A neighbor stopped by with these two pictures of the bear with 4 cubs. I sent them to people who know the bears here as well as anyone. They agreed it is Ursula. I’ll know for sure when I see her and interact with her. 
Mother with 4 cubsShe is skittish in general, but once she knows who someone is, or is in a familiar situation, she is super. She is 12 years old. Her previous litters have been only two or three cubs.
I don’t know if it is related, but Donna bear had 2 cubs in each of her first three litters. Then , at 11, she produced 3. At 13, she began producing 4 cubs. Two litters in a row. I’m hoping to see what she has now this year at the age of 17.
Shadow never produced 4, but she had a spurt of 4 litters in a row with 3 cubs when she was 10-16 years old. Then, at the ages of 18-26, 4 out of 5 of her litters were only 2 cubs (one litter of 3), at 28, she had one cub. She would have been expected to have cubs again this year at 30, but she didn’t. However, she still has hormones and attracted a male, so maybe it will just take her an extra year to have a cub at this age. I’m hoping to see what she has in 2018. She already holds the record for the oldest black bear to produce cubs.
Mother with 4 cubsMature males are not drifting in as the mating season winds down in this part of the country. Big V-Dot held off until 12:10 AM to make his entry in July rather than June. That led Volunteer Assistant Bookkeeper Peggy to stay up until nearly 5 AM when she has a 12-13-hour drive to make today on about 3 hours of sleep. She refuses to stop at a motel instead of driving on through. I’ll be on edge until tomorrow morning when I hear she made it safely. I don’t want her love of bears, which has driven her most of her life, to be her undoing. Mike Johnson is on his way here now to replace Peggy’s duties of putting food out and recording visits. Mike, Lorie, and Lorie’s husband Tracy put cameras up their last visit to better monitor visits.
I am so very appreciative to have so many talented people around making things better and better. That goes for all the Lily Fan volunteers and donors across the country and around the world. Thanks to them and the staff, Lily Fans won’t recognize the Bear Center when they arrive for the LilyPad Picnic on July 21.
I also will be relieved and happy when I hear that Donna made it back from two weeks with the kids and grandkids in Colorado, arriving on July 3 or 4. She’s had me watering her plants while she was gone. I hope she will be happy with what I did.
More on the early years of research coming up.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center