Lorie eating hazelnutsOr maybe we should say “More bears.” There are bears we are still waiting to see, but it is a joy to see the increasing number of bears here and elsewhere at feeding stations in the community. Several of the bears are special joys. Little yearling Lorie, the smallest, is one of them. Not a mean bone in her body. Here, she responded to your hazelnuts by getting on the scale and revealing that she is now up to 87.5 pounds. She may be getting more than her share of the nuts because she was only 57 the first time we got her onto the scale this year on May 17–the day after family break-up. That’s a gain of 30.5 pounds in 45 days—about 1.5 pounds a day. That’s apparently enough hazelnuts and sunflower seeds to keep her out of trouble.
As we relayed earlier, the DNR reported an unusual number of problems in northeastern Minnesota this year, but we’re not hearing of any problems in this community of diversionary feeders.
In the picture, she is also demonstrating how she can flick out her tongue, grasp a nut by touching it with a small part of the top of the tongue near the tip, and quickly draw it into her mouth. We’re guessing it is suction created by delicate muscle control together with a mucous surface. She can touch and grab several hazelnuts at a time.
Lorie on the scaleA request from the National Park Service to use our research footage as part of their presentations to show visitors how bears forage and what they eat reminded me of the value of the unprecedented video we captured by being able to walk with bears that had visited feeding stations but spent most of their time in the wild.
The lost cub was found by its mother who turned out to be Bow, the bear-feeder reported.
A cub was killed yesterday on the highway 5 miles away in the study area. We’re waiting to hear which mother shows up with one less cub. Star’s three are confirmed okay. We’re especially waiting for a sighting of Donna and her four.
At the Bear Center, Holly is shedding in the usual pattern, starting with her face and working back.
Also at the Bear Center, all ten new pictures are up on the front of the building (ironically we have no picture of the pictures). The picture we took down of Blackheart sitting with Solo and Sunshine on her knee is going back up in a new, less visible place. It was the least faded of the 3 we took down.
Tomorrow at 10 AM, a new sign is going up at the Bear Center by the highway letting people know that we are the North American Bear Center/Northwoods Ecology Hall.
Today, we commissioned the sign maker who is beautifying the Bear Center interior with his woods art to make a sign saying, “Hope Learning Center” over the door that leads to the classroom, distance learning broadcast room, intern cubicles, and education offices.
Bear hair in bird nest - June 21, 2015A tiny addition to the Ecology Hall is a bird’s nest made of bear hair. Little Heinrik and Gabrielle found it on the ground beneath some tall red pines after a big windstorm. It’s only 3 inches in diameter. We suspect it’s from a warbler that nests high in red pines. We have seen blackburnian warblers and other warblers in those trees in past nesting seasons. How would the birds have found that much bear hair?
Excitement is building. Things are coming together with more lined up for tomorrow—plus radio and TV invitations coming in to let people know about it.
We have a problem, though. On the upside, many of you kindly donated taxidermy for the Ecology Hall directly or through your donations for that. On the downside, some of the records disappeared. We need your help. If you donated taxidermy, or for taxidermy, and your name is not on the list (below), please email
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center