Lily - Aug 12, 2012 How do we decide which bears to radio-collar? And, for that matter, why do we radio-collar bears? Each bear we collar is collared for specific research objectives. We only collar the number of bears we can realistically study. We do not put out extra collars to protect bears from hunters. Some hunters believe we do, and from comments on last night’s update it’s clear some Lily fans do as well.
It is true that radio-collars help research bears survive hunting season—most hunters pass on radio-collared bears—but the collaring is not done for that purpose.
Mainly we collar female members of Shadow’s clan. We usually don’t collar mature males because their necks are so large, relative to their heads, that we’d have to put the collars on tighter than we feel is right. We collared BB King when he was sick and his neck was smaller than usual, but he still was able to rub the collar off. We usually don’t collar adolescent males because we already know they travel huge distances, and they would drain our budget flying to find them. We learned about their travels in previous studies using ear tags. In recent years, 2-year-old Cal wore a collar and GPS unit and provided new information.
Noliana was an exception to the above. When we saw the friendly little bear, we assumed she was part of the clan and she looked enough like Oliana that she fooled Lynn. By the time we figured out she wasn’t Oliana she was already collared. We still hope to someday solve the mystery of where she came from.
With the scarce food in this area, bears are visiting feeding stations more than usual and staying out of trouble. The drought that hit this area did not hit northern Wisconsin. Bear-watchers there report not seeing a bear for more than a month. Bears prefer natural food and disappear when it is abundant.
This evening we changed the batteries in Lily’s GPS unit. At first she ignored Lynn and kept going as she often does. Finally, Lynn waylaid her with pecans and was able to make the change. Then she walked off without a look or a word.
Keep sending your thoughts for the new building and the existing Bear Center.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center