Herbie heads for the den entrance - Feb 8, 2013Herbie and Jewel showed us something we didn’t realize, but it’s hard to talk about. Herbie evidently defecated, and Jewel cleaned him like she would clean a cub, but for all the months outside the den, we never saw her clean him. Now, back in the den, she imposes den manners. About 8:00 AM, Herbie backed up to the entrance. We are learning that backing to the entrance usually means ‘business’—i.e. elimination of wastes. He returned to the ‘bear pile’ and snuggled in. It took Jewel some time to realize the smell wasn’t just coming from the entrance of the den…but right under her nose. At 8:41 AM, Jewel spent just over 2 minutes cleaning Herbie up—doing her job as a mother to keep the den clean.
Herbie snuggles back in - Feb 8, 2013The defecation is of double interest to us because there was an earlier observation of one of the yearlings biting at its paws and chewing. We’ll want to collect that scat one of these days and check it for footpad parts.
Jewel and Herbie - Feb 8, 2013Long-term Lily fans know the story behind that action as described in the update of Feb 8, 2010 at http://tinyurl.com/bbvlu3w and from the Bear Facts and Fun piece on it at http://tinyurl.com/ax9ntlf. The micro version here is that black bears in this part of the world shed their footpads each winter. This involves some licking and biting to remove the old, thick calloused pads. Native American folklore holds that the pads contain the essence of the berries the bears walked on all summer, providing sustenance in mid-winter for hibernation.
Jewel and Herbie - Feb 8, 2013The GiveMN page at http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Valentines-For-The-Hope-Learning-Center shows that there have been 58 donations to the Valentines for the Hope Learning Center, raising over 20% of the $10,000 already ($2,175). The money will go for equipment that will bring bears to life for school groups. We want to show our HD videos of wild bears going about their lives big enough so the bears are life size or larger, with surround sound. 
Jewel snoozes - Feb 8, 2013We want the Hope Learning Center and the Northwoods Ecology Exhibit to be unforgettable sensory experiences that make people feel like they are with bears—just as we were when we took the videos. The cool thing is that the videos give no feeling that a person is there. The bears are so trusting that they go about their lives ignoring us. If a bear stops and looks at us even for a second, we wonder what is wrong. We want students to get the same privileged feelings that drive us. The widescreen projector and surround sound equipment on the list is what will make that possible.
Video footage of Jewel, Herbie, and Fern from today is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_4O0SDyNso.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center