Dot Finally, success catching up to Dot. Jim Stroner tracked her to an area she seldom visits, asked a landowner for permission to hike back on his 4-wheeler trail, and changed Dot’s GPS unit. She’s back on the map.
Tall, long-legged Jim Stroner did something today that not everyone could do. He caught up to a bear that was on the move away from him. Somehow, he caught up to Jewel and changed her GPS batteries. Both Jim and Jewel were panting as they met on this 77F day. It was her panting that tipped Jim off that a dark spot ahead was Jewel. She didn’t really want him putting ribbons on her, but she was hungry and he finally succeeded.
JewelJuneberries are almost entirely gone. The bushes that had the plump, delicious berries a week ago have nothing but a few dried up berries. Pincherries are still holding on but are far less abundant now. Ant logs hold few pupae.
Bow cautiously led her wary cubs to a feeding station today. Mothers with cubs are among the last to shed their old fur. The picture shows that she has shed her underfur, revealing white skin in places. She has also shed the long guard hairs from her face back as far as her ears and from her legs below the knees, but the long hairs on the rest of her body are still present. Those will go in the next few weeks.
BowJim and Sue located Aster in Braveheart’s territory in hopes of finding clues to what drew her there. They managed to tie ribbons to her collar and follow her for a bit while she flipped rocks in vain looking for ant pupae and stood up to check out dogberries. But their brief time with her revealed no clues to the mystery.
AsterWhat made her venture into the heart of the territory of the biggest female in the study? Is Braveheart no longer maintaining that area? Has Braveheart shifted her territory north so her 2-year-old daughters Oliana and Jani can set up territories in the southern portion of her (old?) territory? Last year, with yearling daughters to consider, she began exploring the area to the north. We had hoped to follow her explorations this year, but she dropped her collar this spring, and we’ve never seen her at a feeding station to put it back on. Now we are prohibited from putting it back on. We had also planned to radio-collar her daughters as yearlings last year to study them as they formed territories. Then we were hit with the collar restrictions. We hope the punitive restrictions will be lifted after the hearing.
Thank you for the help you are giving toward that.
The Bear Center has a sale on all sweatshirts and jackets. Check out the sale items at http://www.bear.org/website/gift-shop-pages/product/listing/96-fall-savings-2013.html
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.