Being a cub is hard work!
April 21, 2010 – 10:14 PM CDT
We spent 2.5 hours with Lily and Hope this afternoon. We found Lily at the base of a white pine and Hope high in the tree. Lily has been staying in one relatively small part of her territory, but there are many large white pines in the area and she has used several as bed trees. Hope came down shortly after we arrived and Lily nursed her briefly before they headed off. We followed. Lily went down to the shore of the lake for a drink and then did something peculiar. She dug in the damp soil at the base of a spruce tree and rubbed her headed in the dirt and on the roots of the tree. The scent of spruce filled the air. Later Hope dug furiously in the same spot while Lily dug and ate the stem and roots of a bull thistle nearby.
We followed as Lily foraged on emerging large-leaf aster and Hope nibbled on violet leaves and emerging hazel leaves. Hope briefly made the motor-like humming sound as she fed on the leaves. Perhaps she was saying “Yum!” At one point Lily ran off and Hope was unsure what to do. She looked around and then walked right toward and then between us to the base of a large white pine. She’s becoming more comfortable with us—which will make future observation and data collection easier.
Lily became very playful. She followed Hope up a cedar and batted playfully batted at her. Several times she picked Hope up by the side of the neck and drew her into play. It seemed rough, but Hope is tough and kept coming back for more. We look forward to learning how their play changes as Hope matures.
Lily led us in a circle and seemed to be headed for a second go-round when she settled down to chew on a huge dried fish head near the shore of the lake. Hope took advantage of the break and fell fast asleep next to Lily. Being a cub is hard work! Up trees, down trees, sniff this, taste that, run to keep up with Mom, run FROM Mom, dig, sniff, dig more, stick your head in the hole, etc. – phew!
2-year-old Jo visited the field station last night weighing 137 pounds – down from her fall weight of 194. She has headed back to her territory. We feel fortunate to have gotten a radio-collar and GPS transmitter on her so we can obtain more accurate data on her travels.
This evening 4-year-old Bow and her yearling male Ty visited the field station for the first time. Bow weighed 154 (down from 232) pounds and Ty weighed 53 (down from 63). We like it when bears ‘weigh in’ shortly after leaving their den so we can determine approximate over-winter weight losses.
We picked up Cookie’s dropped collar today. We didn’t locate her in time to tighten it once she left her den. We know she had a least 2 cubs and possibly a third with her in the den. Now we wait until someone reports seeing her.
Thank you again for your continued support of our research and educational efforts. A new video clip is processing now and should be up later tonight at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center