On Mothers’ Day when we show our appreciation for all our mothers have done for us, I’ll also be thinking of the tender love mother bears give their cubs—love that so many of us saw on the den cams or in person.
One of the things that made the den cams so intriguing to the world was the love for their cubs that was humanlike in many ways. These pictures show some a little of that.
One of my favorites is the picture of 6-year-old mother June so comfortably snuggling her cub Lily on April 22, 2007.
Terri with cub in mouth - 1989
Another is the picture of a mother named Terri gently moving her cub from a den that was getting flooded by melting snow on April 2, 1989. To move this cub to a bed she had freshly dug in the snow, Terri gently cradled the cub behind her incisors to carry it 23 yards to the bed. There she lay on her back in the bed, enfolded her three cubs against her dry warm belly and sheltered them further with her four legs—all demonstrating innovations in how they care for cubs they love.
June drying Lily - 2007
The third picture is June using her tongue to caringly lick away water from Lily’s head on March 25 2007.
Thank you for all you do, and thank you bears for the many things you have shown us that you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center