Jewel and Herbie - April 1, 2012When it gets close to the time to leave the den, do cubs develop a drive to follow their mother? It certainly looked like that today. The cubs made every effort to stay near Jewel whenever she went out to rake more bedding, starting a little before 11:30 AM. Fern had a difficult time with a steep slope near the entrance and cried loud and long. Eventually, Jewel picked her up and dragged her back into the den. Herbie climbed and walked more easily. They all came out several times.
Jo near grub log - April 1, 2012A visit to Jo and Victoria revealed they had been opening logs for grubs and were finding grass-like shoots coming up and working hard to eat them. Their scats revealed snow fleas, big grubs, and a lot of flower parts. Our best guess for those is red maple flowers because those are the only flowers we’ve seen and we know they eat them. We’ll make microscopic comparisons.
Close-up of grub log - April 1, 2012With Honey and Lucky’s den empty as much as it is, it’s almost time to switch back to the Pond Cam. We’ll see when we can catch Ted Parvu for that. A complication is that the BBC arrived in force today. Filming starts tomorrow and Ted will be working with them.
We love the creativity of Lily Fans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQCRVA-F4Yk&;feature=youtu.be.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center