Honey in denHoney stayed in her den long enough to establish an official date of beginning hibernation, then she seemed dissatisfied with her bedding. She attempted to rake in additional bedding that was buried in snow. She spent time rearranging her existing bedding. Judy Thon couldn’t stand it. She cut open a bale of straw and put some in and some just outside Honey’s den. Honey grabbed a big mouthful and placed it right where she would lie. They she raked more straw in and arranged it. She started a walk but apparently thought better of it in the deep snow. She went only a few feet before returning to the den.
Deer browsing cedarThe deep snow is changing the diets of white-tailed deer. With the low bushes and evergreen plants they eat earlier in fall now covered with snow, white-tailed deer (Odocoilius virginianus) are turning to cedar boughs. Sue snapped a picture of a deer in her yard just after it stood and tore a bough off one of her cedar trees. The deer had to half gum the branch to pull it off because they have incisors only on the bottom jaw. Their molars and premolars are sharp-edged for chewing and re-chewing. Chewing makes it harder for them to hear, so they chew a branch only enough to swallow it at first. Then, when they are bedded and totally aware of their surroundings, they bring up pieces to chew into smaller pieces that can be digested. Lynn watched that process many times back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when he walked with deer in a U. S. Forest Service study on the prey of the timber wolf (Canis lupus).
Honey's short walkA major snafu sent expiration reminders to current and previous NABC Members. Somehow, just checking a 1½-year-old list on bear.org triggered the automatic generation of the notices. Our trusty web guru made sure it will never happen again. We apologize for the confusion this caused.
Honey looks outWow! Joanne Livingston’s carefully crafted artist bear being auctioned on eBay got a lot of attention today. Looking at the ultra-cute pictures of this realistic bear posed in so many ways at http://www.ebay.com/itm/360805396395?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2648, it’s no wonder. The bear, named Eveleth, was the front page story on eBay today at http://ebay-stories.com/an-incredibly-realistic-teddy-bear. Bidding is now at $5,877.77 with the auction set to end tomorrow, December 8, at 5 PM Eastern Time, 2 PM Pacific Time. All proceeds will go to the North American Bear Center for the Hope Learning Center. Hope is the bear that inspired the creation of Eveleth.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.