Jewel comforts her cubs - Jan 24, 2012We’re seeing more of the cubs and Jewel’s interaction with them than we expected this soon after the births. The cubs’ strength and agility at this early age is impressive as they climb up Jewel’s fur. Many have noticed that one is a ‘screamer.’ It doesn’t seem to stop fussing long enough to nurse, but it must be getting some nutrition or it wouldn’t have such a healthy scream! Could they be competing for nipples already? Six nipples for 2 cubs—plenty to go around.
When a cub fusses while Jewel is facing the camera, we often can catch a glimpse of the cubs as Jewel moves to clean and comfort them. Once such interaction from today is posted at http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#p/u/0/LWBvVG4lUrU. Warning… you many want to turn your sound down!
Tonight, we thought we’d try something different. Below is the write-up of one of Sue’s walks with June and her first set of cubs in 2005. We may do more of this type of thing on quiet days. Enjoy.
I easily located June near where she had been last evening. She quickly came to me and I fed her the few nuts I brought. She then proceeded to walk my back-trail for 20 feet spending a good deal of time sniffing the branches I brushed on my way in. I could see her cubs gamboling at the edge of the swamp. June came back, and, when she found I had nothing more for her, she returned to her cubs – stopping to feed on wild calla along the way. By now her cubs had climbed a large aspen and she eventually lay at the base of the tree. There was only one June scat and one cub scat present near the tree so I do not feel she had been bedded at this tree for long. I sat about 10 feet away and soon the cubs descended and played at the base of the tree – no rest for ‘Mom’ as they scrambled over and around her. The cubs do not seem overly concerned with me and the lighter-colored one (male [later called Pesky Pete]) approaching within 5 feet of me. June then wandered down toward the edge of the swamp where she stopped and played intently with the lighter cub – biting him and pulling him back when he wandered away. The other cub wandered nearby mouthing and munching vegetation. Interestingly this cub was making short little comfort sounds each time it ate one particular type of vegetation. It was hard to see the plant from where I was, but I believe it was large-leaf aster. June and one cub proceeded into the wetland to paw at a downed log while the other cub headed up-slope. As June and the cub moved up-slope toward the other cub June got a bit huffy when I started to follow. We worked it out, though I admit to being a bit nervous in these situations – likely not a bad thing.
I proceeded to follow June as she wandered – eventually feeding on large-leaf aster in a small forest opening. There was a mid-size aspen in this opening and broken branches were strewn around the base of the tree. What caught my eye was the bare wood on the branches – the bark had been almost entirely removed – likely by snowshoe hare. I suspect June had broken off the branches and dropped them or carried them down to feed on the leaves and then a snowshoe hare had feasted on the tender bark of the branches. June back-rubbed a nearby aspen and then stopped to back-rub a balsam as she returned to her cubs with me in tow. As I followed the family, I consciously tried not to spook the cubs because I wanted this, our first walk, to be a positive one. June’s cubs seem to be as mellow as she is. At one point June and the cubs rushed to a nearby cedar which they all climbed. June climbed to the very top and seemed to be deliberately breaking branches. Soon she came down and proceeded to another opening to feed on large-leaf aster. She wandered back to the tree, and, when one cub descended, she seemed to chase it back up. She then wandered upslope where she broke down an aspen sapling and proceeded to strip it of leaves. I wondered how long it would be before the snowshoe hare found the branches. After feeding, she lay down next to an aspen where she rested. The rain was light but steady and I was getting pretty wet so 15-20 minutes into her rest I chose to end the walk. I left her resting near a large aspen just upslope from the cedar her cubs were in.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center