The prolonged screaming last night worried us all. We couldn’t imagine what could be wrong. This morning we snowmobiled to the den, snapped this picture, and saw that everything looked fine. Jason was alert. Faith was all tuckered out. We bet she was the screamer.
Then we saw the likely reason for all the fuss last night—but didn’t think to take a picture. A bed dug over a foot deep in the hard snow. Lily had been busy outside the den digging a bed. It looked like they had bedded outside at least part of the night. Given almost no view into the den because of the dirty lens, and confusing sounds from the newly positioned mic, no one—including us researchers—could figure out what was going on last night. We could hear nursing, but was it inside or outside the den? And the screaming; was that inside or out? And why did it the scream sound so funny? From what little we could see, Lily and Hope were in and out of the den, and we could hear one or the other or both grunting concern to the screaming cub. We’ll never know for sure what happened, but one cub (Faith?) was very unhappy! We wish we could have seen it. We’re just glad everything is fine.
Part of the worry last night was because the lens was too dirty to see very much. Now it’s sparkling clean and the Den-watch Team can resume getting publishable data on this rare family situation. We also pushed the camera farther into the tube so Hope won’t be so likely to lick it.
We know the sound has something to be desired. We had great sound when the bare microphone was lying in the den with the bears. Then they pulled it out onto the wet ground. To save it, we put it in a tube a few inches from the end so they couldn’t pull it out. Now it sounds like a rain barrel. We’ll see if we can make it better on the next visit. The Den-watch team wants all the sounds to be heard clearly for accurate classification. Video of today’s lens cleaning is posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOUV3Aagzso.
We don’t know if you saw these two articles yet. One in the local Timberjay (http://www.timberjay.com/stories/The-battle-over-bears,8108), and the other on a legislative page (http://sd47.finlaynet.net/?p=8199).
Virginia McKenna contributed to a recent fundraiser and got her Born Free organization behind protection for radio-collared bears as shown in this link https://secure3.convio.net/bfusa/site/Advocacy?id=603&JServSessionIdr004=gtdq817025.app334a.
Backpacker Magazine gave us an educational opportunity for which we salute them. We spent part of today working with their editor to turn a scary bear article into a reasonably educational one. We’ll see what comes out in the May issue.
We spent another part of the day on an article for scientific publication.
Meanwhile, you were working for Ely’s Schools! You added about 9,000 votes and moved Ely up three spots to 7th to help the schools and the bears. Here’s the link to vote ten times a day http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center