Jewel and cub - Feb 17, 2012Bears took turns taking center stage today.
Lily disappeared behind the camera—eating snow then raking. In the process, she dislodged the camera for the first time this winter. Now the bright reflection from the rock makes Lily and Faith look dark. We were hoping to go the whole winter without a visit to their den—and it’s been 66 days and counting—but it looks like we need to. Sue said today that’s she’s learning more this winter from the Lily-Faith Den Cam than the Jewel Den Cam. There’s been a lot more activity in their den than we expected. Today there was nursing, raking, eating snow, and another bout of play between Lily and Faith.
Jewel mouthing cub - Feb 17, 2012Next, Jewel impressed us with her gentleness. We watched as she ever-so-gently mouthed one cub. We saw the flash of her big teeth as the cub nearly disappeared in her big mouth. There was very little resistance from the cub. As soon as the cubs’ fur gets long enough we may see her pick them up by pinching the fur on their neck between her incisors. A video of this interaction between Jewel and the cub is posted at http://youtu.be/QJ8tIsyj6To.
Ted on scale - Feb 17, 2012At the Bear Center, Ted decided it was time for a weigh-in. He left his den and walked down to the scale and got on—594 pounds. He weighed 674 just 94 days ago on November 15. Since that time, he was been mostly lying peacefully in his den. We don’t think he’s had a bite to eat. He lost 80 pounds in 94 days—about 0.85 pound per day—an average of a little over one tenth of one percent of his weight per day (0.13 percent of 634 pounds per day). A video of Ted’s jaunt today is posted at http://youtu.be/N99qiX9cV2g.
Orphan cub up tree - Feb 17, 2012
Cub tracks crossing road - Feb 17, 2012At 2:13 PM, Lynn got a call from a Lily fan that a bear was running on the snow/ice of Shagawa Lake. He wondered what the story was behind it. Lynn and Donna Rogers headed out to find its tracks and hopefully backtrack the bear to see what disturbed it from its den. They drove out onto Shagawa then called the Lily fan for more directions to the tracks. She said her husband was in an icehouse fishing and watched the bear go to the shore and disappear. Lynn and Donna left the ice road on Shagawa and drove west on Grant McMahan Blvd looking for tracks crossing the road.
Then they SAW the bear cross the road and climb a tree. Lynn recognized it as an orphan he’d heard about on September 23. People had enjoyed seeing a mother and 2 cubs in the woods in their neighborhood by Shagawa Lake all summer. They told him how a hunter had set up a bait nearby and legally shot the mother. They wondered how they could help the cubs survive. Lynn snapped the picture for the September 23 update—is it the same bear?
Orphan cub under porch - Jan 28, 2012
Cub tracks entering the woods - Feb 17, 2012A few weeks ago, we got a call from a man who lives on that lake wondering what he could do to help an orphaned cub that was sleeping under his porch. He emailed us pictures—is it the same bear? We’d probably be more worried if we hadn’t already seen how active wild bears are. The cub looked like it put on good growth before winter, but you never know how much fat is under all that fur. A very skinny bear can look very fat in its winter fur.
There was nothing Lynn and Donna could do—nothing Lynn is permitted to do. They looked and left. We were thankful the Lily fans let us know, in a way, that the cub was still alive. We don’t know what happened to the sibling. There is a possibility that the multiple sightings include both cubs. Perhaps we’ll learn more when we hear from the man who had a cub under his porch.
Videos of Jewel and cubs from Feb 15 and 16 are posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWBSGVj1_8I and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmLOMLPA5BM.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center