June’s family breakup?
May 11, 2010 - 8:25 PM CDT
Over the last few days we have documented June’s family breakup. On Saturday, May 8, early afternoon, June was with yearling Jordan but not Jewel. Later in the afternoon, all three were together playing but Jewel was without her collar. On Sunday, we retrieved Jewel’s collar. On Monday mid-morning, June was with Jewel but not Jordan. We put Jewel’s collar back on her. Today, we spent the morning trying to make contact with June and Jewel, whose signals were together, but they were moving fast and far, even traveling outside June’s territory. We had to give up without seeing if Jordan was there, too. Fast movements like June was making is characteristic of a female in estrus laying down a scent trail to attract males. But Jewel was with her until at least 2:30 PM. At 6:20 PM, we finally intercepted June as she was about to cross a woods road outside her territory. We watched her come across a big open meadow alone. A few minutes later, we radio-located Jewel a mile and a half WSW. Family breakup appears to be complete—but stay tuned! It seems like the more we learn the less we know. As Sue is editing this to post, June is heading towards Jewel’s last known location.
Other odds and ends. Last night (Monday, 5-10-10) One-eyed Jack made an appearance tracking Bow. You will remember him as one of the huge bears in the UK version of Bearwalker. We know Jack, and we tried to walk up to him. But the most he would acknowledge us was to look briefly to identify us before putting his nose back to the ground and tracking on.
Shortly after, about 9:40 PM, we saw 3-year-old Cal alone—not with Bow. As you recall, he had been with Bow off and on for the last couple days. Then he made a surprise move out of the area. Was it because of Jack? He moved 3.7 miles SSW to a dense cedar swamp he had visited with his mother June years ago. Coincidentally, where he spent the night in that swamp was the same place we met up with June and put Jewel’s collar back on her that morning. As you might remember, Cal was the bear that moved over 36 miles up into Canada last summer and fall.
Lily moved about a quarter mile to a new bed site today—a comparatively uneventful day compared to the turmoil of family breakup and courtship!
The combination of telemetry, GPS, and observation is revealing more than ever before. As the data accumulate, it becomes harder and harder to predict what the bears will do.
Tonight we will post a new 'old' video at http://www.bear.org/website/lily-a-hope/den-cam-video-clips.html of June caring for her cubs back in 2007. You can compare June's mothering with what you have seen of Lily's mothering. Lily is easy to pick out in the video—she is the cub with the light face.
Thank you for your contributions.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center