Juliet's cub - March 2, 2014With the early morning temperatures down around 34° below zero F last year on this day, Juliet stayed hunkered down breathing the warmer, moister air from the deep nest she built. She exhales into the nest and along her underside and onto the cubs and then retrieves the air. She likely was breathing slowly, minimizing the amount of warmth she exhales. The cub vocalizations sounded strange—wondering if it was the sound system or what they actually sounded like.
In the afternoon a howling wind came up as temperatures rose to 4° below zero. She roused a bit at 2:07 PM but still no sign of eating snow the last couple days. Maybe snow is not a preferred item at very low temperatures. We’ll have to keep an eye out for the temperatures at which she ingests snow.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyI4j-HU-LY
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/121090742
Archives: http://www.bearstudy.org/website/research/2014-juliet-archives.html
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center