Ted taking a strollHoney is beautiful. Seeing her stand by the fence with her rich, dark brown fur setting off her light tan muzzle and eyebrows make a person take a second look. She is up and around yet with maybe a month to go before she settles in for the winter.
Ted saw us go by without buckets in our hands and didn’t bother to get up to come greet us. He is slowing down but, like Honey, will still be up and around part of each day for another 3 weeks or so. Later, when five of us stopped by his pen, he must have figured the odds were in his favor. He strolled over to the fence giving us his usual warm greeting sounds and revealing his luxurious coat. We can’t help saying again what a sweetheart he is. We and the veterinarians will be watching to see if the swelling on his muzzle returns now that his second course of antibiotics is finished.
Holly in her denLucky is down for the count, we believe. Late yesterday and today were the first full 24-hour period that he didn’t come out. When he last came out a day ago, he roamed outside his small pen (the door is open) and took a long time to eat a little food. He is on schedule for him.
Holly is still coming out daily to rake and bite off twigs for bedding, but she does not stray from the immediate area of her den. Today, we checked to see how she looked in her den with the big bag of leaves the staff gave her all raked in. We wondered if she would be buried in leaves or could use more. Coming up to her den feels like approaching a wild den in the woods. Even though her mother never showed her how to make a den, she made a den every bit as good as any wild den we’ve seen. She selected a den with a typical small entrance and worked hard to remove rocks and line it with bedding like a wild adult would do.
Lynn, Heidi and Moe with HollyWhen I came into view, she calmly looked at me as I zoomed in and snapped her picture in the bed of leaves. When I switched to a small video camera and extended it toward her on the end of a folded tripod, she gave some half-hearted bluster, like I’d expect from a wild bear but then calmly licked the camera as she investigated it. She heard Heidi’s voice, which usually means food, and came out. She calmly stood by me as I petted her while she took a little food from Heidi’s hand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg08AS6Ydjc. What an interesting and nice little bear! So glad we have her. We’re looking forward to her den cam when she settles in.
While we were checking on the bears, others were making progress on the Northwoods Ecology Hall. Moe was there with his video camera for us to give a quick update on some of the plans for the Hall. Watch for the GiveMN video of it coming soon.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center
All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.