This morning between 6:31 and 7 AM, Lily’s GPS signal showed that she—probably with Hope and Faith—made a loop of about 350 yards and came back to the white pine where they have centered their activity since Wednesday night. With the new snow, it is not unusual they would stay put, but it was worth a look. About 1 PM, Lynn walked to the top of the hill where he could glimpse them 35-45 yards away. Gusty wind covered Lynn’s sound and scent. They never knew he was there. They were clustered around the base of their white pine—active but in place and only partly visible. Only Lily and Hope could be seen at first. Then Faith came into view walking to big sister Hope, looking up at her in a friendly manner as she joined her—probably to play.
A few minutes later, Lynn left thinking about how rough bears play with their cubs. Last year, we all watched aghast as Lily picked up Hope by the head, neck, arm, or whatever. He remembered another mother that grabbed one of her cubs in her mouth on March 22, 1992, and flung it back and forth like it was prey she was trying to kill. Can cubs get shaken-baby syndrome? He also remembered 4-year-old Female 401 back in early April 1987 gently picking a cub up in her mouth, hearing the cub whimper, and immediately putting it down to try again. He remembered watching 4-year-old Terri on April 2, 1989, as she carried a cub off by the head, then came back for a second that she took by the neck and used her paw to carefully place the cub back behind her canine teeth so the teeth wouldn’t let the cub fall out of her half open mouth (photo). Her den had flooded. She had stripped branches off a spruce tree outside the den for a bed on the snow. But with snow dripping off trees on her and the cubs on April 2, it was time to find a better bed. She carried the second cub off in her mouth with her third, a little bigger than the first two, following behind. Twenty-three yards away, at her destination, a cub gave a cry. She rolled on her back in the wet snow, let the cubs climb up onto her belly, and folded her hind legs up to engulf them as they snuggled against the warm skin of her sparsely furred belly.
None of those cubs were harmed. Hope is fine. The cub that was flung back and forth survived for at least a year. We’ll see what the report says about Jason.
A Lily fan asked what the purpose of the black bear’s tail might be. The only thing we can think is that it literally covers their butts. The rectal area has no fur, so the tail probably keeps that area warm in winter and protected in summer.
A Lily fan wrote that her friend opened a new autism class in a middle school, and a student who never talked, started talking up a storm when seeing the bears.
Another Lily fan discovered that ‘On The Road With Jason Davis’ (KSTP Channel 5, Minneapolis) is re-running a 2007 program about Ted and Honey and the newly opened North American Bear Center at 11:05 PM CT tonight and will put it on http://kstp.com/article/26/ after it airs.
Tomorrow, WCCO-TV is filming Dana Coleman and Rhonda Hennis working with Dana’s first grade class and a Black Bear Box. We’re not sure when it will air.
You brought us over 400,000 votes in the Readers Digest contest to win money for Ely, keeping us solidly in the money in 6th place. The link to vote 10 times in a row each day is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN. The contest ends May 16th.
Please check for recently uploaded ‘bearstudy’ videos 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