no longer scared me. All the bears had lunged only to their den entrances, never past, and no bear really tried to make contact.
I lay down at the entrance, ready to snap a picture if the mother mustered the courage to bluff again. As I waited, I wondered. What are the bear rules? What if I crawled in a couple feet? Would she lunge at me but stop the same distance away as she had when I was at the entrance? I felt she would not attack. I crawled in a couple feet. She lunged and slammed her feet down a couple feet away as I thought she would. I knew the picture I got was not well aimed, so I waited for her to do it again. When I didn’t leave, she did something I did not expect. She turned her back, hid her head in the back corner of the den, and left one of her cubs unprotected beside her, nearly within my reach, although out of sight in the bedding.
I didn’t understand her docile behavior. She seemed both scared and fierce when she made the lunges, but to see her hide her head showed me something new. I saw just how meek she was behind all the bravado. I was learning that black bear lunges and bluff charges are nothing more than ritualized expressions of their own apprehensions. By trying something new, I learned something new, and my attitude was changing.
We are still feeling deep gratitude for your efforts on November 16 during ‘Give to the Max Day’—and all that will come from that. Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center