upper left canine from bear skull On this day of writing reports, the biggest excitement was news that Honey and Lucky are sleeping peacefully in the den together although in their separate corners. Honey slept outside the den last night but got up early this morning and went inside. Both have plenty of straw. Neither Ted nor Honey came down to the Bear Center to look for food. Honey did not go anywhere today. Neither did Ted, and Lucky has not ventured away from the den for weeks. Are they down for the winter? Will Honey get up and look for food under the bird feeders this winter like she did last winter? We’ll wait and watch.
We worried a bit after seeing the news broadcast last night about Juliet and the reluctant landowners at http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/iron-range/Black-Bear-Research-May-Be-At-A-Standstill-134646203.html. In answering the reporter’s questions, we wanted to be truthful while not appearing to pressure the landowners. It was good to see a prominent Ely business owner saying how important the research is to Ely and its merchants. Kudos to the reporter for getting that interview. We are thankful to reporters for spreading the word about bears and we always do our best to accommodate their deadlines. Meanwhile, members of the technician team that will set up the electronic equipment for the Den Cams were trying to coordinate their schedules and flights to meet here and get things set up. We wait and hope.
Today we sent off the left upper canine tooth from the bear skeleton found a few weeks ago (see Nov 8 Update http://www.bearstudy.org/website/research/daily-updates/1449-a-den-a-skeleton-and-good-news-.html). We sent it to Matson’s Laboratory in Milltown, Montana, for slicing and processing so we can see the annual growth rings. The bullet holes in the shoulder blade may explain why the bear we were tracking on August 31, 2009, had blood dripping from the front of the body. A bullet through the shoulder blade could have exited through the chest. We followed the blood trail for 400 yards before losing it in a wetland. The skeleton was found 200 yards from where we lost the trail. From the size of the skull, we believe it was big old Lumpy. We never saw him after that date. He was the dominant bear of the area and faithfully courted old Midge in 2004, 2006, and 2008. We wondered how old he was and hopefully now we can find out.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center