Examining bear bones - Nov 7 On August 31, 2009, a poacher jumped the gun on bear hunting season. When Lynn arrived at work, the front deck was splattered with blood. From the amount, it was a big bear, and it had walked in circles. Evidently, the bear was shot early that morning—the day before bear season started. The bear then came to this safe place and even attempted to eat from a feeder. Blood smeared on the edge of the feeder showed it was coming from the front of the bear.
We wondered if it could be B. B. King? The name stands for Blackheart’s Brother, the King of the local bears. B. B. King was leaner that year, and Sue had put a radio-collar on him. He weighed 578 pounds. Trusting as he was in this safe place, we never could get so much as a glimpse of him when we tried to home in on his signal in the woods. We homed in on him that day and got close enough to him to find his warm bed. No blood. B. B. King was okay.
We went back to the Wildlife Research Institute and started tracking. The big bear was losing so much blood that it was easy to track it around the lake to a swamp where we lost the trail in the water. Two years later, a deer hunter found a skeleton farther on in the direction he was headed. The large skull with its prominent sagittal crest told us it belonged to a male, and the abnormalities of the right rear leg bones told us it was Lumpy. Lumpy had suffered an injury to that leg in the fall of 2005.
Red squirrelRecently, a Research Associate with connections to the University of Minnesota asked veterinarians there to look at the bones. Lumpy was a near record-size bear that got his name from a swelling on the right side of his face. What made the swelling? Did his bones show other problems? And how did he die? University of Minnesota veterinarians are sleuths. We have used them before and they are top notch.
The veterinary dentist in the group confirmed that the swelling on his face was from an abscessed tooth that had likely been very painful.
Another veterinarian found an old fracture to the right femur (thigh bone), which had healed with abnormal bone growth. This would have been the 2005 injury. Abnormal bone growth was also found on phalanges (toe bones). Broken toe bones we have seen before were from young bears stepping on steel jaw traps.
Red squirrelThe left scapula (shoulder blade) had two bullet holes. One had passed through the thin, flat scapula and lodged in a rib, breaking it. The other missed the ribs and likely entered the lungs. Death likely followed soon after the rib fracture as no sign of healing was found.
We remember Lumpy as the powerful bear that beat big One-eyed Jack in a fight when Jack ventured too close to Lumpy’s mate back in spring 2006. Jack escaped by biting the big swollen lump on the right side of Lumpy’s face and then running away. Shy Lumpy never would come close to anyone but was the undisputed dominant bear of the area during the later years of his life. Someone apparently couldn’t resist the urge to shoot him that August 31, 2009.
Max the Bear is a riot! Max stirs things up. Max asks questions and is waiting for your answers at Maxthebear.com.
The red squirrel picture is from today before the snow. He is in full winter fur and ready for the several inches of snow we expect before morning.
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.