Lily and Faith in den - Nov 12, 2011The main field work today was scouting Lily’s den area for Den Cam purposes. We had hoped to change Lily’s collar and get a heart rate, but she had no intention of climbing the 7-foot wall of her den entrance to let us do that. Measuring the depth of the den was one of the ‘scouting’ tasks we did there today.
What a joy to read your comments about how old people can learn. That shows again what a special group Lily’s fans are. Open-minded people who want to learn—as we do. At the same time, we got an email from a Lily fan who wants to speak to the people in her retirement community. She said that most absolutely reject the things we all have learned and she wondered what to say. It’s hard to answer that. Words can do little to sway people who deeply feel the fear. The only effective way to change their attitudes is by watching or experiencing real bears, which is what makes our education process so unique and effective. Lily fans mostly learn from the bears themselves—as we did and continue to do.
Bear Center Curator Donna Andrews said she has a 10% feeling that Honey is pregnant and could have cubs. She said that she is seeing mellower behavior toward Ted and Lucky and less fear of Ted. She recalled that black bears in the wild remember their mates and are mellow toward them, even eating cheek to cheek and nibbling their mate’s neck 2 months after mating. Donna Andrews “The Geode” has been right before, but Lynn thinks it’s highly unlikely that Honey is pregnant. No one saw copulation.
Lucky seems to be claiming the den he shared with Ted last winter. Ted is spending a lot of time in the little “Chalet” (as it is being called) that was built this summer, leaving Honey with a choice of the rock den visible from the windows or the window den that has an open back by the windows and is where she spent last winter. We’re aiming toward a den cam in each occupied den there. All three cameras will broadcast to big TV’s in the Bear Center, and we’re hoping to be able to switch to whichever Den Cam that is most exciting there to send out on the internet.
fisher on Bear Center Nature TrailWe’re installing Trail Cams along the Nature Trail to capture pictures of the deer, foxes, coyotes, wolves, pine martens, and fishers that share that habitat. Already, they captured a good picture of a fisher.
Excitement is growing for Give MN’s “Give to the Max Day” as we see the video come together about the Bear Center, Lily fan Kathy Brown gets ready to be interviewed at Mall of America, and a group is putting together letters to email out. Thank you all so much for the effort.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center