View from inside Lily's den - Aug 14, 2012 We said "Thank you, bear" to Jewel yesterday at 1:47 PM. She was fine. At 9:04 PM we received a phone message that she was hopping around on 3 legs holding up a hind paw. What happened?
We checked on Jewel after lunch today and found her holding her left hind foot up as she hopped around. She seldom touched that foot to the ground—and when she did, she only put weight on the heel.
Jewel hobbling - Aug 14, 2012We scattered nuts to keep the cubs occupied then hand-fed Jewel some nuts so she would sit with the foot exposed. The bottom of her foot has a small puncture wound that attracts flies whenever the foot pad is exposed. We suspect there’s a matching puncture on the top of that foot—and that the source was a bear bite. We suspect Braveheart.
Jewel's injured foot - Aug 14, 2012Braveheart is using areas farther south this year than we ever found her before. Mother black bears often shift their territories when their daughters take over parts of their mothers’ territories. They seem to prefer to fight for territory against non-kin than against their daughters. Braveheart’s 3-year-old daughter Samantha is trying to raise a family of three cubs (2 males, 1 female), and Braveheart’s yearling daughters Oliana and Jani are (or will soon be) further vying for territory. Yesterday, about 8:45 PM Braveheart made a beeline for Jewel’s location. When Jewel was seen shortly after 9:00 PM, she was not touching her left hind foot to the ground. Braveheart may have bit her hind foot as Jewel climbed a tree to escape.
Fern - Aug 14, 2012We have long known that territorial females sometimes chase intruding bears up trees and bite a foot. Black bears must hang on facing up. They cannot reverse their hip joints and face down like squirrels can. Territorial females know they are perfectly safe climbing up under treed intruders and biting a foot and even throwing the bear out of the tree. We had a radio-collared bear killed that way some years back. That trait is one reason we don’t recommend people climb a tree when they encounter a mother black bear. We have records of 12 people whose feet were bitten that way.
A brief video of Jewel showing her 3-legged gait and the puncture wound is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxCrhKiQM4w.
Den explorers - Aug 14, 2012We suspect Jewel will be walking better in a few days as her foot heals. We’ll be watching the movements of Braveheart and Jewel to see how they divide up the contested area.
Today we took the bear course to see Lily and Faith’s 2012 den as part of a session on ‘bear sign.’ Several members of this energetic group climbed into the den to check it out. The picture shows the view looking out of the den!
The Bear Fun and Facts Team is doing a lot on Lily the Black Bear’s Facebook page to welcome newcomers and post navigation tips for them, share fun facts from bear.org, develop a series on “Meet the Bears,” and create fun and games. More on that in upcoming updates.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center