Yesterday afternoon the outside Pan-Tilt-Zoom (PTZ) camera went down when ‘someone’ chewed through the cable. So, of course, when drama ensued at the den last evening it created much anxiety among those of us who could hear but not see what was going on! The bears all left the den. When Faith exited she was squawking loudly just outside the den – but then her voice quickly faded away into the distance. The outside camera was down, so no one could see why her cries trailed off as if she were being carried quickly away. And if she was being carried… who or what was carrying her? Eventually, three bears returned to the den. Lily nursed Hope and Jason—Hope with her deep rumble of a hum and Jason with his higher hum—but no Faith. We struggled to hear a third voice but couldn’t. Sometime later, after much consternation and several trips in and out of the den, Faith’s little-cub voice joined Jason’s little-cub voice and we all heaved a sigh of relief. These bears know how to keep us on edge.
Today, Jason (the human) repaired the Ethernet cable to the PTZ camera. Once again we can see the goings on outside the den. As Jason said his good-byes to the bears and headed back to the den shed, Lily was resting on one of the many trails she and Hope have made leading away from the den, Hope was resting near the leaning cedars, and the 2 cubs were resting on the mound just outside the den. When Jason started up the snowmobile to leave, Hope rushed into the den. This got Lily’s attention and she rushed to the den to assess the situation. Lily and the cubs calmly stood outside the den while Hope hid inside as the sound of the snowmobile faded. Sounds are carrying further now that there is less snow to absorb them.
We were amazed at the agility of the cubs as they romped outside this afternoon! They still have some things to work out though. Like at one point it appeared Faith had her forward and reverse mixed up—and then she suddenly applied the brakes and did a face-plant. But in general they get to where they want to go. Fortunately they are sticking pretty close to the den so we can observe.
At one point they both climbed up to a bare spot on top of the den—making us think they had been there before. When they were bedded there, we panned around to see where Lily and Hope were. They were not within reach of the PTZ camera. However, as soon as the cubs began whimpering, Lily appeared on the scene quickly. We wonder if she and Hope have been on a scouting trip looking for a bed site.
The temperature got up to 40 F today with slow melting. We suspect the bears will leave the den as soon as the cubs can climb and follow well enough. Meltwater could hasten departure, but mothers with cubs around here typically leave in mid-April although some have left the last week of March in years with little snow.
Lily fans found this link about an article that appeared in Highlights magazine a year ago http://www.highlightskids.com/Magazine/March10/bearsSpeak/h10310_bearsSpeak.asp.
Meanwhile, you are working hard to keep Ely in the top six money positions in the Readers Digest contest. The site for casting 10 votes (all at once) a day is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN.
Please check for recent ‘bearstudy’ video uploads on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#g/u.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center