After resting yesterday, Lily led her family another three quarters of a mile last evening between 7:41 and 9:51 PM. She took them to one white pine and then another where she had safely spent time last spring with Hope. The fact that little Faith made it 2 ¼ miles the evening before shows that Lily is not running off without her and that little Faith is hanging in there.
Other small cubs have hung in there, although we don’t know of any as small as Faith. We remember little Mickey who weighed 7 ½ pounds on May 19, 2007. He was the runt of Braveheart’s litter, competing for milk against Chip and Dale who weighed 12 and 14 pounds. Mickey survived and became one of the ‘Three Amigos’ in the ‘Bearwalker of the Northwoods’ documentary.
A male that weighed 4 ½ pounds as a cub on March 26, 1980, weighed 28 pounds as a yearling on March 17, 1981, and 38 pounds as a 2-year-old on April 6, 1982. A female weighed 31 pounds as a 2-year old on June 17, 1982, and only 24 pounds as a 3-year-old on April 21, 1983. We didn’t see her after August that year and thought the worst, but she popped up a couple years later as a 112-pound 5-year-old on August 2, 1985.
Black bears have shown that they can grow slowly and hang on where food is scarce, or they can grow very rapidly where food is abundant. In fall, cubs can weigh as little as 15 pounds or as much as 162. Near the northern edge of their range, some bears don’t produce their first cubs until they reach 11 years old. In the best habitat, most have their first cubs at 3 and very rarely at 2 years of age.
June and her two cubs spent another day in her small area maybe 60 yards in diameter (pictures right and below).
Juliet and her yearlings have remained in an area 0.8 miles in diameter after their big 7-mile move over a week ago.
We can’t tell you enough what a big difference your fresh hazelnuts from NutsOnline have made in adjusting collars, changing batteries, and all. The bears would never hold still for us unless they are occupied, and stale nuts or other kinds of nuts do not occupy them like a handful of the nuts you are sending. Thank you for that.
Along that line, you sent a surprise for the Bear Center staff that was a hit—wonderful trail mix. This is good in the office and when we are tracking down bears in the woods. Thank you for that.
We have received some nice emails thanking the mods for their long volunteer hours making the Facebook page and the pond cam chat pleasant places to be. Without the mods, there would be no Facebook page or chat. Thank you for that.
Perhaps related, a group formed up to learn how we and the various teams can do better. This new team is developing an online anonymous questionnaire for ya’all to provide us with feedback. We very much welcome the input so we can know what is helpful, what to keep doing, and what to change. Our goal is to learn all we can about bears and share it in the most effective way.
A Lily fan spotted an article about another Lily fan and sent the link http://www.barnesville-enterprise.com/news/article/5024912 . It mentions Trish Kirk and heightens awareness of the Education Outreach Program.
International Wolf Center leaders stopped by today to personally extend their thanks to Lily fans. They were excited that this morning the Wolf Center was listed by Chase Community Giving as a $25,000 winner thanks in large part to you. The Executive Director of the Wolf Center said by telephone that she is thinking of ways to help the North American Bear Center in return. We said they have already helped in many ways. It’s called being neighborly and helping your friends. We and the Wolf Center founders go back over 40 years. This year, the two organizations sought a joint grant for advertising, spent the money on a joint ad on Explore Minnesota, and now are talking about a joint billboard. Next year, the Wolf Center will help the Bear Center with Chase. We wanted to make a thank you effort for the Wolf Center, and now they are thinking of ways for “What goes around comes around” in a good way.
In the Readers Digest contest to win money for Ely, you have Ely strongly in 6th place with over 650,000 votes, 220,000 votes ahead of 7th place. The link to vote 10 times in a row each day through May 16 is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN .
Dana Coleman’s first grade class petition to make the black bear Minnesota’s state mammal has over 1800 votes http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/BlackBear-MNState-Mammal/ and the associated bill, House File 1657, had its first reading yesterday and has been referred to the House Committee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance. http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/cco/intros.asp?dateofintro=5/4/2011&session_year=2011&ls_year=87&session=0 .
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center