June and cubsWe wish we could radio-collar Donna to better follow the fates of her four cubs. In the 3 litters of 4 cubs we followed back in the 1970’s all 3 litters were from the same female, and one of her daughters gave birth to 3 cubs in her first litter—all higher litter sizes than normal. In the 3 litters of 4, survival was 4, 2, and 0 cubs surviving their first year. In the litter of 3 born to the daughter as a first litter, all died.
We suspect Donna’s 4 cubs will all survive as far as food goes, but you can never predict accidental causes. One cub is smaller than the others, but with the supplemental food in this community they should all make it. This data will be a good addition to our paper on cub survival in an area with supplemental feeding.
June alert to distant soundOne purpose of this study is to document the effects of supplemental feeding on the bears—their travels, social organization, territory size, reproductive success, body size, and survival. When it comes to survival of cubs, some believe supplemental feeding leads to strife and the death of cubs, especially from adult males. While plausible in theory, we don’t know of data supporting that speculation. In actuality, our data show far higher cub survival in this community where bears are fed than in a nearby area where we did a study without feeding back in 1969 through the early 1980’s (Rogers 1987). In that area, a few bears went to a several small dumps but most were on their own.
It was nice to see Lily still finding some young pea vine coming up that she could strip the leaves from as shown in the video last night. We were surprised to see her eating the aspen leaves this late, but everything is late this year. Lily did a good job of using her weight to walk down the aspen sapling with so many other saplings around it. We need to spend more time with her, Ellie, and Eli, but deadline duties are taking too much of our time.
June in cedarFaith’s GPS locations are generating a story that can be nicely pictured in a paper on territory establishment. Earlier this spring, she vied with June, Lily, Aster, and Ursula for land. Then she began traveling far and wide, likely exploring other possibilities for setting up a territory. She now seems to be settling into an area outside the territories of her mother and her grandmother. She has yet to visit a feeding station this year despite her being one of the most human-habituated bears after all the time we spent with her. The area where she is settling is about as far from people as you can get around here.
Black ash leafing outThis is another example of something we’ve seen over and over—that where a bear settles does not depend upon its relations with people or where the feeding stations are. It depends on their relations with bears. We expect to see her at a feeding station or two during hyperphagia in late summer, if not before, but her movements show the importance to her of establishing a homestead where she can organize her life, raise cubs, and perhaps let daughters have a piece of it as starter territories. A problem for us will be how to get to her to change GPS batteries. Her story is too good not to follow. We’re thankful for younger research associates who have been a wonderful help in covering long distances.
Jim Stroner swapped out June’s GPS today and spent enough time with her for her cubs to come down from the cedar bed tree and nurse. He recorded some video, which we will review in hopes of sexing her cubs. So far we know the light-faced cub nurses on June’s right side and the dark-faced cubs on her left.
The last of the black ash trees (Fraxinus nigra) are finally leafing out. Some began leafing out about 10 days ago while others looked dead. Those ‘dead’ ones finally sprouted leaves a couple days ago—the latest we’ve documented.
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.