Following up on our behavioral study of mother black bears in dens (click here), we are now observing the behavior of a 6-year-old male. This is the first male black bear ever observed in a den using a den cam. He is part of the same bear clan that produced the mothers of our earlier study linked above. Most of what they revealed was new to science. This male has already revealed that he does more than sleep. A team of observers around the world is recording his behavior day and night. A major purpose of broadcasting the den cams is to teach the public about the biology and behavior of these fascinating animals. The denning period is the least observed aspect of bear life.
Looking for Volunteers! Would you like to be a Den Watcher?
Click here https://forms.gle/PcANcCDd4rcFt6pY7 for a job description.
Excerpt from March 01 update:
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We wondered why the buffering came on so much! Mauro guessed why. Snow and ice. The build-up of it threw the satellite dish off a bit. Today, he and a partner checked, pulling a little way into the driveway and stopping about 100 feet from the den. They got out quietly and didn’t slam any doors. They talked in hushed voices as they aimed the satellite dish precisely at the satellite 25,000 miles away. The small adjustment increased the upload of bandwidth 4-fold (from 1 MB to 4MB per second), eliminating ‘Ringo.’ And they did this just in time for us all to have steady picture with no hesitation as the den watchers begin recording time sequences in the next few days. Way to go team! A few days ago, I heard what I thought was a snow plow and drove over to see if the road and driveway had been plowed. It hadn’t. Then I heard voices and drove over to see if anyone was at the den. I could see from the road that no one was. The secret was the very sensitive microphone on the den cam. It can pick up voices on the road, and the snow plow ‘noises’ were something else that fooled me because sometimes the sounds come through strong and sometimes not so strong. They are the sound of Spanky breathing deeply. I don’t know what, besides breathing deeply, makes the sounds and hum come through louder at times. Another mystery for the team. |
Spanky the Black Bear
We wondered why the buffering came on so much! Mauro guessed why. Snow and ...
Spanky the Black Bear
Is it the warm weather that stirred action from Spanky and a woodchuck ...
Watching Spanky lick up his urine in this video a couple days ago, we saw him extend his tongue ...
SpankyAs Den Watchers line up, my excitement builds, thinking about what we can learn new from ...
WRI Staff
Lynn Rogers, PhD
As WRI's principal biologist, Lynn Rogers, Ph.D., has spent more than 50 years learning about wildlife and sharing his information with the public. Using airplanes, vehicles, and snowshoes along with other methods, he has researched over 500 bears in the vast forests of northeastern Minnesota, studying some for as long as 22 years.
