Kermode black bear with salmonA visitor to Ted today was an ermine (Mustela erminia), also called a short-tailed weasel. It was bouncing around with its white coat and black-tipped tail highly visible against the dark ground in this nearly snowless winter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McPEecXAGn0. People tend to call them ermines in their winter white and short-tailed weasels in their summer brown coats.
We are excited about the facelift that is happening to the Bear Center this winter, both inside and outside (the entryway). We will also be adding information, especially in the Ecology Hall and on the upper walls of the Bear Center itself.
Near the aquarium, we’ll have a poster about how salmon are an important part of black bear and brown bear diets at spawning streams along the Pacific Coast and to a lesser extent along the shore of Lake Superior, but most inland bears never eat a fish. For the poster, a Lily Fan provided the picture here that shows an example of a black bear catching a salmon on Gribbell Island in British Columbia. This particular bear is a black version of the Kermode Black Bear, also called the Spirit Bear—especially when they have white coats.
Much is happening, thanks in part to Lily Fans. Along that line, I thank Lily Fans for the bear food donations that I believe saved Lily this past hunting season when hunters surrounded our property while Lily was occupied miles away thanks to Lily Fans. We’ll see what comes of our Den Cam Permit Application. More on that coming up.
Here at home, it’s date night. Donna and I are going to a wolf lecture given by Dr. David Mech’s assistant Shannon Barber-Meyers at the Wolf Center. She was nice to come to my lecture in Winnipeg. Tonight, we want to hear what she has to say about our local wolves.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center