Jack is back! - June 25, 2012One of our most valuable research males will continue to provide data for another year. Jack is back. He is Braveheart’s favorite male. He has a long history of mating with radio-collared females. We were glad to see him. He wasn’t overjoyed to see us, though. He walked away.
To back up a bit, we got a call at 10:35 AM from a feeding station reporting an unusual gathering of bears—Jack, Braveheart, and Donna. We wanted to get a weight on Jack and hurried there to see if we could help that happen. The landowner said that Donna and Braveheart were there getting along fine. Jack showed up for the first time this year at about 10:15 AM. Donna immediately left which suggests that she is not one of his mates. Braveheart, of course, was fine with him being there. The landowner was standing near Jack when we arrived. The landowner was the person Jack expects to see there. We appeared. Jack left. We called out “It’s me, bear.” In Jack’s mind, it didn’t fit. He kept walking. We followed, futilely calling out. The faster we walked, the faster he walked. To see him well, we’ll have to wait until he shows up at the Research Center.
Jack - June 25, 2012Here at the Research Center he is totally cool with us feeling for wounds, scanning him for lead, taking his heart rate, and luring him onto the scale. You saw some of that in Bearwalker a few years ago. Trusting as he is at the Research Center, he is not a bear we can approach in the woods unless he is smitten by a female he is courting. We first learned that on May 23, 2003, when we homed in on Blackheart (Braveheart’s mother) within hours of family breakup and found Jack with her. He is a mild-mannered bear that is calm by nature. Jack is generally non-aggressive toward other bears although he was involved in the most savage fight we ever witnessed when he was attacked by big Lumpy back in 2006. The video of that is online at http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/reproduction/14-mating-battle-combatants.html.
Calico Pennant - June 25, 2012On our way back from the attempt to weigh Jack, we noticed dragonflies we had never seen before and stopped to snap a picture for our records—Calico Pennants (Celithemis eliisa). American Emerald and Racquet-tailed Emerald Dragonflies were also flying on this beautiful day.
We thank you for your donations toward the Hope Education Building. The purpose is to expand our education abilities and make the North American Bear Center a more efficient place for doing that. The money will be used to build the building, add office furniture and exhibits to it, add a classroom to the existing Cub Room (including microscopes and other educational items you are suggesting), and build an entryway with vending machines so hungry people can stay longer and learn more. That is one of the suggestions we saw repeatedly in the survey you participated in almost a year ago. With so many minds out there and all the experience that has filled them with ideas, we are very much appreciating all your suggestions and support for making the Bear Center the best it can be.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center