Braveheart is cautious and gentle
October 4, 2010 – 10:23 PM CDT
A few days ago, we reported that Jewel (June’s yearling) was in a den. Today, we went to the den with the landowner to see if it was new or one he recognized. No Jewel. She was probably just trying it out like Jo has done with a couple dens. We did think it was a bit early for Jewel to be in a den. Typically, the pregnant females are the only ones to den so early. Jewel is not wearing a GPS unit because she has a small collar for a small bear, so we will radio-track her by vehicle or airplane like in the old days. We are getting spoiled with the GPS technology that lets us sit in front of a computer and see an updated location every 10 minutes.
Lily and Hope did not go back to their den last night. They maintained their heading 30 degrees off the den direction for 1.3 miles and then settled in another small area where they have remained for over 23 hours as of 9:45 PM.
Juliet and cubs are still hanging around the same old den. We’ll see if they stay. It seems a little early for them to settle in, considering that Juliet is not pregnant.
Jo spent the day in an area about 250 yards in diameter, which seems too big to be concentrated around a den, so she was probably foraging.
It’s always nice to visit a bear, and today it was Braveheart’s turn to have her GPS batteries changed. A newspaper reporter and a videographer/photographer were along but were quiet.
Braveheart is cautious. A few days ago, we tried to approach her signal only to hear it fade. Today, we said the familiar words with the familiar voice as we clambered through a dense, wet cedar swamp. At times her signal was close, then farther away. After about an hour, she circled around. Braveheart is a bear people seldom see. Before she will show herself, she seems to need confirmation that it is safe to let a person come within sight. Circling around, she probably smelled the familiar person and stopped retreating. The signal got louder as we climbed over logs and stepped over water. Finally, there she was through the bushes, sitting and looking. Fifteen yards away, we stopped to let her approach when she felt safe. She sat for another few minutes, sniffing the air and looking in every direction except ours. She had identified us as safe, but she wanted to make sure the noise of us approaching was not some unidentified danger.
Then she came.
We sat down in the deep moss. She sat down and got her treat of nuts in exchange for letting us change the batteries in her GPS (picture). In removing the GPS from the pack on the top of her collar, we tried not to touch her ears because she was constantly swiveling her head and ears for danger. Touching her ears interferes with hearing. Once, when we touched her ears too much while getting the zipper on the GPS case open, she opened her mouth in a mock bite toward the hand to say “Please don’t do that.”
When we pushed the stethoscope too hard against her chest to get her heart rate, she lightly bit an arm to say “go easy.” Her communications were gentle.
We never think of her 400 pounds of power. We just think of how she is feeling and about the privilege of relating to this wild but trusting creature.
Her heart rate was only 44. Braveheart has a normally slower heart rate than other bears. When other bears have heart rates in the mid-80’s in summer, Braveheart’s is around 74. So it is not surprising that she gave the lowest heart rate of this fall, even lower than Jo’s heart rate of 49 just before she entered the rock den a week or so ago.
With Braveheart, a person also thinks of what a loss it would be to lose this valuable 8-year-old research bear. We were glad to see that the bright ribbons we had attached to her radio-collar over a month ago to alert hunters were still present and looking fresh.
We believe Braveheart will retire to a den in the next week or so, but as we write this, she continues to roam. She is 1.8 miles away from the den she visited several times and is heading away. She has some unfinished business that remains a mystery to us, and that is part of what drives us on. Another point of suspense, Braveheart has not given a GPS location for over 3 hours. Has she entered a rock den, or is her collar just twisted around on her neck?
Tomorrow will bring answers to many of the questions of this day, we’re sure.
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—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center