Lily attempts to lead cubs from den Lily made 15 trips away from her den today between 10:48 AM and 4:59 PM—going as far as 100 feet away from the den. As Lily started, she paused at her tracks from yesterday and put her head down into a deep track repeatedly. We suspect the track had accumulated snow fleas (also called springtails, Collembola) that she probably was licking up. Linda Gibson deftly manned the PTZ camera to record Lily’s forays and the cubs’ responses. Only once did we hear Lily grunt insistently to the cubs as if she wanted them to follow.
Lily heads out but cubs stop to playThe cubs weren’t ready to follow very far. For one thing, they were having too much fun bouncing on a couple springy leaning 5-foot long branches near the den. They’d reach up, grab a leaning branch, use all four feet to walk to the end as they hung from it, and bounce. While Lily sunk deeply into the snow, the cubs were mostly able to stay on the surface. They made use of the smooth surface to race each other back and forth between the leaning branches and the den. Wild and crazy!
Lily relaxes outside the denThen, about 5:15 to 5:30 PM, Lily did the unexpected. She playfully burned off energy by going into ‘crazy bear’ mode. With wild swings of her head, she launched into feverish activity digging snow, tearing back to the den, doing a U-turn, and throwing more snow. With her head down in the hole and her rump in the air, she flung snow out with her hind feet. The video shows it all. Wouldn’t a person think a bear at the end of 7 ¼ months without food would be trying to conserve energy to make milk for the cubs? Sometimes what makes human sense does not make bear sense.
Cubs hone their climbing skillsAnd where were Eli and Ellie through all this? We lost track of them and couldn’t see them until Lily finally went back into the den. They were snuggled together sleeping—out of sight in the bottom of the den bed. They roused when Lily came in. She nursed them and then the family slept.
Snow flies as Lily digs downWe’ve seen that ‘crazy bear’ mode many times in the summer. We don’t know what comes over a bear but sometimes they go wild—running around, climbing trees and falling off, bouncing off things (including people), or climbing a sapling until it leans over and they touch the ground, let go, and do it again. Gerry (the only bear that ever really liked Lynn) did that a lot. It’s wild over-the-top play. The head swings signal it. See for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNhoni9RYLE.
Jewel's trashed den!Over in Jewel’s den, idle minds have been the devil’s workshop, or however that saying goes. We got a good look at the inside of the den when they were outside and see that it is trashed! Anything in the den they could rip apart, they have—roots, duct-tape ribbons, and the GPS unit. Anything outside the den they could bring in and rip apart they have—microphone tube, cables, plastic bag, rotten birch, and the sticks we had attached to the Den Cam tube. They’ve investigated and trashed anything they could. When they dragged in the microphone, they ended the sound.
Lily relaxes in a hole she dugIt’s interesting that this mother with yearlings —that could easily navigate the snow outside—is staying at the den just like Lily and her cubs of the year.
Lily's cubs play in den One bear might have beat Lily as far as time at a den—her grandmother Shadow. Back in 2006, she arrived at a den before August 22 and stayed there consistently (as far as we could tell with telemetry, no GPS) until at least April 11. That’s only 11 days short of 8 months. We couldn’t monitor her anywhere near like we can Lily, but she might hold the real record. She was the only bear we’ve found that called it a year as early as August.
Raccoon tracksSigns of spring: We saw the first tree sparrows (Spizella arborea) on their way north to the edge of tundra halfway up Canada. Raccoons are out in force as indicated by their tracks.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.