Aspen, Aster, and June - May 8, 2012Today, Aspen is back being an accepted part of the family. The question is “Where has June’s yearling male Aspen been since this picture was taken May 8?” We assumed family breakup was beginning because other families were breaking up at that time. His sister Aster stayed with their mother June, but we thought Aspen had split from the family for good. Once again the bears have proven us wrong.
This is not the first time June’s families have departed from what has been considered the norm for family breakup. The usual belief about family breakup is that it’s a sudden breakup when all members of the family become independent and the mother increases her travel as she lays down scent trails. We’re finding there is as great variation in this aspect of bear life as any other aspect.
In 2006, June’s yearling George spent 2 days as much as 2 miles from June and his brother Pete. He rejoined the family and they were together for 4 days before their final breakup. Five days later, George dispersed to an area 13 miles away.
In 2008, June’s family breakup happened over the course of an hour or so. Big Harry arrived on the scene and the yearlings first climbed a tree but soon came down and fled.
In 2010, June was seen without Jewel and she was being aggressive towards Jordan. Two days later, she was with Jewel but not Jordan. By the end of the following day, June was alone.
Will this year’s final breakup for June’s family be soon, as indicated by June’s estrus condition? Or will she wait until Big Harry shows up as she did in Bearwalker in 2008 with the litter of Lily, Bud, and Cal? Big Harry is her mate of choice.
Lily alone - May 14, 2012One reason we’re documenting family breakup is because there are so many ways it can happen. Most females in Shadow’s clan have cubs in odd-numbered years—which means more yearlings and more family breakups the following spring. We are doing our best to monitor 10 mother-yearling families this year. Of these 10 families, 6 mothers are radio-collared—2 of which have a radio-collared yearling. We had hoped to collar at least one yearling in as many families as possible, but permit restrictions on the number of radio-collars make that impossible.
Lily still appears to be traveling alone—no male in sight. When seen by a BBC film crew today she was calm and relaxed.
All we can do is watch and report.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center