Red fox A few days ago, 10-year-old Juliet chased 2-year-old Victoria back and forth across Highway 169. We wish we had a GPS collar on Victoria. We don’t understand what is going on between these two. This morning, when Jim and Bec located Juliet to change her batteries—there was Victoria.
Victoria rests 30 feet awayJuliet was lying down, no longer bothering to chase Victoria who was over 30 feet away. Victoria circled Juliet several times, occasionally making friendly grunts and tongue clicks. Has Victoria been with Juliet all this time? Her behavior is so unusual we looked at old photos to make sure it is Victoria and not a captive-raised young bear released into the study area. The photos confirmed that the distinctive mark on Victoria’s chest matches the mark on this bear—with one side of the V extending farther up than the other.
Juliet looks toward VictoriaThere is always something new. Bears have personalities and emotions and are intelligent animals. Consequently, much of their behavior depends upon learning. The mix of nature (genetics and instinct) and nurture (learning, experience) can be hard to decipher. The more we learn, the harder it is to answer questions about behavior, given bears’ variability. We can’t imagine that Juliet would ever fully accept Victoria as a travel partner. They are inevitably territorial competitors.
Victoria approachingThere are records of female grizzlies peacefully hanging out for brief periods. Where food is very abundant and clumped at garbage dumps, black bears can temporarily integrate into peaceful hierarchies at that location. Well-fed adolescent black bears sometimes hang out for days at a time wrestling frequently. Where salmon runs create an abundance of food, bears gather, become habituated to each other, and tolerate each other in close proximity. Arguments erupt over preferred fishing spots and salmon catches, of course. Most are resolved with loud ‘talking’ and no injury. There is no precedent we know of that explains Victoria trying to hang out with Juliet, though. We’ll follow it best we can and document how long it lasts.
Unripe blueberriesAs the DNR continues to make broad, exaggerated statements to the media about our research, others have dragged up allegations from the white pine battle of 20 years ago. Still others are piling on increasingly vicious rumors of their own. We do our best to stay above the fray and trust that truth will win in the end this time, as it has in the past. We are looking forward to a meeting with Governor Dayton to request a reprieve and a thorough investigation. For more details of the situation, see Permit_Perspectives_June_2013_revised_1035.pdf. We are exploring our options and we're not giving up.
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.