Aspen and June - April 19, 2012This morning we noticed our map of study bear GPS locations was missing a bear—June. We paged back in time and were surprised to find her last location was at 9:59 PM last night… at Lily and Faith’s den of this past winter. Could she have spent the night in the deep rock den that would have blocked GPS readings? We had to know.
June and Aster exit Lily's den - April 19, 2012Lynn headed for the den. June’s and Aster’s telemetry signals came from deep in the den but a flash picture of the spot Lily and Faith had spent the winter showed an empty bed. “It’s me, bear.” Aster’s head appeared from a side cave we didn’t know about. She climbed the 7 foot entrance wall and was out. June was next. Aspen is shyer and didn’t show himself. That side cave must be huge to hide 3 bears! We really need to drop into the den ourselves and explore it.
June checks for danger - April 19, 2012That mystery was solved. Tracks and photos proved that June and her yearlings spent the night in Lily and Faith’s den. But the story wasn’t over.
Faith bit the top off this 15' red pine - April 19, 2012By 10:32 AM, Lily and Faith had made a quick movement from the clover patch 0.38 mile up to the den. Was it because June was there? Was it a territorial confrontation? Sue headed to the area hoping to find out. She found June and her yearlings but no sign of Lily and Faith. Lily’s GPS locations showed they had moved 0.58 miles away. June and her yearlings all seemed relaxed and proceeded to rest, play, mark, and forage. If there had been a confrontation, it was over. Or was it?
Faith's slow loping gait pattern - April 19, 2012 (numbers indicate the order each foot hit the ground)By the time Sue returned to the field station, Lily’s GPS location had moved back to the den area. June moved away to the southeast. Lily paralleled her from 0.07 mile away and then moved on a converging path. As we write this update the drama in the woods continues. Their locations have converged and separated several times. We would love to be able to observe them but we will settle for interpreting their GPS locations.
Jewel and her cubs have moved back to the huge white pine they bedded at when they first moved from their den. Juliet and her cubs remain in the same area where they weathered the snow storm. Video footage of them in their snow bed is posted at http://youtu.be/_lsPvzVFsqM.
Thinking about all the volunteers. We would be nowhere without them. Volunteers are the key to expanded education about bears. We want to build a potential volunteer force to do many things—both online and on site. The Volunteer Application form is at http://www.bear.org/website/images/stories/volunteering/VolunteerAppl.pdf. All it asks for is contact information, what you’re good at, and what you’re interested in. It doesn’t ask for personal information like social security number, driver’s license, date of birth, medical history, etc.
Soon we will post a volunteer job description for someone with PowerPoint skills who can help us create presentations for the Bear Center. This is partly in response to the survey many of you contributed to some months back. We want the most hard-hitting, concise presentations possible in the time visitors are willing to sit and absorb. Presentations that will raise questions and bring people back to learn more.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center