Holly hesitates When the door between Holly’s pen and the big enclosure opened, Holly hesitated for several minutes. Then at 9:55 AM, she stepped out. Heidi and Sharon offered her treats and a bottle of formula to lead her down to the viewing area where some people were waiting on the balcony and others were watching remotely via the Pond Cam. But Holly had a lot to do before thinking about food. She must have sniffed every branch, tree trunk, and spot that Ted, Lucky, or Honey might have touched.
Holly steps outAfter 16 minutes, she turned to climbing trees, climbing one cedar 3 times.
Holly exploresForest openings became places to romp through and back, just as wild bears use openings for play. She repeatedly bent a supple aspen sapling like we’ve seen wild bears bend other supple trees as a form of play.
Holly sniffs treeAfter 38 minutes, she made it to the edge of the forest near the pond. She stood up, took a long look at Big Ted across the pond, and retreated into the trees. She had her own ideas of what to do in the forest and covered most of it before she was done. She especially sniffed the tree that Ted and Lucky rub and scent-mark.
Holly initiates playBack in the open where wild bears often play, she initiated play with everyone there, coming at them ears a little back and out to the sides. No one wanted to take her up on her persistent invitations because play bites can be too hard at this age. We wondered how it looked to Pond-Chatters when Holly seemed to be chasing and attacking each of us. Next year, she will know how to control her bites better.
Ted rolls in cedar chipsMeanwhile, Ted rolled and squirmed on the pile of cedar chips the staff had put in front of the viewing windows for Holly.
Holly and TedHolly turned from exploration and play to treats. She let the staff lure her ever closer to big gentle Ted who mostly ignored her as he rested with his forequarters on his log in front of the viewing windows. Each attempt by the staff to introduce Holly to Ted ended with Holly retreating. Ted basically ignored her, being more interested in people. Holly became more confident. Finally, she took a treat only 12-15 feet from Ted as he continued to ignore her.
Her excursion ended after 4 hours. The staff lured her back into her pen until tomorrow.
 Holly notices Ted |
 Holly climbs cedar |
 Holly climbs aspen |
 Holly at mark tree |
She’s come a long way in the 5 months she’s been here. At one point, she stepped on the scale and an alert Lily Fan got her weight at 81 pounds, showing she has gained back the weight she lost here during hibernation.
It looked like Sue was getting great video that might be in the update tomorrow.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center