Lily has a mate
June 8, 2010 – 7:03 PM
What a day! 49 degrees, rain and wind all day. Sue stood in the rain 10+ hours waiting for Hope, who was a total “no show.” All day, Sue thought just another hour—Hope has to be hungry by now. But black bears’ lives are ruled by fear and food, in that order. If the rain and wind made it too hard to hear danger coming, she would play it safe. She probably spent the day safe up a tree somewhere. Her last visit to the food was at 5:33 AM.
We wondered why Lily’s GPS unit showed her moving all over creation miles outside her territory. We knew from previous years that estrus females may lay down scent trails in neighboring territories to attract males. Could she be in estrus already? Lynn homed in on her telemetry signal with the BBC crew in tow. The poor crew and their equipment were in for a struggle. They ended up wading through black ash swamps and getting totally soaked getting to Lily over a mile away from a road. Their approach scared the male away from his and Lily’s double bed. They saw Lily but she had no interest in the people or Lynn’s handful of nuts. She was on a mission. With her nose to the ground, she was frantically circling to pick up his trail and track him down. She disappeared. Eventually, she circled back for the usual handful of nuts that lets us change GPS units, adjust radio-collars, take heart rates, and do general exams. Lily definitely was in estrus. We feel good every time we gather data based on trust rather than the old methods of trapping and tranquilizing. As Lily gobbled down the nuts, she looked in one direction—maybe toward the male unseen in the dense swamp.
Just got a call that Juliet and her cubs were seen. Will try to get a collar and GPS on her. Got to run.
Thank you for your contributions!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, North American Bear Center